Orienting With the Word
Is your congregation eager for a new way to walk with Scripture? Join Orienting With the Word, a new program developed by Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary鈥檚 Faith Formation Collaborative to build community and biblical literacy through Bible study.
For the five-month program, each participating congregation designates a small group to explore how their relationship to the Bible has formed them and to learn Confessional Bible Study 鈥� a life-giving practice that helps communities make the Bible an indispensable tool for navigating the ever-changing landscape of daily living. While two representatives from the group (a pastor and layperson) attend an in-person Confessional Bible Study Retreat and Training Seminar, no other travel is required for the program.
Cohort One runs Aug. 1 鈥� Dec. 21, 2025, with the Retreat and Training Seminar to be held聽Sept. 25鈥�27聽at Laurelville Retreat Center in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania. This program is free to participating congregations. !
Background
Thanks to a grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc., bg真人鈥檚 Faith Formation Collaborative is joining 224 other programs across the United States participating in the. The initiative鈥檚 focus on congregations resonates with bg真人鈥檚 commitment to nurturing congregational life through leadership education and producing scholarship for the church, which is reflected in our contribution to this broader effort: a program we call Orienting With the Word. In naming the program Orienting With the Word (OWW), we took our inspiration from Jeremiah 6:16a, which reads:
Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
Program Highlights
Congregations that participate in the program will follow a path that involves
- Forming an Orienting With the Word Leadership Group to organize your congregation鈥檚 participation in the program. OWW Groups will meet weekly for five months and are co-led by a pastor and a lay leader.
- Sharing with others about your relationship to the Bible and what shapes your engagement with the Bible as Christianity鈥檚 sacred text.
- Sending your two OWWL coordinators to a two-day retreat and training seminar where we will equip them with both the theory and skills to lead Confessional Bible Study
- Receiving support from program staff, known as Guides, as your team uses Confessional Bible Study to walk 鈥渢he ancient paths where the good way lies.鈥�
- Joining with other congregations to form a virtual learning community.
Program Components
Confessional Bible Study
At the heart of the program is Confessional Bible Study (CBS), an innovative practice of Bible study developed at bg真人 that helps people of all ages build a meaningful relationship with Christian scripture. Participants in Confessional Bible Study gain a sense of biblical spirituality through study, artful response, and worship. CBS begins with the view that the Bible is so expansive and generous that it can speak into the messy complexity of our lives in trustworthy ways. CBS affirms that God wants ordinary people, gathered as an interpretive community, to know the blessing that comes from wrestling together to make a life-giving sense of our sacred text. You can read more about it in the.
CBS takes practice especially if we have not been taught to approach or relate to the Bible as expansive and generous. The Compass Bible Study Retreat and Training Seminar will focus on both ideas at the heart of CBS and practical tips to help OWW Groups share the practice in their congregations.
Orienting With the Word Groups
While the primary purpose of OWW is to share a particular practice of Bible study, OWW also has a leadership development component that takes shape in each congregation鈥檚 OWW group. Each OWW group will be coordinated by two people, a pastor and a layperson. Then, as the journey unfolds, the OWW group 鈥� a Sunday school class, a committee, a small group, etc. 鈥� will be joined by OWW Guides. Guides give counsel in areas like spiritual formation, biblical interpretation, group facilitation, and leadership development with the goal of helping each OWW Group share the work of facilitating CBS sessions and giving everyone in the group the opportunity to lead.
Christian Practices
As a program of the Faith Formation Collaborative, OWW will focus participants鈥� attention on Christian Practices like reading scripture in community and bearing witness to God鈥檚 work in our lives. They will also find inspiration to reflect on the wider range of practices that make up the Christian life in general, and Anabaptist-Mennonite discipleship in particular.
Contact Us
If you have further questions:
Margaret Miller
OWW Administrative Assistant
574.296.6272 or mmiller@ambs.edu
Meet the leaders of Orienting With the Word
