Lenten Bible Study on Zoom

We will be holding an on-line Bible Study course using Zoom on Thursday Evenings during Lent. The meetings will last for about an hour and we will be using a course called “Meet  the Philippians”. The course has been developed over a number of years by our Interim Rector, Hugh James, and explores relationships and social issues within the 1st Century Philippian Church. It makes use of Role Play and Discussion, based on texts from the Acts of the Apostles and Paul’s Letter to the Philippians.  If you are interested, please contact the rector at hughjames56@gmail.com or the office at westoverchurch9@verizon.net

The course uses a different approach from traditional Bible Studies, and is based on role-play techniques. Participants will be asked to take on the identity of characters in the congregation of 1^st Century Philippi, and imagine how they would have been affected by hearing the letter read for the very first time. Some of the characters created for this study are imaginary, but some have been based on people we hear about in the epistle and in the Book of Acts, chapter 16, where Paul’s first visit to Philippi is described.

You will be asked to use your imagination, and visualize yourselves as characters in a meeting of the congregation in 1^st Century Philippi. They will be given some information about their characters so that you can understand those persons’ concerns as they prepare to hear the letter read. You may feel the buzz of excitement in the room and the expectation knowing that the Apostle’s letter has arrived, and that you are about to hear from your founder. How will the different characters be looking forward to hearing the letter’s contents – with excitement or anxiety? Do they expect to be supported or undermined in the position taken on those issues, about which they had previously written to Paul? My hope is that this approach will help you gain an appreciation of the letter’s impact on its first readers.