I want to start a Community Ladies’ Bible Class. I know you taught one in Tenn., so I was wondering if you could give me some tips on how to promote it, maybe some ideas on a good venue for the class, and any other helpful info.
Thanks so much! : )
Hope all’s well your way!
Well, all I know to tell you is a little about how we did our CLUB in Collierville, Tennessee. The acrostic CLUB stood for Collierville Ladies Understanding the Bible. We met on Tuesdays whenever public schools were in session. Our studies began at 12:05 and lasted till 12:50 and ladies could bring lunch. We also had coffee and cookies at a table for snacking. We wanted to make it convenient for ladies who were on a lunch break. We advertised by word of mouth, newspaper ads, putting attractive flyers in shop windows, and sending out pretty invitations to friends by USPS. If it were now, I would also rely heavily on internet social networking to advertise.
The first semester, we studied “Doing Family God’s Way” and I used the book “Your Mama Don’t Dance” as my study guide for teaching. This was advertised as a class to help get our families on track by looking to God’s Word. At the beginning of each semester each member of CLUB was given a three ring binder (the kind that has a clear insert pocket on the front, so you can make the cover attractive), and each week each lady was given a skeleton outline of that day’s lesson, with plenty of room for her to make notes under each point. At the bottom of the outline, there was a daily Bible reading assignment for each day between this meeting and the next. These scriptures were all to help prepare the ladies for the next week’s lesson. Prayer requests were taken only by phone ahead of class and I lead a prayer at the beginning of each class.
We began meeting in the community room at the local library, but soon outgrew that and had to meet in an auditorium (the community theater), where we remained for the next two years. The next studies were women of the Old Testament, which opened many doors to talk about some very relevant topics including God’s plan of salvation. Several personal studies spawned from our meetings and one lady was baptized. The gospel was taught to every member of CLUB since these studies of women were so amazingly relevant to us and taught us much about our responsibilities in obeying God.
We kept careful records of attendees and made sure they received personal invitations to our gospel meetings, ladies days and VBS. During the last couple of semesters we grew in the numbers of moms who had children, so we began a class for the children, too. We had a great group of Christian women who were devoted to this project and who were just amazing at working together to make this CLUB happen. These ladies invited their friends, met for distributing flyers to shops all over town, baked cookies, made coffee, taught children, designed fliers and invitations, took photos for the newspaper, sat with newcomers, and prayed about CLUB. Once a semester, we had a luncheon for the whole CLUB, either in a home or in a restaurant.
I am hoping to establish a CLUB (Community Ladies Understanding the Bible) in Huntsville in the upcoming months when the congregation here moves to its new property. I believe it can be a great thing in Huntsville, too. I will be in prayer for your study. God is so good to have given us the way to godliness that profits us in this life and in the life to come (I Tim. 4:8).
