Refelctions on Disciple Bible Studies at Suncreek

Over the years, hundreds of people have completed Disciple Bible study at Suncreek, and it has made a profound difference in their lives. Keith and Donna Shelton completed Disciple I, a year-long survey of the Bible, last year. “What made the reading and study most meaningful occurred when our Disciple I group met on Wednesday nights.  We quickly found out the readings had spoken to different members in our group in widely different ways.  Under careful leadership and with growing mutual affection, we learned that the Bible does indeed allow for a variety of interpretations.  We knew this before we took the course, but within this group we learned to listen to one another with open hearts and minds, and we began to learn that by sharing our differences, we became even more committed to each other.  By listening to one another, we saw how powerfully scripture speaks in different ways to fill the needs of each student.”

“What Disciple I taught us was that studying and discussing the Bible with others was humbling; the variety of meanings and blessings found in such a study encourages and inspires us to continue studying the Bible along with others,” they said.

Lindsay and Kevin Moore also completed Disciple I at Suncreek. Lindsay said, “Though I was involved in church activities as a child and as a youth, I had never thoroughly studied the Bible as an adult (or even as a college student). After joining Suncreek, my husband and I took the class offered on Methodism, and also the class on World Religions. We enjoyed both classes immensely, and liked that it gave us a good topic for discussion on our way home and throughout those weeks.”

“After completing the World Religions class, we decided that an intense course on our own religion was something that we both were interested in. We began Disciple in August and completed it this past June. I feel like the knowledge that I gained about the Bible, and also Methodist ideology has been priceless. I realized, for instance, that I had never really studied the Old Testament. To me, it had always been a bunch of stories like Moses and the Red Sea and Jonah and the Whale. I had never looked at them together and seen the big picture of the Old Testament as a whole. Both my husband and I really enjoyed learning the new things, but also refreshing and revisiting the things we already knew. Most of all, simply looking at Christianity and the bible in a real way through my adult eyes and experiences is something that I am glad I did, and something I now realize I needed to do to strengthen my faith.”

“Perhaps more importantly that the subject matter that I learned, Disciple enabled my husband and I to become a part of a group at Suncreek. Though we had been attending church at Suncreek for almost a year, we had not really found a niche yet. However, after getting together once a week to eat dinner, study the bible, and discuss joys and concerns, the people in our 9-person group have inevitably become a part of our lives. This year we have shared family problems, work problems, kid problems, but also family successes, work successes, kid successes, and the birth of a baby boy. After being a part of the Disciple class, I finally feel like I have a church family,” Lindsay said.