| When
traveling across North America talking to people about the state
of adult Bible study in our churches today, I hear the same refrain:
“We offer Bible study but no one ever comes!” This
is puzzling since the Search Institute found that “Bible
study” was the number-two priority in a survey of American
churches, right after “good preaching.” Why, then,
won’t people come out to Bible study? There are likely many
reasons, but I have come to believe that it is mostly because
we sell far too short what we offer.
Think of what one has to do to take a college course: register,
meet the prerequisites, pay for the books and the course, go
to class, do the work, take an exam and pass, and then sign
up for the next course. At church when we offer a Bible study
course, what do we do? We say, “Show up. Please.”
What would happen if we totally revised our approach to Bible
study and created in our churches an Academy of Biblical Literacy,
diploma provided?
One church in Ontario, Canada, was experiencing a deadly decline
in membership over the years. They knew they would need to make
a drastic change or close their doors, so they took the plunge.
They developed a logical, progressive study of the Bible that
challenged and satisfied the students. Visitors to the Sunday
morning service were welcomed warmly and encouraged to make
the congregation their church home. However, hopeful members
were told there were no “pew sitters” in this church:
Every member had to be enrolled in one of the Bible courses
and be part of one of the church’s service programs. This
church was not for everyone, but it surely was for many. Within
two years, this congregation went from almost no services to
three every Sunday.
People respond when they believe that what is being offered
holds value. You know how easy it is to turn down a lukewarm
invitation. But if someone says this is a limited
offer, you know you need to act fast, and you get excited.
And studying the Bible IS exciting. In fact,
it should be considered a sin to take the gospel stories of
miracles, life-changing events, social revolution, betrayal,
death and resurrection and make that boring!
Bible study can be a transformative experience and is crucial
to understanding who we are and what we believe. Can you set
a price on that?
Where do we sign up?
The Kerygma Program of Adult Studies. |
