Recently I had a conversation with a very impressive woman and as she was sharing, she mentioned that she is in a Bible study with some friends. “Right now”, she said, “we are studying John Piper”. I had such a mixed reaction to her statement. First off, I was impressed that she was reading a book by John Piper, an amazing pastor and theologian who lives up in Minnesota. Yet, my other reaction was to think ‘when did Piper get added to the Bible?’ We Christians have this odd thing of doing what we call a Bible study and really we don’t study the Bible. We read books about scripture, theology, the Christian life, etc and call it a Bible study. Frankly it grates on me! Every Friday I go to Starbucks at 7am because Lauren is part of a group of girls from her school that meet up there. For a while she referred to it as “Bible study” because that is what she was invited to participate in. However, after a few conversations in the forty minute ride to get there, we no longer call it that because… well… it isn’t. They read a (good) book and discuss it. So Friday mornings, she goes to her book study and when they decide to actually study the Bible, it can legitimately be called that.
Some folks I know are involved in small group Bible studies that often don’t actually get around to studying the Bible together because they devote most of their time to “doing life together” meaning that they share their struggles, confess sin, encourage and pray for one another, etc and if they get around to doing more than reading the Bible, then great. I am not opposed to ‘life groups’ or small groups that are all about sharing, but let’s not deceive ourselves and call it Bible study unless we are actually going to study His word. In my mind, a good Bible study always includes sharing, encouraging, praying, etc for one another. Otherwise we are not rooting what we learn in real life stuff.
Anyone agree?
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