Bible Study Update & Reflection

No new items to check off the list yet. This weekend I should get closer to finishing a few more.

One of the first items I accomplished was forming a women's Bible study at the start of last school year. Here's an update: we continued it until early August when several members moved away. Then the two of us remaining decided to take a break so I could rethink the structure for this year. Now we have moved from an afternoon time slot to Thursday mornings at 8am. This allows us to Skype with one of the gals who moved, plus we have two new members including my sister! She and another friend bring their babies, and our friend over Skype has a little one, too. The three babies are so entertaining to watch as they interact with one another. It's been wonderful. Tomorrow is our third meeting of the year. We're studying First Corinthians.

I have a good friend who wanted to join our group, but couldn't come during the day. So after some serious thinking, last night was the first of an all-new evening study in my apartment. The three women who came were all new. This one is cross-generational. I invited some wives of my husband's professors, and they came! Next week I expect a few more. We began in John. We had so much discussion, we didn't even get through the first chapter. When we got stuck on something we called my dad (a pastor) and put him on the spot--on speaker phone--and he did great. We did the same thing last Thursday morning. It's nice to have the "phone a friend" option!

Our church happens to be quite a drive away. There are many closer congregations where we could worship, but the Seminary likes to spread out the students, giving each of them more chances to help out with ministry while they live here. So...being involved in church activities during the week is really out of the question. As a result, I have come to see ministry as more of a home-centered and neighborhood-centered thing rather than church-centered. Of course, this follows what we did during the 08-09 school year quite well. It's a real shift in my thinking, made possible by my experience overseas, where there was no church, and by now living in an area with many churches of the same faith. I know many people who share my faith but are part of a different congregation. If we want to have Bible study and intentional "Christian fellowship" it's outside of church-run activities and programs. And you know what? It's working just fine.

Because of our situation--my husband being a Seminary student, and me substitute teaching in Lutheran schools--most of my contact with adults is with people who are Christian already. So I'm not stressing myself out over doing outreach right now. I just don't get to know that many people who don't believe, even though they are certainly the majority of the people I see when I run errands. Instead, I'm looking for ways to build up the body of Christ. So many women need support, and we get that through the Word. I'm grateful for the time God has given me to reach out and invite others to study that Word together. It's been a great way to get to know my sisters in Christ. One year ago I didn't know any of these women I study with except my sister. Most of them did not know each other, either.

Have you tried this? Forming your own group outside of the church structure? I know my mom did. She leads an email Bible study which I take part in as my life allows. I took a break during the summer because I was trying to spend less time online, and it's tough if you have an email date every day. But now I'm back in, and hopefully it will be a good thing for the fall once again. You can't put a price on the support we get from one another. I wish I'd had this at certain tough times in my life, but I just didn't see the opportunities for what they were, and it never occurred to me to start something on my own. Now I know, and for that I'm grateful.