The South Carolina Synod Bible Team began meeting in the summer of 2023 to consider ways to fulfill the work of the Resolution on Living into the Unity of the Body of Christ that passed at the 2023 Synod Assembly. This BibleTeam includes Josh Kestner, Shelley Allen, Steven Gallego, Kevin Ogilvie, Lisa Isenhower, Bobby Morris, Joanna Gragg, Libby Bedenbaugh, Arden Hallman, Heather Apel, Deborah Poole, Wayne Kannaday, and Bishop Ginny Aebischer. For a time, it also included Mark Buchan. This team meets monthly to explore options for how to best resource and support the work of Bible Study and to gather the South Carolina Synod together in Unity around God’s Word. Updates on our activity have been shared at each South Carolina Synod Council meeting. Now, we are happy to share the results of our work with all of you.
We are excited to share that this team is writing a curriculum that is being offered as a gift to the entire Synod for use in Sunday School classes or with small groups. We have divided the curriculum into two sections. Section One will be sent to all congregations in early May and can be used in August, September, October, November, December, and January. Section Two will be released later in the fall and is intended to be used between March 2025 through August 2025. The material will come as units of study that can be used over a period of several weeks but are not dated because we wanted to make it user-friendly and allow each of you to determine when you wish to use each part and to give you the freedom to explore the topics for the weeks that your group needs. In Section One, topics include: “Introduction to What the Bible is and What the Bible is not,” “The Gospel of Luke,” “Advent,” “Christmas,” and “Revelation”. This Bible Team is also working to produce the same topics in a version that could be used with youth classes. Be on the lookout for the first half of this gift in early May. Many thanks to the Bible Team for offering this to everyone in the Synod.
In Addition, this Bible Team is working on a video concept that we hope to produce this spring. We will use short clips to explore various Biblical questions as Food for Thought and an opportunity to Feast on Faith. This part of our work is indeed a work in progress. We hope to produce these short videos for use on Social Media and anticipate that you will see some of them in the near future. In the meantime, keep reading the Scriptures together and living God’s Word in the world.
1. Introduction to What that Bible is and What the Bible is not.
By Rev. Josh Knutson and Rev. Bobby Morris
2. Themes in the Gospel according to Luke.
By Rev. Lisa Isenhower
3. What Child is This? How the Old Testament Prepares us for the Coming of God’s Messiah.
By Rev. Bobby M. Morris
4. Jesus is born: Matthew and Luke’s Birth Stories
By Rev. Kevin A. Ogilvie, PhD
5. Reading Revelation: Finding Good News in the Scariest Book of the Bible
By Wayne C. Kannaday
