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When many people think about reading the Bible, they may think it is too hard to understand and it would be pure will-power motivated from guilt. But the Word of God is living and active and the Holy Spirit uses this book in a unique way to speak to the deepest places of our hearts, calling us to godliness, and fuelling us with courage and encouragement. We want to be a people who grow in our love for the word. We want to cultivate a people who read the Bible and discover how life-giving it is. The groups are not a place to debate theological issues, ask questions or get opinions on the text - they provide an environment, in which the primary purpose is to help people fall in love with the word of God. |
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There is no better way to be open to hearing God's voice than to be immersed in His written word. It is incredible how God speaks to individuals by regularly illuminating themes which are personally relevant and applicable. One of the things I have noticed over time, is how different my shares can be from year to year. Sure, there are some things I love every time, but usually God's Spirit highlights different things that are more pertinent to where my life is at that moment. The secondary purpose of these groups is to help each-other listen to the God who speaks through His Word. |
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Although Reading Groups are not a Q+A session, we believe that over time they can be a powerful tool for deeply rooting God's values and promises in our hearts and minds. For ingraining an understanding of Christ's character. For teaching us his paths and ways and equipping us with the tools we need to live a life that pleases Him. The more people see the bigger story of the Bible, the more the minute passages become clear. We have been taught to look at little pieces in order to understand the Bible. I believe the little pieces are better understood by people who are continually reading the Bible cover to cover, keeping the big themes in mind. |
Joining a Bible Reading Group is not a commitment to reading from Genesis - Revelation. It is a commitment to be constantly reading and engaging with His word. This is not a 6 month, 8 month, or 12 month target, but a life-long resolve. We believe that to be effective ambassadors for Christ, we must be a people of His word. All the time. | ||
While reading missionary biographies about godly men who changed their generation, (such as George Mueller, Hudson Taylor, Martin Luther, George Whitefield), I realised that all of them seemed to be marked by habitual cover-to-cover Bible reading; year after year. George Mueller, known as a man of prayer, read the Bible cover to cover nearly 200 times. As he got older, did he find he could slow down his reading pace? No. Just the opposite. A. T. Pierson records, "During the last twenty years of his life he read it carefully through, four, or five times annually, with a growing sense of his own rapid increase in the knowledge of God thereby." | ||