One - All Alone: Offering relationship to a lonely world

It started with one; all alone. Then there were three and the next time was five. Who knows how far it could go.

I recently attended the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer's Conference. This conference is as big as its name is long. Its large size is a blessing as it is able to reach out to authors of many different genres. However, many of the masses are fiction writers and a large portion of the remaining population write articles and non-fiction books. Bible study writers make up a small percentage of the conferees.

This was my second time to attend the conference. Both experiences have taught me a Bible study writer can easily feel they are one; all alone. Each time, however, I learned we are not alone. On this trip, I found myself sitting at dinner with Andy and Katy, both fellow Bible study writers. After an excellent conversation regarding our respective ministries, we decided to meet for breakfast the next morning. We wanted to discuss the future of women's ministry and Bible study groups for the millennial generation.

Another group of conferees enjoying meal time together

photo courtesy of Mary Denman

Our breakfast meeting found five Bible study writers at the table, not three. Two of us had each found another Bible study writer feeling they were one; all alone. The next morning we were six and could have been eight if I had invited the two more study writers God brought into my path that day.

Bible study writers felt alone and isolated; no one understood who they were as a writer. The three of us who grouped together knew we had something to offer that would fill their need. So we invited others to join us.

How many people in our everyday lives feel like they are one; all alone? How many feel isolated and misunderstood? Here's the deal - believers in Christ have the answer. We have a message, a place of belonging, and a relationship that the world can't offer. But they will never know unless we invite them to join us.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Romans 10:14-15 NIV).