Thursday Night Bible Study
In 2021, we helped Steven Yeakley (former minister here) begin the Discipleship Ministry at College Church.
A year later, our ministry restarted the Thursday Night Study, a 2008 brainchild of Eddie Cloer, intended to be a major part of Caring and Sharing. After early success in attracting C&S attendees and bringing several to the Lord, the original Thursday study, which included a meal, gradually withered and quietly ended in 2013.
Our restart kept the same day and format: a meal followed by study. At first, we had more teachers show up than students, but during the next two years attendance rose to an average of 20-25. At times we achieved a one-on-one student-teacher ratio, with teachers choosing their own topics. In the spring of 2024, we had four baptisms.
By the fall of 2024, however, we saw a problem. Mindful of Eddie Cloer’s insistence that whether it’s a Monday or Thursday, the evening needs to provide more than a physical meal, we had to admit that many of our attendees were coming just for the food. So we changed from weekly to monthly meals. Sadly, attendance dropped to around 10 a week, including teachers.
Another disconcerting sign this year is that each week we host the same few people, all Christians. Obviously baptized believers can benefit from this gathering, but our few non-Christian visitors (all from C&S) have not been returning for study lately.
Right now we’re on summer break, but are planning and praying to find ways to draw more people this fall. We regularly extend invitations to the study through C&S and His House. In fact, we hope to play a video excerpt from our next study at C&S, and then ask questions on the content to demonstrate how Thursday Night works to explore God’s Word.
We also hope to renew efforts to make friends in the community that we can personally invite to join us. And that’s where you, our fellow College Church members, can help—by seeking out a non-Christian or struggling Christian you know who might be open to a study. You can bring that person and join us as a teacher. Or give us the name, and we’ll take it from there—with God’s help.
If history is cyclical, then our Thursday Study could be facing another shut down. But the good news is that God is an eternally dependable recycler of Good News.
A year later, our ministry restarted the Thursday Night Study, a 2008 brainchild of Eddie Cloer, intended to be a major part of Caring and Sharing. After early success in attracting C&S attendees and bringing several to the Lord, the original Thursday study, which included a meal, gradually withered and quietly ended in 2013.
Our restart kept the same day and format: a meal followed by study. At first, we had more teachers show up than students, but during the next two years attendance rose to an average of 20-25. At times we achieved a one-on-one student-teacher ratio, with teachers choosing their own topics. In the spring of 2024, we had four baptisms.
By the fall of 2024, however, we saw a problem. Mindful of Eddie Cloer’s insistence that whether it’s a Monday or Thursday, the evening needs to provide more than a physical meal, we had to admit that many of our attendees were coming just for the food. So we changed from weekly to monthly meals. Sadly, attendance dropped to around 10 a week, including teachers.
Another disconcerting sign this year is that each week we host the same few people, all Christians. Obviously baptized believers can benefit from this gathering, but our few non-Christian visitors (all from C&S) have not been returning for study lately.
Right now we’re on summer break, but are planning and praying to find ways to draw more people this fall. We regularly extend invitations to the study through C&S and His House. In fact, we hope to play a video excerpt from our next study at C&S, and then ask questions on the content to demonstrate how Thursday Night works to explore God’s Word.
We also hope to renew efforts to make friends in the community that we can personally invite to join us. And that’s where you, our fellow College Church members, can help—by seeking out a non-Christian or struggling Christian you know who might be open to a study. You can bring that person and join us as a teacher. Or give us the name, and we’ll take it from there—with God’s help.
If history is cyclical, then our Thursday Study could be facing another shut down. But the good news is that God is an eternally dependable recycler of Good News.
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