Evangelical Alliance Week Of Prayer 2021: Bible EngagementExemplo
EXPERIENCE
We invite you to start with reading Isaiah 55:10-11, Psalm 119:112, and Matthew 7:24-27.
Let’s have a Bible Breakfast!
For more than 5 years, we have hosted and developed a simple and stimulating open bible experience for our local church and for people without a Christian background. It is amazing to observe how the Bible touches the hearts and the minds of all participants, day after day! In only a few minutes, you’ll be able to reproduce this experience in your community. It is called “Bible Breakfast” because it is often the first thing we do in the morning.
During the week, our church is scattered to many different places in the “sent mode”. Nevertheless, it is possible to have a common list of biblical books we want to read and meditate on together in a synchronized way. Five days each week we all read the same chapter of the same biblical book. After reading the passage carefully, everyone selects a verse, a topic or a passage that stands out for him/her. It’s not about a full exegetical study of the chapter; just one element we identify with in that moment with Jesus. We meditate on this thought and share our experience in a WhatsApp group through a short message with a simple defined structure:
1. “What verse/passage/topic has popped up for me today?”
2. “What will I do about it?” (This can be a commitment to pray, speak, position myself, etc. or anything specific asked by Jesus in this moment).
The group does not need to respond to these messages (an occasional thumb up is ok!), but we pray for all the contributors for this day. From time to time the group may gather in person – maybe for breakfast!
The word of God is received and applied with the constant support of a praying community. Simple, isn’t it?
In the last years, several non-believers have discovered the message of the Gospel through the Bible Breakfast, directly in the pages of the Bible, and their lives have been transformed and rooted in God’s word. Praise God that today hundreds of groups have been started and thousands of people, for the first time in their life, read and experience the Bible every day.
PRAYER TOPICS
- Pray for the spiritual thirst and hunger of your church or for the small group you connect with regularly.
- Pray for those who don’t/can’t/won’t access the treasures of the Bible.
- Pray for those close to you who don’t know the Gospel of Jesus and could easily connect with His Word.
- Pray for your group to welcome non-believers at your “spiritual table” and share a kingdom feast.
- Pray for transformed lives through a daily walk with Jesus, hearing and applying his Word.
SUGGESTED PRAYER
Lord Jesus, thank you for your Word. It’s a living testimony of your presence in my life, day after day. Listening carefully to your loving will for me and practising your love changes my whole life… not suddenly in an instant, but in a marvellous transformation process you steer so carefully. Help me today, to listen to you and obey your loving instruction. Thank you that by your grace, you invite me into the many good things you have prepared for me. Amen.
REFLECTION
- Are some of my neighbours and job colleagues ready to discover the Bible?
- How can I invite my church to begin a sustainable Bible experience?
- Could a Bible Breakfast be an easy and efficient way to live an open community bible experience in your context?
Author: Christian Kuhn, Switzerland, Director of the Swiss Evangelical Alliance (French-speaking part).
Sobre este plano
The Evangelical Alliance Week of Prayer (WOP) is a worldwide but mostly Europe-wide observed initiative with material provided by the European Evangelical Alliance. WOP 2021 takes place under the theme "Bible Engagement". Throughout 8 days readers are invited to engage with the Bible following the verbs: read, live, share, invite, think, experience, hear, worship. We pray that this material will serve to rekindle your fascination for the Bible!
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