Summer by far is my favorite season of the year. The weather is ideal in Santa Cruz during the summer. The bats come out and we get to watch them from our deck (we live in an orchard). My Mustang is most drivable since it is not cold or rainy. And since we started Vintage Faith Church we have used summers for times of having our School of Theology classes. On Sundays in the gatherings we generally study through a book of the Bible in the summers. This summer we are teaching through Philemon as part of a series about understanding Bible Study Methods.
Something I am extremely passionate about is that Christians become "self-feeders" of Scripture. Unlike in past times when there was more of a dependency on church leaders - we have all types of study helps that every Christian has easy access to. Bible study computer programs, commentaries of all types very affordable. But I do believe it is the leadership of the church which will set a culture for whether it is a "come on Sundays for your feeding" type of an approach vs. "Sundays are an important community time and there is teaching but the real feeding is what you do yourself during the week for best health of a disciple."
So the whole month of August we are taking to teach a series called "con:TEXT" which will be 2 weeks on Bible study methods and then taking what is a relatively unstudied and more obscure New Testament letter (Philemon) and giving out weekly homework for people to do a study daily, having people read the whole book every day and we will be diving into the specific culture and issue of slavery that frames how you read and understand Philemon. Our hope is this encourages studying Scripture through the week is a natural part of our life as a follower of Jesus.
The letter to Philemon is quite a dramatic and tension packed letter. So I am really looking forward to this series and hopefully it will continue our emphasis on the church becoming theologians (in the non-academic usage of the word). This Sunday I am teaching on the importance of understanding what a biblical worldview is when viewing film. These are my favorite types of things to teach about - as I love encouraging thinking beyond the surface when reading the Bible and looking into cultural context of the Bible. Philemon is a great one to be doing that with and most people haven't studied this letter before in depth. Fun Fun.
