By Elizabeth Prata
I was asked about the Lifeway Bible Study “When You Pray.” The study involves a collection of authors, who wrote a chapter each. They are- Kelly Minter, Jackie Hill Perry, Jen Wilkin, Jennifer Rothschild, Jada Edwards, and Kristi McLelland. It is a 7-session lesson designed for small groups, self alone, or a retreat accompanied by the separately purchased ‘Group Experience Kit’. Each session was written by the different author listed above. It includes a video component for each session. The study uses 6 different Bible translations, including the NLT.
GotQuestions: FMI and Review of the NLT here.
It is not best practice to use multiple translations in one study.
Using many translations in one study: AI says, “A Bible teacher should generally not use six different translations in one study as it can be overwhelming and confusing for students, potentially detracting from the focus on understanding the text rather than comparing translation nuances; it’s usually better to stick with one primary translation and only reference a few others when necessary to clarify meaning or highlight translation variations in specific passages.”
I thanked the questioner for the query and for the encouragement and for reading my material here on the blog. Discernment is always good.
I am sorry to say that uniformly, almost anything from Lifeway is going to be bad. They unashamedly platform false teachers. A while back Lifeway published a spate of “heaven tourism” books where people who said they’d died were given a tour of heaven, some of them claiming to have met Jesus. Lifeway continued to publish these books for years until a big outcry finally pushed them off Lifeway’s shelves. Their years-long persistence in publishing these books, some of which contradicted each other and all contradicting the Bible, despite appeals, petitions, and rebukes, displayed a wanton lack of concern for the spiritual state of their customers, a lack of discernment, and a prioritizing of greed over truth.
As for this specific study titled “When You Pray”, I’ve written several times about the authors Jackie Hill Perry, and Jen Wilkin. Both are egregious Bible twisters. Perry came out with an announcement that she receives direct revelation from Jesus and was instructed to tell people the different pieces of news ‘He’ tells her. Like this: “Ok ok. I’ll say this. God primarily deals with me in dreams. I’ve been enlightened, warned, and led to intercede for others through them.” She has since removed this Twitter announcement. You can read a transcript of it at the link above.
G3 on Why Modern Prophecy is False
Jen Wilkin is obsessed with two things, preaching and women. This equals women preaching, she twists almost every sermon, Q&A, panel, or interview into a women need to be leaders WITH men (in roles the Bible denies us, of course). In one famous sermon she likened period blood (excerpt) from women to the blood on the cross, saying women have a better understanding of the gospel because of this. I am not kidding.
As for Minter & Rothschild, Michelle Lesley has written about them, discerning that these women preach to men and they support and promote false teachers. She does not recommend either of these women.
Alternatives to Lifeway’s When you Pray ‘study’ might be:
At Ligonier, there is a 6-week lesson series with video etc, called Prayer, where RC Sproul “uses the acronym ACTS and the Lord’s Prayer to teach us how to pray” 24 min each. It costs $9.00/month.
https://connect.ligonier.org/library/prayer-27945/about/
G3 Ministries has small group studies, https://g3min.org/resource-category/small-group-study/?
The Hidden Life of Prayer by David MacIntyre is a classic gem, video on youtube (https://youtu.be/ODz1aOo6EOk?si=-P_LP270APU8PqwN and 39 page book can download for free at Chapel Library, https://www.chapellibrary.org/book/hlop/hidden-life-of-prayer-the-macintyredavid?
Praying the Bible by Donald S. Whitney is a small book and 5-min youtube videos by the author go thru how to pray daily without falling into the rut of saying the same old thing. https://youtu.be/A-HziKu5Ot0?si=yU70QoTBvrklUrbw
Grace Community Church led by MacArthur has a huge small group ministry section for men and women, many of the lessons are taped or video’d and have accompanying pdf or notes.
I’d say any of those alternatives are better than Lifeway. 🙂
Lifeway is not a trustworthy source for any Christian material, sadly.
the-end-time.org 