BSF

BSF?! What the heck does that stand for? That was my first reaction when I heard about BSF a few years back. It stands for Bible Study Fellowship and I am its newest member!

From the BSF website:
BSF was started over 50 years ago . A handful of women heard former China missionary Audrey Wetherell Johnson speak at their church in Southern California and they approached her about leading them in a Bible study.

As they were challenged by their ongoing study, the initial group of five friends began bringing more and more friends.

Remembering those early days, Miss Johnson wrote in Created for Commitment, a book published in 1982 by Tyndale House:

"My aim had always been to ensure that every member of the class was living by the reading of God's Word. God gave me a profound conviction that the way to know Him intimately as a Person related to me was through study of His Word with the help of the Holy Spirit."

It quickly became obvious that God was leading Miss Johnson's path for the study. Her initial class outgrew two homes before moving to a church to accommodate all of the new women attending.

Soon, another church invited her to start a second women's study. Then a men's group was formed by one of the husbands of a class member. Children's classes grew from the desire to provide more than "child care" for class members' children.

So, today there are over 1,000 classes and 200,000 class members throughout the world! This year was the first year for the Bible studies to be in Spanish and Chinese.

How cool is that!? There are currently 8 different studies and they rotate each year, so to complete all the studies it would take 8 years. Does that make sense!? This year from now until middle May we are studying the book of Isaiah. We meet every Thursday morning in a church in south Austin and there are over 300 class members! Every class throughout the whole world is studying the same exact study so if you go on vacation, you can meet with another BSF class and be on the same lesson!

If you have any questions about BSF or need help finding a class, please let me know! It really is a wonderful way to have fellowship with other women and study and learn the Bible together. Don't worry if you can't meet during the day - they also have classes at night!

I'm so excited! :) And so thankful that God placed me in a class. I really do think this will be good for me to be a part of and grow in His Word. I can't wait for the many things I will learn from this study!