Study

The discipline of study is to study the Holy Scriptures regularly and the teachings of the Church, to attain a better understanding of how to follow Christ and bring others into his kingdom.

The rule of study is the most important of the three Brotherhood rules. The sole purpose of the Brotherhood is the spread of Christ’s kingdom by bringing men and boys to Christ. Studying God’s Word is one of the primary ways, along with worship, that Christians use to know Our Lord more intimately, and to grow spiritually fulfilling our mission statement.

Selecting the study for the chapter should be done very thoughtfully. The Rector can be of assistance in recommending interesting, and challenging study programs. These study programs may involve the study of Holy Scripture or they may involve study dealing with issues that men face in their day to day lives, and how to handle these challenges using scripture as a reference. The selected study program should be continuous in nature, so there is continuity of studying the particular subject on a sustained basis.

The study program selected should be lay led, rather than clergy led, and should be assigned to a brother, on a rotating basis, to lead the study as a facilitator, asking pertinent questions for discussion among the brothers. All brothers should be asked to read the study assignment, and be prepared to discuss it at the next meeting.

The Rector, when present, should be available to answer any perplexing questions, but should not attempt to lead the discussions. The study portion of the meetings is to be lay led by the appointed brother for that particular chapter meeting. Also, if there is a brother who is particularly versed in Holy Scripture, the Chapter Director person should not have him take over the assignment of facilitator on a regular basis. The facilitator role should be rotated among brothers to encourage ownership by all brothers in the study part of the chapter meeting.

Finally, the time allocated for the study portion of the meeting is recommended to be at least 45 minutes. This amount of time is need to present, and discuss the subject matter in a meaningful way, so that men leave the meeting feeling they have learned something to help them grow spiritually.