INDUCTIVE STUDY DAY

It was with great excitement that we welcomed the School of the word team to Lenham on Saturday, to lead us in a morning learning about the bible and the inductive study method.
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Emma kicked off the morning by talking about 'what is the bible?'  We learned how the bible is written by many authors from all different walks of life, but with one message, that the radical love of God for humanity never ends.  The bible mainly follows the story of one nation, who received the promise of a redeemer, how that redeemer came, and how the good news of that redeemer was spread.
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Tony talked about some of the different approaches that can be used to study the bible, and Mel finished off the introduction by explaining why we use the inductive study method and what that looks like in practice.  
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"This day has been really useful and opened my eyes on how to study the bible. What stood out was how Philemon loved and forgave like Jesus forgave us, so we have to do the same, which is sometimes a real challenge"
​Maryann

"This day has taught me to be more aware of focusing on the actual words written, taking off the filters of my own experience.  It was a really useful and enjoyable morning and it has given me renewed enthusiasm for reading the bible."
Gail

We had a lot of fun in groups trying to piece together the timeline of the bible, and working out where all the different books fit into the overall story.  There were varying attempts, with varying degrees of accuracy, but thankfully we were all given the correct timeline at the end by Tony!  By now we were looking forward to using the coloured pencils in our welcome packs and diving into reading our bibles!
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After a break, we embarked on the second half of the morning, where we actually used the inductive method to look at the letter of Philemon together.  This was the highlight of the day.  Mel gave us plenty of opportunities to make our own observations,  using the coloured pencils to help us focus on the words.  We were encouraged to share the things we noticed, and draw out important themes. By the end of the morning there was a sense of hush, as everyone realised that God was speaking to them through the book, and showing them things that they had never seen before. The little book of Philemon had come alive!  We finished with some quiet prayer and reflection.
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"Today in Philemon I got so excited because there were so many gold nuggets in this little book.  The Holy Spirit opened my eyes to truths that are in the book that I've never seen before."  
Estelle

"I found the morning truly enlightening.  Paul wrote a great referral letter, but the underlying message, which was only discovered when we dug into it, was about extending love and kindness when you are grounded in Christ. "
Rani

Tony, Mel and Emma did a fantastic job of leading us through the inductive study method, and we extend our heartfelt  thanks to them.  We got so much out of our time together.  We would thoroughly recommend this to anyone wondering about hosting a day at their church.  

Jenny Needham