Did you know that there are over 300 Bible studies on the Faith Practices website of the ELCA?
A little history . . . In the year 2000 there was an initiative called, “Call To Discipleship” and seven faith practices were developed from that program. The faith practices that were developed are Encourage, Give, Invite, Pray, Serve, Study and Worship. Numerous resources were developed based on these faith practices, including Bible studies that are based on the Gospel lesson found in the three-year lectionary. These Bible studies are on the faith practices website. They are called “Daily Discipleship Bible Studies.”
In 2011, a new set of faith practices were encouraged (the above seven faith practices are still being used in some ministry settings) and these five faith practices are based upon our baptismal covenant and are called, “Daily Faith Practices Bible Studies”:
- To live among God’s faithful people.
- To hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper.
- To proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed.
- To serve all people following the example of Jesus.
- To strive for justice and peace in all the earth.
There are over 150 bible studies based on these five faith practices, using the second lesson for each Sunday of the three-year lectionary as a framework for the bible study. The direct link to the Faith Practices website where these bible studies are presented is elca.org/faithpractices.
How about having a bible conversation around one or more of these bible studies before 2017 is over? Thanks for considering this! Please let me know if you have questions, comments or suggestions at Brenda.Smith@elca.org.
Rev. Brenda K. Smith
ELCA Program Director for Faith Practices and Book of Faith.
