We’re Studying Galatians Together!

When the hard COVID-19 lockdowns finished and you were free, what was it that you could not wait to do? Starting church again was a highlight, but also cycling with a bunch of friends again was also fantastic. That feeling of freedom when you are no longer bound by laws and chains that restrict and bind you but able to live as you should is glorious.

And it is such freedom that Galatians is a celebration of. Paul says in Galatians 5:1: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  

The church in the region of Galatia (now part of Turkey) had started well with the Gospel but quickly became entangled in rules and laws. Some troublemakers turned up and convinced them that they need to obey all the Old Testament law if they were going to be truly Christian. So it appears that they changed what they ate, began circumcising men and boys and celebrating special days and seasons and festivals because they truly thought that was the way to please God and stay Christian. 

And Paul says to them in white hot anger—no! It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Through the cross we are freed to live for God in the way we were created, in the way he intended and for his glory. There is perfect freedom in following Jesus and Paul wants the people in Galatia not just to know that but live that.

Now why am I telling you all this? It’s because starting this week, we are doing Galatians together in church—all of us, men, women and children from the youngest among us to the oldest will be studying Galatians and learning together about this beautiful freedom in Christ.

We do this each year to provide us with intergenerational opportunities to encourage each other, learn from each other and to grow together as wholehearted disciples of Jesus. To help us learn together we are going to provide a resource each week with questions you can ask each other, prayers you can pray with groups or by yourself and a pattern of prayer that you can pray with those you live with or meet up with throughout the week. Our goal is that we might encourage each other and grow together.

I want to see old and young talking together after church. I want to hear about grandparents on the phone to their children discussing Galatians. I want to hear about friends from different congregations deep diving into Galatians over coffee. Let’s learn and grow together and give thanks for the freedom we have to serve one another humbly in love as we study Galatians. See you on the weekend!