Encouraging Corporate Bible Study Among Parishioners (A Guest Post)
The Rev. Dr. Shauna Hannan is Professor of Homiletics at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (of California Lutheran University) and Core Doctoral Faculty of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, CA. Dr. Hannan received her Ph.D. in Practical Theology (Homiletics) from Princeton Theological Seminary.
In these months of compulsory isolation given the global pandemic, I’ve been thinking a lot about what Justo and Catherine González say in the chapter entitled “The Neglected Interpreters” in their book, The Liberating Pulpit (Eugene, Wipf & Stock, 1994):
But the problem comes when we seem to say that private Bible study is somehow better or deeper or more meaningful than corporate study—when we forget that the Bible comes out of a community and is addressed to a community . . . Rather than encouraging their hearers to delve further into the Bible, [Lone-Ranger preachers] are actually discouraging them . . . The Bible becomes an esoteric book that only those with specialized education or gifts can possibly be able to understand. It is not a book for the lay Christian, but only for the “professional.” This is hardly an attitude that should be encouraged in the church” (47f).
How Corporate Study is Inadvertently Discouraged
I wholeheartedly agree that this is not an attitude that should be encouraged by the church. And yet, somehow our sermon preparation and preaching practices often reflect this kind of “professionalism” resulting in the “lay Christian” essentially being a consumer.
It might be easier than ever to become a “Lone-Ranger preacher” in the days of COVID-19. To be sure, private Bible study can be just what the heart longs for when stuck in isolation. While I suspect the Gonzalezes were not suggesting doing away with private Bible study altogether, they are warning against hallowing it vis-à-vis corporate Bible study.
Reflecting on Your Ministry
Stop for a moment here and reflect on how you and your ministry context engage in Bible study:
To what extent do you encourage private Bible study?
To what extent do you encourage corporate Bible study?
What opportunities do you offer for corporate Bible study?
To what extent are the members of your community empowered to offer insights in Bible study sessions?
How do they get to that sense of empowerment and/or what has been an obstacle to that empowerment?
The Time is Right
While reaching out to congregation members may take extra inertia these days, and developing a sense of community in the virtual world has its challenges, it may just be that the time is ripe to overcome the “everyone-is-too-busy-to-come-to-the-church-mid-week” obstacle that so many congregational leaders have experienced in recent decades. People, even those people you would least expect, have become exceptionally tech savvy. Even more, some are more willing to speak up in a virtual setting. (This is especially true if you break up into small groups at some point during the session.)
Inviting People into Study of the Week’s Readings—and Affirming Their Input
Consider more particularly how you create spaces for collaborative study relative to the Sunday lectionary readings. It’s one thing to get people to join a study on the upcoming Sunday readings. It’s another to invite their input. Chances are good that people will expect to show up and hear from you, “those with specialized education or gifts” (as the Gonzalezes say). However, the key to empowered participation is to equip people to dig deeply into Scripture and then to really listen to and affirm their input.
Imagine the delight for you and for your congregation members when someone’s input from the sermon preparation Bible study makes a cameo (with permission, of course!) in Sunday’s sermon. Better yet, what is keeping you from inviting that person (with her willingness, of course!) to offer her input as an illustration in the midst of the sermon.
Not only would this process discourage the “professionalism” attitude that the Gonzalezes lament, but it may very well encourage practices that reflect the claim that “the Bible comes out of a community and is addressed to a community.”