Experiencing God: Take a Major Step Forward in Your Faith

Most Christians want to grow.

We want to know God more deeply, understand His will more clearly, recognize His leading, and live with greater confidence and faithfulness. But sometimes we reach a place where we are not quite sure what the next step looks like.

This fall, Covenant Church is offering a study that has helped generations of Christians take that next step.

Beginning Wednesday, September 9 at 6:00 PM, Pastor Mel will lead a 10–12 week study of Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God by Henry Blackaby, Richard Blackaby, Mike Blackaby, and Claude King.

Experiencing God has become one of the most influential discipleship studies of the last several decades. Its central invitation is simple but challenging: rather than asking God to bless the plans we have already made, we learn to recognize where God is already at work and respond to His invitation to join Him there. The current edition is designed as a 12-session study with Scripture, personal study between meetings, and video teaching.

From Knowing About God to Knowing God
There is an important difference between knowing things about God and learning to walk closely with God.

We can attend worship, read Scripture, serve in the church, and accumulate a great deal of biblical knowledge—and all of those things are good. But the Christian life is ultimately a relationship with the living God.

Experiencing God begins there.
The study emphasizes growing in an intimate relationship with God, learning to recognize His activity, listening for His voice through Scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit, and responding obediently when God invites us to participate in what He is doing.

That makes this study especially helpful if you find yourself asking questions such as:
How do I know where God is leading me?
How can I recognize what God is doing around me?
What does it actually mean to hear and respond to God?
How do I move from simply believing in God to actively joining Him in His work?

A Study That Asks Something of You
This is not simply a class where you come, listen, and go home unchanged.
One of the strengths of Experiencing God is that it challenges us to put what we are learning into practice.

The study is built around what Blackaby calls the Seven Realities of Experiencing God. Among them are the conviction that God is always at work around us, that He invites us into a relationship through which He reveals what He is doing, and that His invitation often brings us to a crisis of belief requiring faith and action. Responding to God may require real adjustments in our priorities, plans, habits, or assumptions.

In other words, this study is not primarily about gaining another set of ideas.
It is about learning to notice, trust, and respond to God.

Where Are You in Your Walk With Christ?
Perhaps you are relatively new to following Jesus and want to build a strong foundation for your Christian life.

Perhaps you have followed Christ for many years, but your faith has begun to feel predictable or routine.

Maybe you sense that God is calling you toward something more, but you are unsure how to discern what that might be.

Or perhaps you are already actively serving and simply want to become more attentive to God's leadership rather than relying on your own plans and abilities.

Experiencing God can be valuable at each of those places.

It is especially well suited for someone who is ready to say, “I don't simply want to know more. I want to grow.”

Worship Deeply. Grow Boldly. Live Sent.
This study also connects beautifully with the kind of disciples Covenant Church is seeking to form.

We Worship Deeply as we come to know God not merely as an idea, but as the living God who loves us and invites us into relationship.

We Grow Boldly as we learn to trust His voice, respond in faith, and make whatever adjustments obedience may require.

And we Live Sent as we begin to recognize where God is already working in the people, relationships, workplaces, neighborhoods, and opportunities around us—and join Him there.

The goal is not simply to complete another Bible study.

The goal is to become more attentive and obedient disciples of Jesus.

Take the Next Step
If you have been looking for an opportunity to go deeper in your Christian life, this may be the study for you.

Experiencing God
Led by Pastor Mel
Beginning Wednesday, September 9
6:00 PM
10–12 weeks

Come ready to study Scripture, ask good questions, listen for God's leading, and take a meaningful next step in your life with Christ.

You may discover that the question is not simply, “What does God want me to do?”

The better question may be:
“Where is God already at work—and how is He inviting me to join Him?”