I did not get the bible study change. What is the great change? Is this another form of liberation theology? Or is this just more GLBT studies? I can usually read what they are saying but am lost here.

It’s too vague to say what they mean. There seem to be 2 points being made. They identify:

1. A gap between academy (at a guess, the tradition of post enlightenment biblical scholarship) and pew.

2. A gap between theory and practice - though which theory and whose practice isn’t identified. Or a gap they’ve identified between, two different theories of biblical interpretation - though which theories they don’t say. One question they apparently see arising from this point - is, if I read it rightly, whether identifying a Biblical view “sorts out” an issue.  (One might read this as an oblique reference to the use of the Bible in respect of human sexuality).

They name 2 issues for further regional discussion - gender and economic injustice. They also a plan to produce a Lenten Bible study by 2012 focused on safeguarding the integrity of creation and sustaining and renewing the life of the earth.

Presumably they will get round to discussing the first 2 marks of mission later in their process. These are:

To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
To teach, baptise and nurture new believers