While January 1 gets all the fireworks, in the Church, the first Sunday of Advent starts the New Year. We’ll pause to let you enjoy a moment of celebration. Happy New Year!

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Take The Big Class: Getting More Out of the Bible with Justin Welby  for free throughout the Advent season. In this class, Archbishop Justin Welby, the 105th leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, discusses ways to approach and study scripture. He suggests programs that help us read scripture and gives us many reasons to do so. In the final lesson, Stephen Lyon, leader of  the Bible in the Life of the Church project, offers guidance for where and how we might encounter scripture in the world.

The course also includes resource suggestions, including a resource guide to studying and experiencing scripture that you can download at the end of the course and take with you.

Want change in this new year? Read scripture. That’s a big part of Archbishop Welby’s message. We don’t read the Bible because we have to. We don’t slouch resignedly through a bunch of pages that we don’t really understand because that’s what Christians do. We come in armed with information, ideas, excitement, looking for what scripture can show us this time. What will happen? The Bible is a library of books that alter lives and communities. These books have moved through the world making changes for thousands of years. What will it do to your life, your community?

This course is designed to give you inspiration and resources to make reading scripture part of your daily life. We hope that it helps you experience the Bible in new and exciting ways in the coming year. To learn more about the class, please click below.

God bless you, and have a happy new year!