Bible Study

This morning before church Matt and I led our first Maasai Bible Study. We didn't really know what to expect. We started on time with more than 20 and by the end had close to 50 people there from young adults to people close to our grandparents' age. We had said in our announcement for it to be people who speak English, well, that didn't happen. People were so excited to study the Word of God they just came anyway! To be honest, we were disappointed at first, because we couldn't guide discussion very well, especially with having to translate back and forth, but then we were reminded that what a blessing to have so much interest.
Our topic is “Who is Jesus?” and we are going to be working our way through the Gospel of John. There were definitely some challenges with such big numbers, but we studied John 1: 1-4 and vs. 14, looking at who is the Word, why is Jesus called the Word, what's the significance of the Word and God's Word (looked at Genesis and how God spoke all things into being... the power of God's Word). So it was good learning for us and hopefully valuable for the people who came. Plus, since everyone's already there, church started a lot closer to on time (definite bonus points).
Afterwards many people expressed their thanks, specifically emphasizing this was the first Bible study most of them had ever participated in. It reminds me how blessed I am- I just took Sunday School and all the many Bible studies around me growing up for granted.
So we are thinking of ways to better work it for next week, including splitting up into groups, training some discussion leaders, setting ground rules for discussion, etc. One limitation is that many aren't literate, so, telling them to read through the verse for themselves has its limitations... however, we did ask them to read the rest of John 1 on their own this week. If they needed help, we told them to come see us and we would walk them through it. At first we were reluctant to volunteer ourselves to do that, it could be really difficult with language, but there are definitely a lot worse things to be doing than helping people read the Word of God... Plus, what an opportunity to encourage them to attend literacy classes to be able to study more on their own!
Please be praying that God would bless us and this community in this valuable work.