(Guest Post) Community Bible Studies

Hello dear readers! 

I apologize for being so quiet lately....Things have been slightly crazy and I feel like I'm behind in everything and probably the most stressed I've ever been in my life. lol and I usually don't get stressed out too easily. (You all can pray for my continued sanity and that things start moving along better if you would like ;) ) 

Anyway, the lovely Sophia from Someplace in the Midst wrote this amazing guest post for me and I am so, so appreciative. You all should check out her incredible blog right now! Thank you Sophia!

xx Lorraine

About this time last year, my family and another one decided to start a community group Bible study. A community group Bible study is basically just a group that meets to have a Bible study. Our church had been encouraging these groups to start, and so we decided to jump on in and wing it.

Well, not really wing it. We got a list of people who live in our "neighborhood" and go to our church and then emailed them and set up a time to meet and fellowship and discuss starting a community group Bible study. (We don't really live in a neighborhood, so it was basically just all the people who live on our side of town.)

Pretty soon we were meeting bi-monthly, sharing a meal potluck style and then discussing Sunday's sermon, and then ending with prayer requests and and prayer.

Simple, but so effective.
Here's why intentional community is so important.

1. It's modeled from the early church.
I like to think that the apostles shared meals and discussed scripture somewhat like how we do it now. :)

2. It's multi-generational.
The only general similarity about our  community bible study is that we all live in the same part of town. We have young and old, and this leads to certainly interesting conversations.

3. It goes deeper than Sunday School.
I can't really explain it, but our little group shares a bond that's really strong. We've shared so much of our lives in this past year, it's really quite great.

4. It's encouraging.
Obviously, there might be "funner" ways to spend Friday night, but by recharging and preparing for the weekend, it is so much more than just fun. We laugh, we cry, we encourage each other.

5. It's challenging.
Our pastors preach great sermons. But the hard part is actually living out what we're hearing and learning. By meeting with our community group, we are challenging ourselves further to walk the talk.

So that's why I think a community Bible study is so great! Are you part of a Bible study? Do you have other ways of having fellowship and community? If you have any questions about starting, you can contact me on my blog at someplaceinthemidst.blogspot.com.