Last year, Bicton Uniting Church went on a journey. Using ‘The Story’, a resource for congregations and faith communities to explore the Bible together, they experienced growth and strength in their church community.
‘The Story’ has multiple curriculums, each aimed at a specific age or group, and each with 31 chapters. Every week the groups explored a chapter – meaning they were all studying the same text, but within their own contexts.
Rev Zak Cronje, minister at Bicton Uniting Church, said that it brought families together and meant that children and parents, as well as other different groups within the church, could respond to each chapter together and ask deeper questions.
“It did something fantastic in the congregation because all of a sudden people realised they were talking about the same thing,” Zac said.
Over the 31 weeks, the church displayed banners both outside and inside the building, celebrating their journey.
Zac said that the program had a very positive impact on all members of their congregation.
“The whole congregation will tell you that doing ‘The Story’ had a big impact on their lives,” he said. “Doing it this way was a little bit different.
“We were worried that people would become bored, but they didn’t. The interest just grew and grew.”
In 2016, the congregation are now embarking on a similar journey – ‘Believe’.
“What this does, is it asks the question ‘what do you believe, how do you act on that belief and then what have you become because of that.’ And that will be a focus on the fruit of the Spirit.”
These resources are available at Koorong bookstores, and for more information visit http://thestory.com/ and http://believethestory.com.