Bexton Lane Bible-Study Group Back

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Like many of the streets in Knutsford, Bexton Lane is now the venue for more than one House Group associated with our Church. Each Group has its own "character" and many meet on different days of the week, so we hope that between us we can offer everyone the opportunity to meet together as a smaller group of friends for fellowship and study. We have retained the "Bible Study" description in our house group's name, as we always try to centre our studies on the Bible. Our study-times together usually start with us reading the Bible, and however far from the subject our discussions may lead us, we always try to return to the Word of God, and then close our meetings with a short time of prayer. It was as a "Basic Bible Study" that our group started, almost fifteen years ago, at the suggestion of our last minister, Dan Paterson. The group who had recently been made members of our Church wanted to continue to meet and Dan suggested a Bible Study would allow them to grow in their understanding of the Bible. Peter Grayson shared the leadership with us, and we based our first series of studies on the "Good News Down Your Street" booklet. Over the years we have had the privilege of welcoming many to our home, meeting, whenever possible, every fortnight on the first and third Wednesday evenings of the month. Through the friendships formed, and the insights we have been able to share, we have all grown in our faith - and we have had a lot of fun! We, like many of the church's House Groups, enjoy using the material prepared by Paul, our Minister, and distributed to the Groups during the year. We are therefore looking forward to studying the Parables of Jesus, upon which Paul is basing the current series of sermons. But what do we do when we are not following these themes? Our most recent series might be an appropriate example. Over the last few months we have been discussing Evangelism and Outreach and we have been fortunate in having some notes to guide us based on a book called "The Provocative Church" by Graham Tomlin. Ideas for topics that our group might study come from many sources, but the idea for this last series came from Highbury Congregational Church - our church when we lived in Cheltenham, and the home church of Andrew Bartlett, our first "Time for God" volunteer. The minister at Highbury, Rev Dr Richard Cleaves, used this book for a series of sermons last summer, and we were fortunate to be in Cheltenham for two Sundays while Richard was preaching on the theme. During last autumn Highbury has been studying the book in more detail, using it to help them discern how their church should move forward over the next few years. The author of "The Provocative Church" suggests that Christians sometimes assume that people 'out there' are eager to listen to what the Church has to offer. But Graham Tomlin asks why those we try to evangelise should want to hear the gospel? He suggests that people will only be intrigued by Christian life and community when they see something provocative or attractive. Then they will want to know what's going on in the church. We have been surprised how appropriate many of our studies on this book have been, and how closely the ideas followed the teaching we were receiving in Knutsford. One analogy that particularly appealed to us was a description of Church Leaders as gardeners, which Graham Tomlin took from the Apostle Paul's first letter to the Corinthians (Chapter 3). Leaders prepare the ground, plant the seed, water and weed the ground - but it is God who produces the growth. We went on to discuss how, as well as having a good structure, churches, like plants, also need the right conditions to enable growth to take place. We noted that leaders need to encourage three important features in people who are Christians:- We need to live public Christian lives - which calls for a strong sense of Christian identity. We need to be willing to tell personal stories - such as how we first became a Christian, and what is the best thing about being a Christian. We should be pleased to offer an invitation - even if we can't explain things fully it's good to know someone who can, in person or in a seeker's course - and we are very fortunate in Knutsford to have such people and opportunities. Perhaps we can use the last of these points now. We would be very pleased to invite anyone who is not, already, in a House Group, or anyone who would find Wednesday evenings convenient, to join us at Bexton Lane. The Church Office is usually able to include a notice for our meetings in the Diary for the Week on the Service Paper. So do join us if you can - we would be pleased to see you. Henry and Brenda W

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