Terry Storch lists the top 10 (or 12) Innovative Churches. The thing that saddens me about this list is I do not go to a church like any of these. All of these churches seem to have small groups for discipleship training — something I desperately need and want to be a part of — but we don’t really have anything like that in my church. I’ve found that when I try to get involved in different aspects to share my knowledge and learn from others, I tend to have a different view of things than others. [I tend to take the Bible literally.] I think the differences stem from poor discipleship or no discipleship training. The times I’ve tried to share or step up and lead something, I get resistance.
So what’s a girl to do? Build her own web site where she can post her views without worrying about offending someone 
It sounds to me like the Disciple study we’re doing at our church would be perfect for you. It meets for 34 weeks and is divided into four progressive groups (i.e., we’re in Disciple I right now, and we’ll move on to II next year.). I guess there are about a dozen people in all taking our class.
This is a very indepth study of the Bible, with lots of reading and workbook assignments. Then we meet for 2 hours every Thursday evening and discuss that week’s lesson.
It’s not just a straight Genesis-through-Revelation kind of thing, either. It works from themes (key words) like Disciple, Wonder, Sin, etc. So you’re moving around through the Bible, while sticking to the chronology — if that makes sense. For instance, we’re reading Genesis (we’re in our second week), but to keep with the theme of Wonder, we also read some from Job, Psalms and Matthew. And the workbook has other Biblical references to Wonder, as well. It’s much, much easier than a straight reading of the Bible from cover to cover, and far more interesting too.
More importanly, it covers the Bible from both a theological and a historical point of view. I’m hearing opinions and ideas I’d never considered, and it’s really thought-provoking. Plus our pastor told me if you go through all four Disciple classes, it’s as if you’ve gone to divinity school, you’ll have so much Bible knowledge.
You can buy this study at Cokesbury, but naturally it’s not limited to Methodism!
Check
out this link.
Hey, did the rest of my long-winded comment get cut off after that HTML? Or did I just type too much?! Ack! If so, here’s the rest. Now I better get back to work! But do check out Disciple. It looks to me to be perfect for people with differing opinions on the Bible.
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Anyway, I highly recommend this study. In a situation like this group we’re in, it’s understood that many times we’re going to have differing opinions — and that’s accepted by all of us, and encouraged by our teacher. The idea is for all of us to get as much out of the Bible as we can, and of course you can’t always do that if you stick to your own ideas and methods of thinking. It’s good to share, and good to bring up other points of view.
So if you were in a study like this, your interpretation of the Bible would (should) be invited and accepted without hesitation.
Check it out — see what your church thinks.
Lisa
P.S. Our pastors go to Willow Creek occasionally for conferences! They just got back not too awful long ago with a Christian-based financial planning and budgeting program that they’re offering to the congregation as a small-group study. It’s called Good $ense:
http://www.goodsenseministry.com/
We’re also taking this — it tells you how to budget from a Christian perspective, work out tithing in your finances, etc.