Bible Study Grant Program

Ten Reasons to Study the Bible

Grants and FundingBible study is waning as the country continues its slide toward secularism. The New York Times Best Seller List is populated with authors who write spiritual books but, in the process, drop the Bible, Christ and the message of the Cross. More and more, “Christian” churches have book clubs that choose to read Best Sellers in place of the Bible.

However, consider these ten reasons to maintain a spiritually empowering Bible study group.

1. Self-achievement

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Said Paul in Philippians 4:13. Indeed, the Bible is the greatest self-help book ever written. People have always turned to the Bible for divine guidance and assistance. It teaches that God-help is self-help. It explains the mountain-moving power of love, compassion and forgiveness. Its prayers, hymns, and triumphant stories empower the reader.

2. Compassion

The Bible has directly led to massive undertakings of good will and charity. Because of this book, great projects have been undertaken — multitudes fed and clothed, orphanages founded, and schools and universities created. Did you know that one in seven hospitals is a Catholic hospital? Other denominations also have founded hospitals, schools and outreaches that have improved the lives of millions.

3. Transformation

The Bible has played a significant role in transforming the world into its present form. Without this book, the world would be completely different today. For example, the Bible provided the spiritual guidance for Abraham Lincoln to free millions of slaves and save the Union. To act on biblical wisdom is to nudge the earthly realm towards its heavenly potential (The Kingdom of God).

4. Well-informed

One cannot be an educated person if ignorant on certain Bible characters and actions. Some of the most celebrated atheists like Richard Dawkins are ignorant on the social, political and economic conditions through which divine revelation was given. Such ignorance mistakes the Bible to be backward, bronze-age myths and superstitions. The blunder lies not with the Bible but with apathetic ignorance of its historical matrix. A well-informed person understands the spiritual message of Scripture.

5. Consecration

Do we not date time by biblical characters and events? We established holidays, sacraments and pilgrimages to honor biblical characters. Imagine a world without Christmas, Lent, Easter, Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. Some would take up arms, or abide in exile, to avoid the spiritual bankruptcy of a Bibleless world.

6. Time-tested

There are over five billion Bibles in print, more than all other books combined. It is the most copied book of antiquity or modernity, recording events over 3,000 years. Its historical books, its wisdom literature, and its prophetic writings have guided humanity for three millennia.

7. Sacred

The Bible is the pinnacle of sanctity and admirable human behavior. To this day, we place our hand on the Bible during presidential inaugurations and swear on this book in courts of law. No other book can make such a claim.

8. Comforting

The Bible provides solace to the bereaved. Its Psalms, laments, and exaltations have turned sorrow into joy and darkness into light. It is the “Balm of Gideon” to the brokenhearted when no earthly joys remain. Throughout the centuries this book has helped people pick up the pieces and go forward when all is lost.

9. Spiritual Enlightenment

The Bible does for spirituality what science does for materiality; it explains spiritual reality. It addresses the exalted purpose of humanity, referring to humankind as “children of God made in the spiritual image and likeness of God.” In the same way that science answers the “how-it-works question;” the Bible answers the “why-it-works question.” Its parables tease the mind into spiritual wisdom, while its tenets guide one along the straight path. And yes, its sixty-six books shine light on the full spectrum of human experiences.

10. Salvation

The Bible introduces one to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. He will change your life for the better. It explains how He walks with you on Monday-morning on this earthly plane and welcomes you into his heavenly abode in the life to come. To invite Him into your heart is to be transformed into a life of unimaginable blessings.

 

If you would like to apply for a Bible Study Grants, please send your name and contact information to:
Pastor Allan Bazzy at: allanbazzy@gmail.com. You will be emailed an application form.

Study is Necessary

The Bible is not a book that one can read cover-to-cover without difficulty. STUDY is needed. Interpretation requires knowledge of the Bible’s social, political, and economic conditions. Also, the Bible is not a single book; it’s 66 books. Open to one book and you are reading parts of a war manual, to another and you are reading a cookbook recipe, to another Greek philosophy, to another a history book, and to another “Billboard’s top 100 hits” (Psalms).

The reader forgets that the Bible was written at multiple times, in different languages, in different places, and for different audiences. Thus, the reader is always in need of interpreting ancient conversations lost to modern ears.

For these reasons ChurchSHARE Bible Institute encourages Bible study by offering a $1,200 per year Bible Study Grant to those groups who are willing to study the Bible for one, uninterrupted year. The Bible Study Grant Program works in this manner:

The Institute sends to the study group weekly Bible lessons. The group discusses the material and takes a simple quiz. The answers to each quiz are within the lesson material. The study group returns them to the Institute. The Institute mails a $100 check on the first of each month for 12 months providing the following conditions are maintained:

Grant Conditions

  1. The study group maintains a minimum of seven students.
  2. Attendees are first-time Bible students.
  3. The study group is part of a not-for-profit, Christian church (501C-3 status or is in the process of securing from the IRS its 501C-3 status).
  4. A letter of acceptance is sent to the Institute by the church’s senior pastor.
  5. Quizzes are returned before the first of the next month. If not, the grant terminates.
  6. Only one Grant is allowed per church.
  7. Grants favor small churches with a community outreach (prison ministry, recovery program, special needs, and the homeless).
  8. Grants are limited to the Institute’s annual funds replacement.

If your church is interested and qualifies, please send for the Bible Study Grant Application.
If you would like to donate to the Bible Study Grant Program, please contact:

Allan Bazzy, Director
ChurchSHARE Bible Institute
4200 32nd Street West, Bradenton, Fl. 34205