Would you make a four-hour round trip to get to Bible study?

If you live in the city, you would probably never have considered making a four-hour round trip to get to Bible Study, and nor would you ever likely need to.

And yet this is the reality for many in the outback. In fact ‘going the distance’ is such a normal part of life for those living in rural parts of Australia, whether it is accessing shops, medical services or getting a simple car maintenance. It’s therefore no surprise that finding Christian fellowship also requires the same level of commitment.

Last August, off the back of a women’s morning tea event we hosted a few weeks prior, I started a monthly women’s Bible Study group in Cloncurry with a small group of women – two of whom travelled two hours to make it from properties outside Julia Creek  (our smaller neighbouring town 150km away).

22-year-old Breanna was one of these women. Originally from Townsville, she was working on a cattle station one hour from Julia Creek when she connected with us through the monthly Julia Creek church service we started in 2023. Feeling quite isolated from family, friends and Christian fellowship for the first time in her life, she said the four-hour round trip to Cloncurry was “very worth it” to meet and study the Bible with other likeminded women.

While Breanna has since moved back to Townsville, she recently shared with me: “Being without my family was extremely hard for me but these trips to Cloncurry left my heart lighter and reminded me that I was not alone, and these women ultimately pointed me to Jesus and the way He was always with me.”

Another regular member of our group who travels the distance is Jen, a mother of three who has owned a cattle station near Julia Creek with her husband for the past 15 years. With a lifetime of rural living, Jen loves the land and being in wide open spaces. And yet she acknowledges that Christian fellowship has been hard to find and has drawn much encouragement from the fellowship and teaching at our monthly Bible study and monthly church service.

“Even if I could go to one Bible study a year it would be worth the effort,” said Jen.

“Learning from others encourages me to read and study my Bible and know it better, and meeting and praying with others has also helped me feel supported which has built up my faith.”

Some women in the group have never experienced being part of a Bible study group before. Ele, a mother of three who owns and manages a cattle business from Cloncurry, was delighted to be invited to the group and has found it “a safe and inspiring space to ask questions and even get off track occasionally following the thoughts and questions that spin off from the study.”

“It’s a nice social group of Christian women which I’ve never found before,” said Ele.

Over the past nine months we’ve enjoyed studying various interactions Jesus had with women in the gospels, inspired by Rebecca McLaughlin’s book Jesus through the eyes of women. Whether we’ve had two, four or eight of us, we’ve had a fruitful time of delving deeper into God’s Word and discovering more about His Son.

Please join me in thanking God for this group of women and please pray for our monthly Bible study group to continue being a source
of encouragement for women seeking God’s Word