We United Methodists put the Bible to work. In all three of our churches, we read from the Bible. Through preaching, we interpret its message for our lives.  It forms the background of most of our hymns and liturgy. It's the foundation of our Sunday school study. Many of us use it in our individual devotional lives, praying through its implications day by day. Our real purpose is to help as many people as we can experience the word of God and apply it to their lives.

Perhaps the Bible is best put to use when we seriously answer these four questions about a given text: (1) What did this passage mean to its original hearers? (2) What part does it play in the Bible's total witness? (3) What does God seem to be saying to my life, my community, my world, through this passage? and (4) What changes should I consider making as a result of my study.