Women's Gathering @ BCC

This morning during the notices section of our gathered worship, Jeff made an announcement about the Women's Gathering for Bible Study and Prayer that I will now, God willing, be starting on Thursday mornings after Easter with some of the ladies of our church and its wider community. I am extremely excited, but also feeling a little in awe when I look ahead to the work God has for me. Part of the enormity of the task comes from my desire to bring together women from four main groups in our church community.

Firstly (and perhaps primarily) there are the women who are mothers of young children and whose main work is within the home and for their family. Women in the same situation as me, in other words!

Secondly, there are the older women, grandmothers and even great-grandmothers, who make up a large number of our congregation. I would love to see these two groups of women sharing more of their lives with each other and for the older women to minister more directly to the lives of the younger women.

Thirdly, there are women who come to our church meetings occasionally, but not regularly although they do not "belong" to another congregation elsewhere either. I am hoping that the closer ties they develop with women who attend more regularly might help them to see that the Christian faith is not something you put on and put off as and when you feel like it, but something that must be lived out all day, every day, in part through one's outward commitment to a local gathering of Christ's body, the church. Also in with this group I would include some women new to our congregation who are regular attenders, but who, because they have only been here in Perth (or even Australia) for a few months, having come from overseas and perhaps a non-English-speaking background, would greatly benefit from this more personal opportunity to get to know other women in the congregation.

Fourthly, I am hoping that this Bible study will be n opportunity of further engagement with God's church and His gospel, for women who attend some of the more practical, social activities of our church, such as the Wednesday mainly music class for toddlers and their parents, the Paper Crafters' monthly get together and the bi-annual Women's Breakfast.

Oh, and I cannot forget that, with Jeffrey's help, we will also be reaching out to a fifth group: any younger children (or even grand children) of these women, as Jeffrey co-ordinates a concurrent children's program for any below compulsory school age.

There are a lot of things to consider when pulling together a Bible study that will, with God's blessing, be seeking to meet needs for teaching from God's Word for women from all of these groups. I need to think about what we will be reading and studying and any resources I may use to help me in preparing and presenting the program, in terms of the situations of women of each of these groups. For example, women who have been Christians for decades will approach the Bible with a very different attitude to women who have never owned one of their own before!

I have been asked if I will use some sort of program or curriculum, and the answer is a definite no. I want to be able to base each Bible study simply on the text itself. Having said that, I will need to be doing extra background reading myself to be able to keep on top of some of the background information. It will help, I am sure, that Jeff and I live together (obviously!) and so I can work through the study with him well before each Thursday's Women's Gathering.

After much discussion with Jeff and a few of the women who will attend, I have chosen for us to read through and study from the Book of Acts. At first, I thought there might be benefit in studying a gospel, either Mark or Luke (but probably Mark since we have been reading through it as a family this term.) Matthew is long and written with the Jews in mind, not so easy to get into for non-Christians or new Christian; while John relates a lot of Jesus' metaphors that can be confusing, especially for women who speak English as their second (or third, or fourth...) language. However, I would like to study more than who Jesus is and what He has done. I want the women to be challenged by the difference this made in the lives of Jesus' followers, the first Christians. Acts shows this beautifully and also has the added benefit of referring back many times to the events of Old Testament times. It can therefore be a helpful short-cut introduction to the Old Testament narrative for women who are not familiar with the Bible. It can also be a great reminder of God's sovereignty over all history and His great long-term plan for the salvation of mankind (the "Big Picture"), which He began to put into place in the Garden of Eden, for those women who are much more familiar with the Biblical narrative. So I am hoping that the Book of Acts will challenge those women who have been Christians for far longer than they were not, as well as providing a spring-board to faith in those women who have not yet placed their faith in Jesus Christ.

One third of the planned time will also be spent in more intimate groupings of three, sharing and praying together as "Prayer Triplets". I owe this idea to a friend from Darwin who now lives in Sydney, who mentioned it many years ago with great enthusiasm. I will be assigning women into groups of three to stay in the same triplet for a whole term. I am planning that women will not be with those they feel most comfortable with, but with those who need and can benefit from their friendship, encouragement and the ministry of prayer for each other. I just hope we don't have anyone refusing to sit together! I would like to see the older women developing Titus 2-type relationships with the younger women, and the women who have a deeper connection with BCC welcoming and drawing in those who are less tightly connected with our community. It is my earnest desire that by sharing their personal situations and praying for each other in intimate groups the women may begin to behave as the sisters in Christ that they truly are.