Hillcrest Offers Bible Study to College Students
by Abigail Wisniewski
Curt and Joan Coddington host a Hillcrest Bible study on Thursday nights as a way to minister to students of Concordia.
Curt Coddington has been the pastor at Hillcrest Evangelical Free Church in Seward for nine years. Initially, the church had only minimal outreach to Concordia, with only two students regularly in attendance.
“Our history was in high school ministry, and my own theology is that God is in charge of where you live,” he said. “If he brought me to Seward, it must mean that he wants me or us as a church to engage college students.”
The Bible study has grown significantly in number since it first began. The crowd became too large to fit in their living room and ended up moving to a house with a more accommodating space.
“I think we thought 30 was the most we could ever have,” Joan Coddington said. “We’ve had as many as 50.” Curt Coddington joked that it now takes two double batches of cookies to accommodate the number of students who show up.
The Coddingtons are intentional about providing a homey atmosphere for the students. In addition to an abundance of homemade cookies, students are welcome to stay after Bible study to chat or to discuss the lesson.
“One of the things that makes me love this is that they don’t make it a college Bible study focused on the college students,” senior Zach Hagenson said. “They make it a Bible study that is focused just about the Bible.”
“My desire is to teach students how to study scripture and teach them how to teach scripture,” Curt Coddington said.
“It’s more of an interactive learning experience,” freshman Josiah Schultz. “You’re coming to the conclusions on your own. You’re not just being fed answers.”
The Coddingtons encourage students to consider what the passage teaches about God, themselves and their relationship with God. Lessons are concluded with the question, “If this is the word of God, what should be different about our lives?”
Email joancoddington@yahoo.com for more information about the Bible study or other events offered by the Hillcrest Evangelical Free Church. The next meeting of the Bible study will be at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 24.
