Better Together

Dave Jennings highlights the strength of shared discipleship, showing how fellowship, humility, and mutual care help believers grow together.

By Dave Jennings

Read Time: 8 minutes

As the restrictions of COVID-19 began to sink in during March 2020, members of the Verdugo Hills Ecclesia started thinking about ways that we might stay connected while we were observing lockdown. The recent release of the Zoom Conferencing platform partially fulfilled our search for connectivity. Zoom became a trusted friend, allowing us to continue worshipping and fellowshipping together during trying times.

One of the strategies that emerged was to read the daily readings together, Monday through Friday. Initially, this was strictly for members of the Verdugo Hills Ecclesia and was expected to last about 30 minutes each weekday. It solved the isolation we were feeling, but it soon became much more than a COVID-coping mechanism. Soon, the daily readings grew to more than an hour to accommodate discussion, and eventually to ninety minutes. Even as the pandemic began to ease social isolation, the group soon grew to well over 30 regular members. It expanded beyond Verdugo Hills, the Pacific Time Zone, and even national borders. Today, the daily Bible reading group regularly has 20 or more participants from across the continent.

From the beginning, it was important to establish that the readings were intended as a discussion format, not a Bible class. We created an environment where comments and questions about the readings could be made in a safe, open-minded way. Leading a reading, giving prayers, and making comments or questions were completely optional. One could simply listen, or feel free to participate.

Secondary Ecclesia

The Bible reading group is primarily composed of retirees. We start the readings at 10:30 am and conclude by noon. Only a few who are still working have had the latitude to join us regularly. About half of our members have never met in person. Yet this does not diminish the strong connections formed. We share what’s happening in our lives and pray regularly for those in need. We have learned from some of our members that this ninety-minute period of the day is a lifeline for them. Our senior years can bring isolation and loneliness. However, every weekday, they have a supportive group that loves them, with whom they can share the wonders of the Scriptures.

Iron Sharpens Iron

Numerous individuals have observed that engaging in shared reading followed by discussion is highly effective for enhancing spiritual development. Each day we have different volunteers for the readings, often with different Bible versions. We’ve all found immense value in hearing the differences in translations. Often, what one translation does with a passage completely opens our understanding and insight in ways our own may not. Following along in your version while someone else reads is a skill that took time to master. The manner of reading, including the chosen emphasis of tone, can often be an eye-opener.

One of the great benefits of the group is that we are all eager to share our insights, observations, and questions. Beyond this, each of us has marginal notes spanning sometimes more than fifty years. We benefit from all the classes and studies each of our members has attended throughout their lives. We share studies that sometimes take months or years to distill into the wisdom of God, and it is freely given.

Many of us find the most valuable and moving aspect of doing the readings together is when a brother or sister reflects on a personal experience from the reading. It is so instructive to learn how they navigated a particular challenge, how they grew in their understanding of God, and the wisdom and insights they gained. This openness occurs because the environment is safe and encouraging.

Reading Schedules

In 2020-2021, we followed the Robert Roberts Bible reading planner. We were in no way dissatisfied with that schedule. The advantage, of course, was that it was the same schedule used around the world, and that the readings would be the same at the Memorial Service on Sunday. In 2022, we experimented with a new schedule that “clumped” the readings together. It used the Roberts plan, but Monday and Tuesday were the first-portion readings, followed by Wednesday and Thursday the second portion, and Friday the third portion. We found it to be an improvement over the original planner. In 2023, we adopted a chronological planner, and we will not likely abandon it. This planner leads us through the readings as the story of the Bible unfolds. It develops context and connections in ways we hadn’t fully appreciated before. For instance, during the readings in Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, we read Psalms from that same period. It illuminates the story and fills in many of the emotions. The Old Testament is read Monday through Thursday, with Friday always being readings from the New Testament, also chronologically organized. Often, this schedule helps us remember details from a chronologically adjacent reading that we likely would not have caught with the regular planner. The schedule allows the Old and New Testaments to be read once a year, with just five days a week. Many of our members continue to do the Roberts plan separately, or use Saturdays for other reading.

A Comfort in Closing Years

Since March 2020, 15 members of our Bible reading group have fallen asleep in the Lord. That number is a bit staggering. Many of our members are in their eighties and nineties, but some who have fallen asleep were as young as mid-fifties. There are a couple of important points here. We are grateful to have spent time with these brothers and sisters in their final years. It was an honor that they connected with us each day, even when they were not feeling well, in pain, or anxious about their health. Four members connected to the readings from their hospital beds! At least three were on the readings up to the week they fell asleep. What a great privilege it was for us to share in their last days and to hear their reflections on the Scriptures and on life.

But there was also great value for those of us still blessed with good health. The perspective of our most senior members melted our hearts. Some lamented that they couldn’t serve the way they used to, and they were grateful they could contribute in the readings group. But the emphasis they brought to us daily was the glory of the coming Kingdom, the wonder of forgiveness, and how much the love of our faith community has meant to them. These insights grounded us in what is profoundly important.

Virtual Fellowship

There can be no doubt that a group committed to reading the Bible together is of terrific supplemental value to any ecclesia. We have more than a dozen ecclesias represented in the Bible reading group. They are passing along their love for the Scriptures, and sharing what they have learned with their own ecclesia.

What technologies like Zoom accomplish is providing a connection we would otherwise never have had. It forms an ecclesia-like community that reads and studies together, genuinely cares for one another, and prays without ceasing. We are all there, not by compulsion, but by conscious choice. It is different from fellowship in an ecclesia and should never be mistaken as being the same. Rather, it is supplementary. It helps to fill in the time between ecclesial events.

Blessed to Continue

When we decided to begin the Bible reading group almost six years ago, we thought we were signing up for a couple of months, until we figured out the COVID mess. There were times in the first couple of years when we considered discontinuing the group. When the idea of ending the readings was even hinted at, there was quite an uproar against that! Members of the group told us how important the readings were to them and how they had formed a special part of their lives. Six years later, and we can’t imagine not being part of this daily reading group. We love each other dearly. They inspire us. We learn from one another. We have no intention of ending this wonderful ride.

We’ll end with this comment from our oldest member, Bro. Russ Patterson. Now limited physically, Bro. Russ celebrated his 97th birthday in February. As he described, the readings are the high point of his day. He regularly shares his insights about the joy of our hope and the wonder of forgiveness.

It’s great to have fraternal fellowship, but there is no fellowship quite like brothers and sisters reading the living word of God together.

Dave Jennings,
Simi Hills Ecclesia, CA