A Passion for Teaching: Karon's Story & How to Join CTR’s Next Bible Study for Women
“Many people don’t know how to study the Bible. We assume they do, especially if they grew up in the Church or have been in the Church for years, but they often don’t. We have to take the time to teach them how to rightly handle God’s Word.”
For some leaders, this may be a discouraging realization, but for Karon Williamson who shared those words, it is a motivating reality full of great potential and purpose and the driving force behind her mission to teach women how to study the Bible – a mission she describes as, “my favorite thing in the world.”
Karon’s ministry of teaching adults began in the South when she sensed the Lord’s invitation to lead a weekly Bible study for an ecumenical group of women living in elderly housing. Over the next five years, they would make their way through the entire Old Testament… but in the beginning, things proved more challenging than she expected. Not only did these women who spent most of their lives in the church not know how to study the Bible, but Karon found she had her own learning to do. “Early on I realized that I needed more training. There were a lot of things about the Bible I did not understand, and I felt a great responsibility to learn.” She prayed to the Lord, “if you want me to do this, you need to prepare me.” So in 2013, the mother of five enrolled in Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO. Six years later she graduated with a degree in Theology and has continued teaching since.
In the summer of 2018, the Williamson’s moved from their home in Augusta, Georgia to New England and since Karon became familiar with the Anglican Church in North America in seminary, she and her family decided it was time to explore the Anglican way at Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church in Danvers, Massachusetts (CTR). Karon recalled, “the church really just embraced us and loved us. In so many ways it was a perfect fit.” At the time, however, there was no women’s Bible study, and Karon “just couldn’t imagine a life without opening the Bible with other women.” It was this passion that led her to approach the leadership at CTR, and soon she was commissioned to begin an experimental group that would simply begin by studying the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. It was a resounding success and the group of women continued to meet, each year studying one book from the Old Testament and one from the New in 8-12 week segments.
The CTR women had just begun a study in the book of Revelation when the pandemic began in early 2020. Since no one knew how Covid-19 would affect society, the group considered waiting until things returned to normal, but made a quick decision to keep the study going by meeting online. Everyone learned how to use zoom in order to continue meeting weekly. What’s more, as churches around the nation put gatherings on hold, the CTR women began welcoming friends and family from other regions to join them just until their local churches could resume ministry. At one point, women from five states were participating!
As those churches resumed ministry, Karon expected that the CTR-based group would return to gathering in-person too, but they decided they wanted to remain online. Although she feels that meeting together in person is a crucial aspect of discipleship, she has also found this to be more accessible for many in the group - especially as people continue to face the ongoing challenges of work, school, childcare, and quarantines. Karon describes how young moms are more able to tune in from the convenience of their homes with babies in arms as God’s Word surrounds them, and that thrills her heart.
The Bible studies aren’t just for information. Karon wants women to discern what God is saying to them through his Word for them in that particular season. By studying the book of Revelation, which she describes as a “discipleship book just as much as it is prophecy,” in the chaos and disruption of a pandemic the group of women was able to reflect on how to live in light of the truth that God is for His people even when everything seems like it’s falling apart and to put their hope in God who has a plan for the culmination of all these things.
After Revelation, which proved to be Karon’s favorite study to date, the group moved on to study the book of Leviticus. She laughed as she shared the rationale behind that unexpected choice: “I teach books I need to learn myself, and I chose Leviticus because it was hard.” As the CTR women studied together in what proved to be a challenging season for them both personally and as a church family, they found beautiful truths in the text as Karon unpacked how Leviticus reveals a God who has not abandoned us; he wants to be with us, to dwell with us.
When asked how Karon handles those passages that have conflicting interpretations among Christians, she explained, “what I have found is there is always a way to bring the focus of a passage back to the saving work of Jesus.” When that happens, and the passage is explored in both the context of the original hearers and the context of the entirety of Scripture, there is often little room for heated debate. She also encourages participants to go do more study beyond what the group is able to cover.
The next study Karon is planning is among her most ambitious yet: the 66-chapter book of the prophet Isaiah. She says Isaiah is one of her favorites for three primary reasons: the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies can be clearly seen in history, so much of Isaiah directly points to the person and ministry of Jesus, and the book deals with both God’s judgment of sin, but also his comforting presence and redemption of his people.
While Karon believes the local church is the ideal setting for women to study together, she acknowledges that many smaller churches are not presently equipped to offer this ministry, especially in this season in which statistics show that American clergy are likely to be overwhelmed and exhausted, and churches continue to undergo transitions in lay attendance and leadership. For these reasons, the CTR women want to lean into the ADNE’s identity as a “family of churches” by extending an invitation to any woman who is interested in participating in this next round of study.
This upcoming Isaiah study will gather on Wednesday evenings for 12 weeks beginning at 7:00 pm on February 2, 2022.
Anyone wishing to join can contact Karon at: karonwilliamson@gmail.com
Visit her website at: www.karonwilliamson.com