For some people, it’s Saturday afternoon college football marathons.
For my parents, it’s Jeopardy’s half-hour slot.
For me, it’s a Friday morning Zoom Bible study. My Friday mornings are sacred. I am busy. Do not call me. Do not email me. Do not WhatsApp me.
The Dream Team Since 2018
It’s been this way since 2018. The women’s Bible study track at my first-ever regional missionary conference in August of that year was transformative. The speaker ignited something in the women on the field at the time that made us crave more. More fellowship, more bearing one another’s burdens, more mutual accountability and encouragement, more of Christ’s “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” Word (Hebrews 4:12). Lists of names on a blank sheet of printer paper coalesced into numerous groups that met on a certain day of the week, at a certain time, to delve into Scripture through a certain lens, in a certain language, based on the dynamics of their members.
I’d been deployed less than a week, could match names with faces but didn’t really know anyone, and had no idea what my job was going to look like. So … Friday mornings? Sure. There were seven or eight of us at first, scattered across multiple continents: Las Conquistadoras (The Conquerors). The COVID-19 pandemic affected us little; Zoom had been our virtual hangout space for upwards of a year before the pandemic.
Transitions in the field as a whole meant our circle, too, underwent a metamorphosis, and “Play Group” was born. If toddlers can get together weekly for a morning of pure joy with friends, why couldn’t grown women serving internationally? Unwilling to deny our need to catch up on life before delving into Scripture, we elongated our Outlook meeting time slot to match reality: 90 minutes.
Bible Study Buddies
We have always used a book to guide our discussions. We’re no slackers, nor do we waste precious minutes “together” simply reading words on a page; each week’s “homework” is the following week’s discussion fodder, following an opening prayer that invites Christ into our corner of cyberspace. The toys in our imaginary sandbox have been wide-ranging:
- We pondered God’s plans for our lives in But Now I See!
- Great Women of the Bible has been a one-off interlude between studies on multiple occasions.
- We sighed and rolled our eyes, realizing churches today endure the same kinds of messiness as the Colossians, according to The Mighty and the Mysterious.
- We reveled in the notion that God calls us altogether beautiful in Altogether Beautiful.
- Ruth: More Than a Love Story and Demystifying the Proverbs 31 Woman rocked my views of oft-cited material—and made me wish I knew Hebrew.
The habit of meeting together is exactly that—a habit. As such, it’s hard to form but easy to break. Add to that Satan’s attacks on those who represent the front lines of the Gospel going forth into all the world, and it comes as no surprise that Bible study hasn’t always been a cakewalk. Life happens. Kids happen. Illness happens. Travels happen. Missionaries leaving the field happens. There was a stretch recently when I wondered, Has Bible study run its course? Is it time for it to die a natural death? I couldn’t fathom the thought but inevitably started thinking through how I’d tick all of the boxes Bible study had ticked for half a decade.
Where Two or More Are Gathered
I’m eternally grateful that a core of us stood firm, fought through, and have emerged as “the Stalwart Sisters.” Two are Latin American Caribbean (LAC) missionaries; one no longer. Two are laity; one is a deaconess. Two are married (to pastors) with children; one is single. We know one another’s vices and dreams, and we know the right words to say to build one another up. Together, with a little help from Deb Burma, we’re Leaning on Jesus—most weeks. Other times, it’s just a check-in and a prayer, but there is always prayer.
I think the group is aptly named, but our stalwartness is only a pale reflection of God’s. Our repertoire over the past six years has taught me that no matter how large or small the group, no matter how many meeting occurrences end up getting canceled, no matter how many squirming toddlers weasel their way in front of their mom’s webcam, a few things are most certainly true. His will prevails—and pity the fool who tries to hinder it. He used women throughout Scripture to do “great” things according to His singular, divine purpose. He still holds all things together (Colossians 1:17). He pursues us like a bridegroom pursues his bride. He is wisdom personified. My Friday mornings are sacred not because I plan around them and despise interruption. They’re sacred because two or three or more are gathered together, and the unfaltering God who promised to be there truly is.
Scripture: ESV®.
At home or abroad, church worker or layperson, you can develop a wonderful Bible study community too!
