“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

In the midst of a global pandemic, my husband and I moved from flashy and industrious Nashville, Tennessee to quiet and sleepy Omaha, Nebraska. While in Nashville, we led a co-ed Bible study for young adults through the city’s cathedral parish.

Although Catholics only make up 3% of the Nashville population, the community is very faithful and involved in events and programming throughout the week. By moving to Omaha for my husband’s law studies, we were torn from a strong and devoted community and entered a culturally Catholic city where Catholic churches are around every corner and, in some ways, lack the zeal found in the Nashville Catholic minority.

When searching for an Omaha parish, we looked for a church within whose parish boundaries we lived and where we could be leaders. These criteria left us with three parishes in the running: St. Peter’s Catholic Church, which celebrated a more traditional liturgy; a small and heavily programmed parish at St. Francis Cabrini; and a historically Black Catholic church (the only one of its kind in the state) named St. Benedict the Moor.

We chose St. Benedict the Moor, a tiny mission parish with 120 families from both the North Omaha community and Africa. After attending Mass with this community for a year, and being invited with open arms into the parish and liturgy, my husband and I were initiated as lectors. After polling the community for interest, I later began a Bible study on Tuesday nights.

St. Benedict the Moor is not the most beautiful parish in the Archdiocese of Omaha. With a leaking roof and dingy fellowship hall, the church building itself hardly allows for Heavenly inspiration. With few resources, our Bible study has become a lively and longing group that aches to know Jesus more and more.

Now, as we look toward the Advent season, and as St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church begins its second study, I want to share four tricks I’ve learned to keep engagement and participation, even with few resources:

1. Establish Expectations

A member of my parish was wise to say, “Establish the day and time, and the people that want to come will come. Don’t wait for others to give their availability.” Sure enough, by establishing when our Bible study would meet without any input, we met with eight to 13 parishioners consistently, week after week.

Often, Bible studies have two or three participants who dominate the conversation, for better or worse. Beginning each study with expectations of how to direct the meeting helps us focus the conversation for the evening.

We began with the Gospel of John, reading one chapter each week. We followed the Lectio Divina practice of reading Scripture and assigned a different reader each time we read, encouraging even the quietest of participants to speak up.

The prompt of the study was always, “Where has God led you in prayer through this chapter, and how does it apply to your life today?”

2. Create a “Reach” Prayer

Our Catholic faith is rich in its many prayers and practices that unite us with Christ. A successful practice in our Nashville study was ending each meeting with Night Prayer (Compline) before the tabernacle.

Since I had to learn to pray Compline in Nashville, I wanted to share it with my new parish family. Even though it was a new and, for some, uncomfortable form of group prayer, as each week progressed, the group became more confident and able to pray earnestly. Three months into our meetings, and I no longer have to lead.

3. Sometimes, Tangents Are Important 

There were nights that our study never made it to Compline because our conversation had been jettisoned to different wounds of the heart.

As we uncovered beautiful teachings about Christ throughout the Gospel of John, wounds of racism, church corruption, the failings of loved ones, and other heavy topics arose for us to discuss alongside Scripture. The Holy Spirit moved effortlessly through our hearts and words, and it would not have been appropriate to interrupt for Compline.

Even if Compline in and of itself is a good thing, we changed our plans and gave Christ the space to heal us.

4. The Leader Is Not the Savior

As the study continues, and as participants feel comfortable to bear their hearts to the group, it is not the leader’s job to save them or to heal them. It is his or her job to facilitate conversation, inspire promptings for prayer, and advocate for the community.

Bible study leaders can make themselves available to pray for the group and to use their gifts to be a blessing to group members, but they must allow Christ to work and heal in that space. It was He, after all, who inspired the installation of the study in the first place. If you’re leading a Bible study, do not allow the weight and heaviness of wounds and sin, especially the ones that will arise through reading Scripture, to land on your shoulders.

If there are heavy questions, it is always important to direct the group member back to Scripture, to the richness of our Catechism, and to the parish priest. In the end, it’s important to remind your group members that if they are wrestling with certain teachings, they should always take it to prayer. God never ceases to unite man to Himself (Catechism of the Catholic Church 27).

If you’re feeling called to lead a Bible study, even in the smallest of ways, act on the promptings of your heart. It can be organic and small, and seemingly insignificant, but you are drawing souls closer to the merciful heart of Christ. And, as the Church celebrates Black Catholic History Month in November, please also pray for an increase in priestly vocations, especially within the Black Catholic community. There is a zeal and desire to pursue these vocations, but in many cases, parishioners lack the resources to do so.

May God bless you in sharing your gifts within your own parishes, which are crying out to receive what you have to give.

Mindy Edgington is a fiery, Midwestern Catholic convert from St. Louis, Missouri. She currently lives in Omaha, NE with her husband and their hound dog while he pursues law school at Creighton University. By day, Mindy works as a senior security engineer in third party risk management for a Fortune 300 health care system. She also regularly volunteers with the Catholic Charities Immigration Office in town. Her hobbies include: "strong drinks and hard conversations,” writing, hiking, and reading in her local coffee shops and bars (in typical extrovert fashion). You can follow her on Instagram @mindy.edgington.