Helping Our Friends Grow in the Word by Suzanne Williams

Not too long ago I was having lunch with one of my friends from YL Capernaum. We were covering all of the usual topics like dancing, movies, boys and good food when we turned to talking about her church. I know she just loves her church so I was asking her about how it was going and what she loved the most about it. She told me all about the music and how she loves to worship there. Then she talked about how incredible her pastors are, how they are her friends and she asks them to pray for things her life. She didn’t mention their sermons, so I took the liberty to ask her about them. As we were talking about it, she shared that she has a really hard time following along and isn’t quite sure what they are talking about each week.

This conversation led us to talk about what it might look like for a few of us girls to get together to look at scripture in a way that may be a little easier for all of us to understand it more. I asked her what she would want to study if we did that and in a split second she clearly articulated, “Well, I know that Jesus was born on Christmas and died on Easter and did a lot of amazing things but I don’t know what he was like when he was with his friends. So I’d like to learn about that.”

Last weekend, we gathered together at a coffee shop with a handful of different bibles. We took turns

reading the same story in each version that we had until we decided which one we could understand the most. We talked about what we liked about each one, what the words were like, which ones we could imagine more clearly and which were just flat out confusing. I so appreciated the honesty and beauty of our conversation.

We’ll continue to meet throughout the spring to look at this same story, time and time again. We’ll get to learn what Jesus was like with His friends and how He interacted with people.

I was so encouraged by the honesty of my friend. Even though some parts of church are hard for her, she remains there because she can worship, learn and be loved. And in the midst of that, God provides other sweet ways for her to get to learn all about His friendships while she gathers with her own friends. It certainly is a privilege to be one of them. I can’t wait to learn from each of them!

And ultimately, we love that small groups like this one are happening all over the mission of YL. Kids with disabilities are gathering with their YL leaders to learn about Jesus and what it’s like to walk with Him. Join us in praying for all of these groups around the world!