Every year since 2005, members of the youth ministry at Strasburg Mennonite Church have had the opportunity to participate in the Alliance of Mennonite Evangelical Congregations (AMEC) Bible Quizzing, which is an opportunity for young people to get together, study the Bible, and answer questions in a friendly competition. Individuals can begin quizzing as seventh-graders and continue until they turn 20 years old as of Jan. 1.

Under the leadership of coaches, participants study a predetermined portion of Scripture and attend 15-question quiz matches from January to March. A regular Bible quiz season lasts for eight weeks and concludes with a local tournament and a tournament where teams from other states compete. Each match is facilitated by volunteers who serve as quiz masters, judges, scorekeepers, and timekeepers. According to AMEC's website, "the ultimate goal of Bible Quizzing is to cultivate biblically literate believers who appreciate and revere God's Word."

This year, Bible quizzers studied, memorized, and were tested on the lives of Job, Joshua, Nehemiah, Jonah, and Zechariah. Strasburg Mennonite Church, which is located at 1514 Village Road, Strasburg, had three teams with a total of 17 quizzers. Strasburg Team 1 consisted of Madison Landis, Zoe Landis, Wesley Leaman, Ashley Ranck, and Owen Hostetter; Strasburg Team 2 featured Mary Hostetter, Magdalana Leaman, Greta Leaman, Ashton Landis, Megan Ranck, and Owen Hostetter; and Strasburg Team 3 consisted of Zach Landis, Grace Trout, Logan Martin, Emerson Westfall, Truman Horst, and Riley Martin.

"There are a lot of benefits to quizzing," explained Amanda Trout, coach of Strasburg Team 3. "There's the social aspect of connecting with youths who have similar values, and they learn a lot of skills, like public speaking and how to quiz in front of an audience."

The AMEC Invitational Tournament was the last tournament of the season and was held at Lancaster Bible College. Out of 69 teams, Strasburg Team 1 took first place and Strasburg Team 2 placed second, which makes Strasburg Team 1 winners of the 2022 regular season. Additionally, Wesley from Strasburg Team 1 was one of five quizzers who had a perfect score this season.

"Learning the Bible is very important to us, but quizzing helps you hone your memorization skills, which I'm able to use in other areas of my life," stated Ashton.

"Quizzing is very competitive, but at the end of the day, we're happy to be quizzing and getting to know other people from churches we never would have known about," said Greta.

"What I love most about quizzing is the community," commented Zoe. "It is competitive like Greta said, but once the competition is over, we're all just friends studying God's Word, and it's amazing having that link to start friendships."

To learn more about AMEC Bible Quizzing, visit http://www.amecquizzing.org.