For many years, English speaking Christians on Continental Europe have gathered each November for an family retreat in Germany. For the past few years this has been held in the picturesque town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Bavaria, and is organised by Phil Jackson of Missions Resource Network.

This year Patrick Boyns had been invited to speak at the event and was able to promote the work of the British Bible School to the more than 120 who had gathered from some 20 countries.

The theme of the retreat was Glory Unveiled and alongside Patrick's lessons from Nehemiah, Keith Lancaster led the group in praise, helping us develop our Acappella singing. A most encouraging time, well worth the journey, and to be experienced again!

The Study Weekend in Antwerp seemed to go exceptionally well. There were some two dozen in attendance - more than had been expected - and plans are already being discussed for similar events in the future!

Students came both from Antwerp and from a number of other congregations, including some from Haarlem in the Netherlands. Paul Brazle of Antwerp co-ordinated the Belgium side of operations, ensuring that all were suitably fed and watered as appropriate.

Students were presented with material from our third introductory module, Understanding the Bible (INT03) in a series of eight sessions throughout the day. Patrick Boyns and Trevor Williams (pictured) shared the teaching during the day and taught and preached on the Sunday in Antwerp too. Students wanting to take the module towards a BBS award need to undertake additional assignments after enrolling on the programme.

We are most thankful to all those in Belgium who provided accommodation and food, and we look forward to our next European study event.

We are excited about our first European Study Weekend to be held in Belgium later this month. Patrick Boyns and Trevor Williams will be heading across the Channel to Antwerp for the weekend of 13th November and presenting material from our third Introductory Module: Understanding the Bible (INT03). The schedule will look something like this:

08.30 - Arrival
09.00 - Session 1 - Biblical Authority (Patrick Boyns)
10.00 - Session 2 - Can we understand the Bible? (Trevor Williams)
11.00 - Break
11.15 - Session 3 - Some basic principles (Patrick Boyns)
12.15 - Session 4 - Recognising Biblical genre (Trevor Williams)
13.15 - Lunch
13.45 - Session 5 - The Old in the New (Patrick Boyns)
14.45 - Session 6 - Historical context (Trevor Williams)
15.45 - Break
16.00 - Session 7 - Biblical context (Patrick Boyns)
17.00 - Session 8 - A missiological approach (Trevor Williams)
17.55 - Closing words

Timings are given as a rough guide but will be as flexible as necessary. Each session will last up to around 55 minutes, allowing time to stretch in between.

For more details please either get in touch or see the event page on Facebook!

The British Bible School was represented at this year's Morley Youth Weekend as we sought to introduce another generation to the joys of Bible Quizzes.

This annual event is one of the largest of its kind in the country and attracts young people from a wide range of congregations. About fifteen teams, each of half a dozen participants took part and competed in a number of rounds, ranging from People, Places and Plants and Trees to Books, Numbers and Who Wrote it? It seemed to work really well and has provoked some interest in our plans to launch a British Bible School Challenge Shield next year.

Watch this space!

Many from the Buckingham Park congregation at Aylesbury spent the weekend of 12th - 15th February 2010 in Exeter for our annual retreat. On the Sunday we visited the church at Dawlish where BBS graduate Learie Bacchus (1991) led the worship and teacher / governor Steven Whitehead made a presentation to introduce the Distance Learning Programme.