There are amazing things happening in the life of the community in Ashland, Ohio, across several churches and denominations in the area. Two unique groups have formed, a Bible study for women as well as a Bible study for youth. Both groups meet regularly and neither is connected with one single church; they are both led by leadership teams with members of multiple churches, including two local Brethren churches as well as one of the local Lutheran churches. Both the women’s Bible study and the youth Bible study have been born out of a desire to have a deeper connection with God’s word and the community around them.

Since 2019, Anne ‘Stoffer’ Williams, has been a part of an international ministry called, “Bible Study Fellowship” or BSF, in which people from the local community come together and study and discuss the same passage of scripture together. Anne explains that this really helped her come alive because it was simple and deep, and she grew in her faith and fell deeper in love with the Lord through studying His Word. She speaks of the time when her kids were home from school during Covid in 2020, and how it was a sweet time for her as their mother, having an opportunity to teach them what she was learning through BSF. Anne shared, “I think I started to feel this conviction that I was probably subconsciously copping out because the kids were learning about Jesus at Sunday School; we would read little kid's devotionals here and there, but we weren’t actively in the Word with our kids. That year, BSF was going through Genesis, so the kids and I, while they were home from school and had the time and space, had a big paper spread across the wall and we’d read the stories together and the kids would take turns drawing snapshots of the stories we read.” She said it was so cool to see them so interested and engaged in the Bible in that way.

Anne’s time with BSF has been wonderful for her, and while she started just participating for the first two years, she now serves as a group leader. She sees God moving and changing hearts and sees that it's true that you can’t read God’s Word without being changed for the better.

After the year at home and learning more about God’s Word, Anne’s daughter Josie (6th grade) came home from Camp Bethany that year on fire to learn more. Encouraged by another friend of hers who was starting a boy’s Bible study, she decided she wanted to start a girl’s Bible study as well. Anne loved the idea and loved to see her daughter’s passion, so she gathered some mothers of Josie’s friends, and they organically started to create this girl’s Bible study. Meeting weekly and rotating homes, this group quickly grew from 5 or 6 girls to 17 between the beginning of September and the end of October, just two short months. It was at this time that they moved from meeting in living rooms to meeting at Trinity Lutheran Church, which also hosts the women’s BSF group.

At that time, a number of the women leading the girl’s Bible study were also a part of the BSF group, so they tended to study similar parts of the scripture. Many of the women also had 4th and 5th grade children as well, so they decided to start a Bible study for them as well, in addition to the 6th and 7th grade groups. With about 20 kids in each age group, their number for this youth Bible study had grown to close to 40 in a very short time. Anne explained that this group is different from youth group, which is still very good and very important but this was simply Bible study. “It’s just studying God’s Word, it wasn’t like we had games or anything; there’s still a place for that, we’re not trying to take away from youth group, we just feel like this is an important component as well.”

Not only has this group of kids grown and gotten into God’s Word, but the leadership team, with representatives of Five Stones, Park Street Brethren, and Trinity Lutheran, meets weekly to pray and go over the lesson with intentionality. Last year when the group was still smaller, some of the older kids in the group took turns leading the study as well. Now there is a larger leadership team of adults that teaches week to week, and a little over two years since its start, the group continues to grow and sees about 50-60 kids each week, spanning from 4th grade to high school. Anne says, “It feels like with this youth Bible study, it was just something that started very small, and then God took it and we’re just holding on wondering where He’s taking us next.”

Anne loves the way she can see how strengthening the community’s youth together in God’s Word is shaping things, even as they interact with the rest of the world around them. She sees how Josie and her friends especially are able to stand together against things like gossip at school. She has even been encouraged to show patience in difficult situations at home by her youngest daughter, Esther. When their pipes froze and their washer flooded over, she shared, “Esther was like, ‘Mom, maybe God has something good for you in this!’ You know, she’s starting to have kingdom eyes, I can see it shape who she’s becoming in Jesus.”

We love to see that the Kingdom of God is working in our midst, sometimes starting with 6th graders coming home from church camp with a passion. We pray that there are more and more of these organic examples of the Lord working in the hearts and minds of our people popping up all through our denomination and across the world!

If you are interested in more information about the Women’s Bible Study Fellowship in Ashland or looking to have this international ministry come to your town, check it out here: https://www.bsfinternational.org

If you’re in the Ashland area and want more information about the youth Bible study, check it out here: https://youthbiblestudy.co