Despite being in different time zones, members of the Loomis Chaffee Bible Study continue to stay connected. The club meets every Thursday at 5:00 p.m. EDT over Zoom to learn about the Bible and Christianity.

History faculty members Mr. Matthew DeNunzio and Mr. Sebastiaan Blickman were both affiliated with Bible study groups in college, so they both wanted to give students an opportunity to feel comfortable learning and asking questions about religion.

“There was an interest and need for students to engage with more real-life questions,” Mr. DeNunzio said.

Hence, Mr. Blickman and Mr. DeNunzio introduced Bible study to the Loomis community in hopes of bringing students together to explore religion.

There was “an unexplored concept of religion on campus,” Mr. Blickman said. “The goal was not for it to be a Christian-only Bible study, but really for anyone who is interested in learning about religion…We’ve had people who were Christian and people who didn’t practice any religion at all.”

A typical meeting begins with talking about life, school, and families. Then, the members open with a prayer.

“We always start with an opening prayer. Anyone can do it,” said the president of LC Bible study, Kenedi Clinton ’20.

After the opening prayer, the group analyzes various Bible passages based upon the participants’ interests.

“Currently we are into this area where students are interested in the Bible. We were at a point where it was the history…and now we are looking at different letters and analyzing verses and chapters of the Bible to understand what’s trying to be communicated,” Mr. Blickman said.

Mercy Olagunju ’20 commented that her favorite part about the Bible study is “going over the text and seeing things in a different way…It’s just interesting to see other people’s take on a specific Bible text.”

As the new virtual learning environment opens up students’ schedules, more people have made time for participating in LC Bible Study.

“Time was always an issue, but now that we have zoom, we can meet at 5:oo PM. It offers us a lot more time and flexibility,” Mr. Blickman said.

Although these unprecedented times can be difficult, the LC Bible study focuses on the benefits of transitioning to remote learning as more students get involved.

“It’s really been a positive change because we’ve had more people than ever come to our meetings,” Kenedi said.