https://www.lakepointe.org/women/biblestudies/ The study starts on September 12th! I considered not teaching during the year, but there was a study very close to my heart that I can't teach in the summer due to length. I can't teach in the spring due to high school soccer taking up a lot of my time, so either I teach it in the fall or I don't ever get to teach it.
Nope. That wasn't an option. I started this study on my own and just knew I had to teach it, despite the time challenge that I know it's going to be.
I've done studies on prayer before. But there's something really special about the Love God Greatly studies. Though the format is so simple and could be done in a short amount of time each day, I find that I spend MORE time on these studies than other ones that have a ton of reading and homework.
Why is that? Because you are the one doing the work, not someone else. There's no author doing all the background research and telling you what they discovered. You are left to do whatever amount of work and research you are willing to put into it, and you are left to make those discoveries on your own. The study is nothing but Scripture over a certain topic, and your job is to write the Scripture (in one or several translations), to make observations (looking carefully at the words and the context), to make a life application from what the verse is saying, and to turn the Scripture into a prayer (which is ultimately praying God's will because you are praying His Word).
I talked to one of the ladies on the last night of our last study, and she said that she actually gets so much more out of a study like this. There's something to be said about making a discovery on your own rather than just being led to it. It sticks, it's personal, it's exciting, and you remember it. (Note to self as a teacher: learning is much more meaninful when you are left to discover things on your own rather than just being taught.)
I took an Inductive Bible Study course at Grace College now over 20 years ago, so I dug all those tools back out and use many of them now in these studies. I had so much fun teaching other women how to use those tools for their own personal Bible study, and I look forward to digging in to a new study with yet a new group of women. It was a privilege to lead such a big group over the summer, but I truly am hoping for a smaller group this time so I can interact more with everyone.
If you've never heard of Love God Greatly, check out their website: www.lovegodgreatly.com. They almost always have a study going on on-line that you can join in with, you can join a group somewhere, or you can do or lead one on your own. They are available in 17 different languages, are downloadable for free if you choose, and have a weekly blog that coincides with each study. They even have a kids' version as a companion study for moms to do with their kids. When you work with Love God Greatly groups or materials, you're joining in with women from all over the world who are choosing to dig into the same Scriptures.
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