Wednesdays at Troyeville

Wednesday night Bible Study is great! On Wednesdays, I usually get to church around 3 pm to meet with Cheryl and Russell to go over stuff and pray together. Then at 4ish, the worship planning team meets to pick out songs and talk about the upcoming service. This has been both good and bad - I had this vision of the team working together creatively to plan services and come up with cool worship experiences - multi sensory, etc. BUT it hasn't really worked out that way - I don't always feel very creative - neither do the others - also, its hard because we rarely know much about the sermon topics or have multi week themes. Usually I come with a list of songs that I've picked during the week and we chose from them. Sometimes someone will come up with a new idea or suggestion, but usually its just getting songs together. Oh well, at least we're meeting together to discuss things. After the 'planning' meeting, we gather with the rest of the worship team to practice the songs. Unfortunately, folks tend to straggle in around 5:15 - 5:30, so we really don't have a lot of time to practice. Its mainly working on intros and transitions it seems. I felt on this past Sunday like we hadn't even practiced on Wed. seems like the collective memory forgets whatever we went through on Wed. afternoon and we have to go through it all again on Sunday morning - can be frustrating for me! Anyway, at 6 pm after practice, we go into the prayer chapel for prayer - That is a very cool time - people from the church gathering together for prayer - sometimes there are prayers in different languages. I love that Cheryl is very committed to prayer - I think I've prayed more corporately at Troyeville than I ever have at any other church I've been to. Also look back and see that one of the youth was part of the initiative to get us gathering together for prayer on Wednesday nights - how cool is that!

After prayer from 6 - 6:30, Ivan (the church caretaker) puts out tea, coffee, bread, peanut butter and jam for us to have a light supper - some of the youth come at that time for the food, which is really only supposed to be for the ones who are already there for practice and/or prayer, but oh well - its gets them in the door. Its interesting to see how folks will make 2-3 sandwiches for themselves without regard for the fact that the food is running out and some may not get any. I've asked the youth several times to only make 1 sandwich first and to wait to make sure everyone has at least 1, but they quickly forget after a week or two and go back to old habits. Its not just the youth, though, the adults do it too. Fortunately for me, when I've come after its all gone, Ivan frequently has some bread tucked away for such times.

After the 'tea' time, we have a video of a chapter of the Gospel of Luke. The video is old - probably shot in the 70's, but it does give you a decent picture of life when Jesus walked on the earth. The dialogue is verbatim from the Bible - not sure what translation, but at least its not KJV! Actually, the narrator is reading English - while in the background, you hear the characters speaking in Aramaic, I think - adds to the authenticity some. After about a 15 - 20 minute video of a chapter, we break up into small groups to discuss questions Janice, the leader, has prepared for us. Back in January when we discussed having this type of Bible Study on Wednesdays, I told Janice I would come and lead a small group for Youth and encourage them to come.

The youth are the primary ones that do come - the adults have fallen off a bit - What's awesome is that I really don't have a small group, I have about 15-20 each week! We gather around the table and go through the questions - i answer questions they have about the passages, try to explain to them the context and meaning - I LOVE IT! I've told several people that Wed. night Bible Study is my cake - I cherish sitting around the table with the youth discussing Scripture. There are several young adults that are out of high school who come - some this is the only night they can because of work or school - so its been a great way to stay connected to youth who have matriculated (graduated) and others who have never come to youth. It has shown me one of the areas of ministry that I really enjoy and will make sure is a part of my future endeavors!

One of the things that is a little frustrating is that we usually have to wrap up around 8 and hurry out to get people home at a decent hour. I don't have time afterwards to talk with anyone much. Have had a couple of occasions when one of the youth has had some questions or needed to talk and our time has been limited by needed to leave - I find that difficult. After we break up our small groups, everyone gathers in the hall for a closing prayer. If I have someone with questions, I usually stay behind in our room with them and miss the closing prayer, but at least we've had a few moments to talk or pray together.

After the prayer, we arrange rides for people that live further out. Its not safe to walk to some places after dark, so those of us with cars give people a lift. I usually carpool with Russell or Cheryl to save petrol, so sometimes we're limited on how many people we can take.

When I get home, usually have a snack - my one pbj doesn't usually last long and chill. I'm glad I go on Wednesday nights - its a good night.

It continues to puzzle and delight me that so many youth come on Wednesday nights - some who are atheists, some who are seeking, some who are following Jesus somewhat, some who are devoted followers - all gathered to talk about scripture - no games, no activities, no competitions, just the Bible - wow! How cool is that!