When it comes to our scriptural knowledge, we laity often expect our pastor to know everything. After all, a pastor is a congregation's go-to instructor and leader. However, we often forget that studying scripture is a lifelong process for both laity and for clergy.

In founding our United Methodist Church, John Wesley empowered lay leaders by organizing them into small groups to foster their Christian living and growth. Neither lay leaders nor clergy were expected to know scripture as a concrete doctrine that dictated every minute detail about present-day life. It’s the application of scripture to our daily struggles and growth that makes it relevant, living through us as disciples of Christ.

Julie Stoll, a United Methodist member of Faulkton United Church, in Faulkton, SD, struggled during the pandemic with isolation, and realized, together with her husband, Rev. Shawn Stoll, that they needed people in their lives to strengthen the connection between scripture and our daily life.

Julie recalled, “During sabbatical, we realized that we needed more people in our life and we needed more discussion around the text and around how that text was showing up in our lives.”

Stoll, who began learning a format known as rabbinical scripture study almost six years ago, began teaching online and discovered there were many pastors who needed community during the COVID-19 pandemic. As she offered study groups, she was faced with a growing demand for the kind of connection and safe space that these groups offered. That led to conversations about offering scripture circles to pastors within the conference. Now, we are moving into our fourth round of cohorts, and clergy are taking notice.

“Anyone is welcome to come into a scripture circle because it's not based on experience or past knowledge and understanding, Julie explained. “Everyone is welcomed into the space and that's part of the beauty of it– all voices are valued and needed for us to truly see what the spirit is doing, because the spirit is actively at work in everyone, all the time. This is a space where the spirit kind of weaves us all together.”

Participants aren’t expected to have a certain expertise or knowledge; people of all levels of scriptural understanding are invited to share and grow. What makes this study space different is delving into original texts (Hebrew and Greek), to understand the significance of scripture that we might simply gloss over when reading our preferred English version.

“One of the fears people often have is they might think ‘I don't have great biblical background or my Hebrew is terrible or my Greek is not good’ or that they somehow don't have enough knowledge or understanding in order to engage in the space. Maybe they've had bad experiences where they were in discussions with others and their voices weren't heard and honored. So, I like to put all those concerns aside, that this type of discussion really brings everybody on the same playing field. Experience is just as valuable and important as previous knowledge.”

Pastor Addy Kenkel, serving Celebration UMC in Brandon, SD, shared her insights. “It really is a time that I feel like I get to be rejuvenated, just by learning about the scriptures and deepening my understanding of things where I would have no idea without studying the Hebrew. And it just makes the scriptures come alive when you get that context and the cultural explanation around it.”

In a typical study session, participants share where their soul is at, where they are having joys, doubts, hurts, or struggles. Then, as a group, with some guidance from Julie, scriptures are selected that might speak to each person in that moment of their week or their life. There isn’t a formal agenda, and the suggested scriptural selections apply to the here and now of the group. As the texts are read and pondered, Julie often digs into the Hebrew or Greek to reveal sometimes surprising depth, context, and wisdom in a passage that brings it into a new connection to the group.

Pastor Robert Blackburn, serving Langdon UMC in Langdon, ND, has been in a scripture circle and deeply appreciates the deep Hebrew meaning of scripture as they reveal sometimes hidden meaning and relevance.

Robert said, “It really gives you a better understanding and almost a new vision of what scripture means in some instances. Julie does a good job of explaining that and going into depth.”

He continued, “It's [also] relationships. You go into a group and maybe you know some of these people, and some of them you probably don't know, or maybe you've heard the names but have never spoken to them, and it's not just talking about scriptures, it's talking about, real life and what's going on in the churches or in your own daily life, and so you build kind of a rapport with some of them.”

Julie Stoll also shared the importance of building relationships in a safe space while exploring scriptural contexts. “In one of the first cohorts I led, a lady had been pastoring in the UMC for five years and had never felt like she belonged until the scripture circle. And she felt like she was heard and appreciated by peers. So, I think that's one of the aspects: you're building relationships on a deep level with peers who are doing the same work that you're doing. And that's so critically important in this time.”

“Pastors are often isolated; they’re in their own little circles, but the pastors are the leaders of those circles. Within a church demographic, there aren’t peers within that space, so this is creating space for peers to really be developed. It's common for people to bring in struggles or frustration, pain that they can't share within the church context.”

Pastor Robert shared the good experience he’s had, being open with peers. “I consider it a safe place to gather when you're doing Bible study. It's not something you [usually] do with other clergy people; it could be kind of intimidating. You don't have to be a deep biblical scholarly person to feel like you fit into these things. You can share your opinion and your viewpoints on different things without feeling like you're being scrutinized.”

Rev. Kenkel has been part of two previous scripture circles and has already signed up for a cohort in the upcoming months. “The community, too, is a big part of what I love about it. You grow with this group of people who are all over the state or in Minnesota, and you grow together with this group of people and you get really close and then you start learning with people and you see how they get excited about things and… all of a sudden you have all these nerds together in a big group getting excited about the Hebrew behind a passage. It's on my calendar and I make sure that it's always there because I never want to miss it.”

The lack of a hard agenda can require adjusting a person’s frame of mind, but it works to everyone’s advantage and allows the spirit to reveal itself to each person in the cohort.

“Laughter is important and there's flexibility,” Julie says, “there's not a rigid agenda that must be met, which can be frustrating for some who like to get to the end, so I acknowledge that that can be hard, but when you were playing at a playground, you can't have a hard agenda. We're coming in with the focus of hearing the spirit that's inside us and each other and enjoying the text and our time with each other. Because of that difference of agenda and focus, pastors come away talking about how they just thoroughly are enjoying the text again. And it's been refreshing and they're not afraid of the Old Testament like they used to be.

Sometimes people might feel a conflict between the Old and New Testaments, and this study can help to resolve some of that tension. Stoll said, “There is Hebrew content that has been looked at and enjoyed. Then it's easy to see that show up in other places throughout the text and then into The New Testament. There's also been a common comment that it's fun now to see how the New Testament and Old Testament play well together.”

Together with the Clergy Well-being Initiative, Stoll is again leading weekly, online Scripture Circle cohorts at five different times, beginning on January 15, 16, or 17,  2024. They will be offered to Dakotas and Minnesota clergy at a very reduced cost of $100 for ten weeks, thanks to the DK-MN Area Clergy Well-being Initiative. Spaces are limited to 8-11 participants per group, and are filling quickly. Registration closes Dec. 19.
You'll find more information and registration here.

• Monday Mornings, 10:30am -12:00 CT, January 15- March 18
• Monday Evenings, 7:00pm – 8:30 CT, January 15- March 18
• Tuesday Mornings, 10:30am – 12:00 CT, January 16 – March 19
• Tuesday Afternoons, 2:00pm - 3:30 CT, January 16 -March 19
• Wednesday Afternoons, 2:00pm – 3:30 CT, January 17 – March 20