For several weeks a few of us from my church have been studying the Bible with residents of the Tulane Apartments.
Not a single person, even though a few have been involved in multiple studies, has visited our church which is about 2-3 miles away at most.
After the Church Planting Movement conference last week, I was convicted about the possibility of using a discovery Bible study method somewhere, and I was praying about the “where.”
Cherle Velez called me at 11:00 this morning saying she had a study set up. The problem was a I had planned on spending the day working on my sermon and class for Sunday. I told Cherle I didn’t have time to help her today.
Then I realized that I was not ready to receive an answer to what I had been praying. I called Cherle back and said I would come and would like to lead the study, trusting that God would help me get these other things done.
We knocked on the woman’s door and no one answered. We called and no one answered. So we sat down and began calling other residents of the community to see who might be interested in a study. One man replied that he would be ready Monday morning. While we were calling others, the woman came out of the apartment and told us that she was getting people together for a study. Jesus would have called this woman a “person of peace” (Luke 10:6) or “worthy person” (Matthew 10:13).
We waited for several to arrive and had our study with three single Moms and their babies. We all shared what we were thankful for, talked about what needs we had and could meet in the group, and then had the study.
We read Deuteronomy 6:4-9. We read the passage twice out loud, then restated it in our own words. Then we shared what God was asking us to do in this passage. The women talked about their need to teach their children to obey God’s Word so that they wouldn’t turn out like “most people.”
We ended by talking about what we were going to do to meet each other’s needs this week. Some had prayer requests. Some have employment needs. (I will be taking Hopeworks phone number back with me.)
They have invited us back for study on Monday at 12:00. Please pray for us as we see the potential for a church or church planting movement among the poor in Memphis.
Note to self: God’s answers to prayer don’t always come at “convenient” times.
