GREETINGS

GREETINGS

Are you looking for material for an Adult First Day/Sunday School Class?

Are you looking for material for a Bible Study Group?

Are you looking for material for Spiritual Formation Groups?

Are you looking for material for Day Workshops or Weekend Retreats?

Are you looking for material for Advent, Lenten, or Easter Programs?

Are you looking for material to study the Life of Jesus?

My name is Pat DeWitt Thomas.  In January of this year I was awarded the Tom Mullen Writing Fellowship at Earlham School of Religion.  During this time I have developed a method of Bible Study that I have found to be fun and fruitful and I would like to introduce it to you, for individual use or for group use in your Meeting, Church, or Small Group Fellowships.

The title of the book is Following Jesus & Walking With God: A Year’s Journey Through The Gospels.  The book takes you through the Gospels by introducing you to characters in the Bible that have an encounter with Jesus.  You read about one of these characters per week and their encounter with Jesus. Then you interact and respond to that character and the impact the encounter had on his or her life by completing three writing prompts; a journal entry the character would have written, imagining that character’s life forty years later, and a post card that shares that experience and response with others, in the form of a devotion or meditative essay.

The process and exercises in this book can be done alone for your personal devotional time, but the fruit of your labor will be enhanced if it is shared with others, also on the journey.  So, I highly recommend this handbook be used with the “one another’s” in your life.  Journeys are fun and can be much more fun when traveling with others, be they family, friends, First Day/Sunday School class, Bible Study groups, Spiritual Formation Groups, Day Workshops, Weekend Retreats, or just where two or three are gathered. It follows the Birth-Life-Death-Resurrection of Jesus, so it would work well as an Advent Program, Lenten Program, Easter Program, or a simple study in the life of Jesus if used in a church setting that follows the Liturgical year.

I used this process and material at the Lake Erie Yearly Meeting Bible Study for three years. The folks who attended enjoyed these exercises during their Bible Study for three reasons:

 1. The process of getting into the Bible through the encounters between Jesus and a particular character’s journal entry was fresh and fun.

2.  As they read their assignments to one another they discovered a response that was different and unique to each individual who shared their interpretation of the event; no right or wrong, but equally rich insights into the scriptures.  Everyone got equal time to share.

3. They got to know one another on a deeper, more personal level; a level that had not necessarily been reached in the many years they had spent with one another in these meetings. Something special happened during those early morning Bible Studies and people felt it.

I worked for many years in Church leadership and Youth Ministry and have led Small Group Meetings.  This is a method and process that leads to high interaction between participants and provides a fun and enjoyable way to interact with the Bible.  Whether it is used for individual devotions or for Group study I believe you will find it fun and fruitful. I would like to offer this material to you. 

The Year’s Journey Through the Gospels is being published by Cloistered Soul Ministries and is available in a PDF file at no cost.

I hope you will get excited about this material and will want to offer it to your group. To order the material contact me at pilgrimageoftheheart@gmail.com.  Please feel free to contact me at the same email address if you have any questions or I can help you in anyway.  I'd also like to hear how you are using and enjoying the study.Thank you for assisting me in putting this material into to hands of people who want to grow in their relationship with God and the Bible.