Lenten Bible Study

Make plans to join Bishop Carter for a Lenten study featuring a combination of live Zoom conversations and weekly reflections with discussion questions.

View the introductory session with Bishop Carter below.
 

Dear laity and clergy of the Western North Carolina Conference,

As February moves along, we will soon be in Lent. I am inviting you to join me for a Lenten study of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "Life Together." The format for this study has been amended since our original invitation, in order to support and encourage small group discussion in your local communities. I hope you will join us. You can do so from wherever you are.

On March 1, the Wednesday after Ash Wednesday, we will gather online at 6pm for a reflection on John 15 and an introduction for our reading for Lent, which will be Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s "Life Together." The Bible Study will conclude before 7pm and will be recorded for distribution on that Friday at noon. View the recording of the March 1 session here.

On each Wednesday (March 8, 15, 22, 29) I will send out a note, around 500 words or so, about Christian community—how we discover it, how we rediscover it, how we build it. This weekly written reflection will be accompanied with a discussion question for your study groups. The reflections will be sent out in the weekly E-News and on the Conference social media platforms. 

And during March we will drop a podcast episode responding to your insights and questions about Christian community and Life Together—where you are finding it, the obstacles, the brokenness, and the depth and joy of relationship. Send your questions and insights to meansofgrace@wnccumc.org.

It is about grace, connection, holiness.

I was in a conversation with a wise person this week and she was commenting on our mission—“to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world”—and she said, “What if that really needs to be, 'to create communities that make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world?'”

I think she is onto something profound. Our calling is to create the conditions where disciples can grow together, be sustained together. John 15 and Bonhoeffer will help us with that. "Life Together" is a spiritual classic, but it is also brief enough to complete, and we will support each other in doing that.

And then at 6pm on April 5, the Wednesday of Holy Week, we will meet via Zoom to study John 17 (Jesus’ prayer for unity) and summarize what we have learned from "Life Together". The link to join this session will be available on Tuesday, April 4.

I hope you will join us, and if you are in a small group, it would be great if you came alongside this conversation with us during Lent. This could also be a Wednesday night study in your church or missional network or covenant group. I look forward to the conversation and learning.

+Bishop Ken Carter
Resident Bishop of The Western NC Conference
The United Methodist Church