Annual Leaders Retreat April 27 - 29, 2018
Reading the Bible with Neighbors & Strangers
Retreat Presenter
Bryan Moyer Suderman is an itinerant singer/songwriter and Bible teacher from Kitchener, Ontario (Canada) who has spent the past 25 years finding creative ways to engage all ages in the scriptural drama of God’s love for the world.
Bryan is known for his engaging and interactive style of speaking, teaching, and song-leading. He has been described as an Anabaptist Pete Seeger, with a gift for writing songs that are deeply scriptural, musically memorable, and readily singable. With these gifts, coupled with his research and teaching on “Reading the Bible With Jesus,” Bryan will be an excellent resource for this year’s retreat as we look at Reading the Bible with Neighbors & Strangers.
Reading the Bible with Neighbors and Strangers
During this retreat we will reflect together on spiritual practice #5 in our Covenant of Spiritual Practices for Central Plains Mennonite Conference: “We will study the Bible with neighbors and strangers, inviting them to become disciples of Jesus.”
How might we do this? How might we open up the scriptures for/with neighbors and strangers, inviting them to become disciples of Jesus? And how might neighbors and strangers open up the scriptures for/with us, calling us to a deeper discipleship?
Luke 24’s Emmaus Road journey of transformative encounter with the “stranger” will structure our worship times together. In addition, we will “search the scriptures” and our own experiences together during three input sessions, drawing ideas and inspiration and challenge from different accounts of reading scripture with neighbors and strangers.
Session 1: Scripture In Public (neighbors, strangers, and scripture in the public square)
Session 2: Scripture in Conversation (neighbors, strangers, and scripture in conversation with Jesus)
Session 3: Scripture in Community (neighbors, strangers, and scripture in the life of the church)