This week, the chapter I’m covering from James S. Bielo’s Words Upon the Word: An Ethonography of Evangelical Bible Study is all about “witnessing.†More on what that means in a moment. First, however, I’d like to mention an unexpected cameo.
In this chapter, Bielo focuses on a United Methodist Bible study led by Bill, a 51-year-old pastor with a degree from Asbury Theological Seminary. The group, made up of older men, has been reading Acts together.
They used the Life Guide series published by InterVarsity Press to structure their weekly readings. The series has study guides for all sixty-six books of the Christian Bible. The series is a favorite of Bill’s and one he has used in a variety of other groups. (114)
I wonder if they were using this guide by Phyllis Le Peau, wife of IVP associate publisher Andy Le Peau. It’s great to see InterVarsity appear in a book about Bible studies, and even better to see us in a chapter about witnessing.
Evangelicals and Witnessing
Bielo notes that “witnessing†— which others might call evangelism — is central to evangelicalism, regardless of the immediate outcome. [Read more…] about Bielo: Bible Study as “Backstage†for Witnessing