We can only cover so much during our Sunday morning teaching. There’s always so much more to the topic. If you are enjoying our current teaching series and want to go deeper, here are some places you can learn more.
Current Series: Summer of 66
We’re often encouraged to read our bibles – but do we really know how to? In this 12-episode series, we’re taking a look at each of the Bible’s six literary genres and learning how to approach them. 2 Timothy 3:14-17 says, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” By creating a deeper understanding of scripture, we will build a strong foundation for ourselves as we continue to dive in and become fully devoted followers of Jesus.
How to Read the Bible Book by Book | Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stewart
For each book of the Bible, the authors start with a quick snapshot, then expand the view to help you better understand its message and how it fits into the grand narrative of the Bible. Written by two top evangelical scholars, this survey is designed to get you actually reading the Bible knowledgeably and understanding it accurately.
In an engaging, conversational style, Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart take you through every book of the Bible using their unique approach:
- Orienting Data—Concise info bytes that form a thumbnail of the book.
- Overview—A brief panorama that introduces key concepts and themes and important landmarks in the book
- Specific Advice for Reading—Pointers for accurately understanding the details and message of the book in context with the circumstances surrounding its writing.
- A Walk Through—The actual section-by-section tour that helps you see both the larger landscape of the book and how its various parts work together to form the whole.
How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth | Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stewart
Understanding the Bible isn’t for the few, the gifted, the scholarly. The Bible is accessible. It’s meant to be read and comprehended by everyone from armchair readers to seminary students. A few essential insights into the Bible can clear up a lot of misconceptions and help you grasp the meaning of Scripture and its application to your twenty-first-century life.
More than three quarters of a million people have turned to How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth to inform their reading of the Bible. This fourth edition features revisions that keep pace with current scholarship, resources, and culture. Changes include:
- Updated language for better readability
- Scripture references now appear only in brackets at the end of a sentence or paragraph, helping you read the Bible as you would read any book―without the numbers
- A new authors’ preface
- Redesigned and updated diagrams
- Updated list of recommended commentaries and resources
Covering everything from translational concerns to different genres of biblical writing, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth is used all around the world. In clear, simple language, it helps you accurately understand the different parts of the Bible―their meaning for ancient audiences and their implications for you today―so you can uncover the inexhaustible worth that is in God’s Word.
Reading the Sacred Text | Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stewart
A comprehensive manual for anyone wishing to become competent in reading and understanding the Scriptures of the Judeo-Christian tradition.
The chapters of this book introduce the reader to all aspects of biblical studies. They guide the reader through the maze, from ‘Venturing In’ to ‘Negotiated Reading’. There are sections on, for example, considering the self-consciousness of the reader/interpreter, the interaction of the tradition with the text of Scripture through the ages, the various literary genres together with the principal forms within the larger biblical documents, ways of reading the text in the modern and post-modern periods, how the academic reading of Scripture and the church reading interact, the relation between competent reading of the sacred text and the preparation and delivery of the sermon, the place of dialogue in the interpretive process.
The conclusion sums up the discussion throughout the book and focuses the issues for a competent reading of the Bible and related writings.
The Bible Unwrapped | Meghan Larissa Good
Many people have questions about Scripture they are too afraid to ask. Are all the stories of the Bible true? What about all the books that got left out? What do we make of all that violence? What do we do when biblical authors seem to disagree? And what if we encounter situations the Bible doesn’t address? Drawing from the best of contemporary biblical scholarship and the ancient well of Christian tradition, scholar and preacher Meghan Larissa Good helps readers consider why the Bible matters. Known for presenting complex theological ideas in accessible, engaging ways, Good delves into issues like biblical authority, literary genre, and Christ-centered hermeneutics, and calls readers beyond either knee-jerk biblicism, on the one hand, or skeptical disregard on the other. Instead, The Bible Unwrapped invites readers to faithful reading, communal discernment, and deep and transformative wonder about Scripture.
Join an honest conversation about the Bible that is spiritually alive and intellectually credible. Read the ancient story of God in the world. You may even learn to love it.
INDIGENOUS RECONCILIATION
Resources for Settlers
Why is reconciliation important?
We recognize the harms churches have committed in the name of Jesus to Indigenous people and communities, and we acknowledge our role as Mennonites in some of these harms. We also recognize that harms continue to be committed against Indigenous people and their lands by powerful forces in our society. May we stand with them in love and solidarity until true reconciliation is fully achieved.
These resources are a starting place to encourage settlers in our faith community to educate themselves, and to personally commit to being people of reconciliation. God, we pray that this knowledge would guide our words, our hearts and our actions.
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We will have copies of these books for both adults and children available to borrow. Click here to visit our Lending Library and request a book.
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A Prayer of Reconciliation
Holy One, Creator of all that is, seen and unseen,
of story and of song, of heartbeat and of tears
of bodies, souls, voices and all relations:
you are the God of all truth and the way of all reconciliation.
Uphold with your love and compassion all who open their lives
in the sacred sharing of their stories
breathe in us the grace to trust in your loving forgiveness,
that we may face our histories with courage;
touch us through the holy gift of story
that those who speak and those who listen may behold your own redeeming presence;
guide us with holy wisdom to enter through the gates of remorse
that our feet may walk gently and firmly on the way of justice and healing.