What will you learn from a teaching team like that?
January is starting to wind down. If you have goals for the year, by now you should be able to see elements of that goal in practice. That’s how you can have confidence that you’re on track to make progress against the objective.
One of my goals is to develop 4 Bible studies this year. One from each of the epistle writers in the NT.
Why is that my goal?
I think the Apostle Paul gets out sized representation in the Bible Study discussion. Granted, he’s well positioned to receive such attention because he wrote so many short letters that are perfectly sized to study.
Paul also happens to be a very logical writer. He is dealing very overtly with explanations of how the church ought to function and how salvation works.
James, Peter and John are dealing with very different situations. James was not an Apostle. He was the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. He wrote to his former church members who were scattered all over what is now Turkey. Peter and John were both apostles, but neither of them was a church planter like Paul. They wrote to groups of people – not churches – with the heart of a pastor.
By looking at all these different short epistle writers, we are going to get four very different perspectives on Christian faith and development.
The first study I plan to do is Colossians. It’s a Pauline epistle. Unlike Timothy and Titus which were written to individuals, Colossians was written to the church in Colosse. It’s a different kind of letter than anything we’ve done together. (You can find the Titus study in Study the Bible – Six Easy Steps and 1 Timothy here)
I won’t spoil the study just yet. But if I’m truly on top of my goal, I should have it ready in the next 2 months.
It might make sense to get your copy of the book handy and refresh on the steps if it’s been a while since you tackled a study like that.
I’m balancing this goal of Titus with an inductive study of the gospel of Mark through my church. It’s been a blast so far to dig into the first couple chapters and learn some surprising things.
Perhaps one day I’ll be brave and take the 16 chapter gospel and make a study for you too… would that interest you? Reply and let me know if you’d be down for that journey and why.
Until then, I need to get crackin’ on Colossians!
Blessings,
Dennis
