Going Rogue

Last fall I started attending a women's bible study organized by our post chapel. Or shall I say disorganized by the post chapel? It was a mess. I have no idea what was going on behind the scenes but what I encountered at each meeting was a disorganized, floundering mess that felt strained and not welcoming. The group was trying to follow the pattern of the international organization PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) but they simply didn't have the volunteers, leadership, or funding to really do it right. Rather than cutting out all the fru-fru and just continuing with a simple bible study, they kept up the sad attempt of the fru-fru and added to it a negative spirit that ended up taking away from the study itself.

At the end of the fall semester, the president had been booted, there was a mix up in leadership, and it was all way more than I was interested in being a part of. I finished out the semester and decided not to go back for the Spring session. I wasn't alone.

While I was glad to be done with that fiasco, I was still missing the opportunity to be involved in a small group bible study. In the following months I occasionally found myself in conversations with friends who were equally displeased with the mess over a the chapel but still interested in a bible study. Every once in a while someone would casually say "we should just start our own bible study." Well, today we finally did it!

This morning was the first official meeting of the Rogue Women's bible study. That isn't our official name, but I think it is catchy. A few weeks ago we set our meeting dates and time, decided on a study, and invited anyone else we knew that might be interested. We had 6 ladies show today and there are three more who couldn't make it today but have expressed interest.

On the surface, this is a handful of ladies meeting weekly to study God's word and learn how to better apply it to our lives. But this is also a handful of ladies that decided not to sit back and go idle while waiting for something that meets our needs to come along, or to settle for something that is already established. This is a handful of ladies who were willing to step out and make something happen.

We went rogue, and so far, so good!