So much of the last third of this post, especially under the heading "Shared Conections", made me think of the church as a sort of glorified "Book Club" that reads together and shares responses to God's love letter to us, and individuals finding fellowship and community through that sharing. Could that be the ideal "weekday" identity of a local congregation? (Not saying that gathering for worship can be reduced to a book club meeting...)
I have definitely had Bible Study experiences that were very fruitful in this sense! I have honestly always found the book club discussions and community to go to a deeper level, and I am not exactly sure why that is. Maybe if we were better at reading the Bible it would be similar. I'll have to go ask my Bible expert husband what he thinks. Because he thinks a few Old Testament books are the best literature there is.
So much of the last third of this post, especially under the heading "Shared Conections", made me think of the church as a sort of glorified "Book Club" that reads together and shares responses to God's love letter to us, and individuals finding fellowship and community through that sharing. Could that be the ideal "weekday" identity of a local congregation? (Not saying that gathering for worship can be reduced to a book club meeting...)
I have definitely had Bible Study experiences that were very fruitful in this sense! I have honestly always found the book club discussions and community to go to a deeper level, and I am not exactly sure why that is. Maybe if we were better at reading the Bible it would be similar. I'll have to go ask my Bible expert husband what he thinks. Because he thinks a few Old Testament books are the best literature there is.
❤️