I’d like to tell you a story about a Bible study class. Why tell a story about a mid-week Bible study when they are common in congregations of all stripes? This is not so much a story about a class as it is about a community. I tell you this story because, as congregations become smaller in number, doing things together is faithful and deeply meaningful.

At the NC Synod Assembly in late May 2025, Peggy Shoffner, a member of the congregation I serve, Coble’s Lutheran in Julian, made a new friend in Vicky Rich when they discovered they lived very near each other. Vicky invited Peggy to the mid-week Bible study at her church, Grace Lutheran in Liberty. After she attended for the first time, Peggy told me she had enjoyed the people and the curriculum; they were studying the book of Acts. I joined them the next week and found what she had discovered: a group of fun, kind Christians studying deeply the Word of God.

Minister Ned Thigpen is the Synod Authorized Minister (SAM) who serves the congregation of Grace, Liberty. Shirley Johnston, a member of Grace, told Minister Ned that she missed the way they used to have a mid-week Bible study. As congregations become smaller in size, worship and well-loved fellowship events are priorities that are easily maintained. However, as there are fewer people to lead and attend the various offerings they had when the congregation was larger, mid-week events often do not persist. When women’s groups or Bible studies have three or four people, one or two people unable to attend makes a huge difference, and these groups sometimes dissolve. So it has been at Grace, and Shirley was missing mid-week Bible study with her church. Minister Ned heard her request and acted on it, starting up a Bible study on the Book of Acts.

The small Bible study grew to include folks from the Liberty community, who attend congregations from different denominations, and the people of Grace Lutheran were delighted to add those voices to their study of scripture. Minister Ned’s mentor, the Rev. Constance Garrett, also attends the Bible study.

When I invited the people of Coble’s Lutheran to join the class, one woman was a bit hesitant to join a group mostly made of strangers. After her first class, she told me it was a delight, and she returned the next week.

So, you see, this isn’t just a story about a mid-week Bible study. It’s a love story.

This is a story about one woman inviting another to her church, where a church member has voiced her longing for something she’s been missing, and her minister has listened.

This story is about community members being welcome when they are not Lutheran and all of us getting comfortable listening to varying voices when studying God’s word.

Coble’s and Grace are experiencing the grief that comes with having fewer people to lead and attend events in our congregations. Our weekly study with a dozen or more people around the table is vibrant and holy, and if one or two cannot attend, we miss their presence, but the group does not dissolve.

God is at work in a myriad of ways in this one group. We have come to love one another, sharing our joys, sorrows, questions, and deep convictions as we open the Word each week.

And that’s a story worth telling.

Do you recognize yourself or your congregation in this story? Over one-third of the congregations in the North Carolina Synod of the ELCA have an average worship attendance of 50 or fewer. These ministries might be smaller, but they are mighty! God is there! Your Mission Support dollars allow synod staff to accompany, resource, and encourage these congregations as they live into their calling in their communities—sometimes together with others. Thanks be to God for your generosity!