Women’s Bible Study, Part 1: A Q&A with Patty Hvizdos

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April 23, 2026

After the Naperville Congregational Church and New Covenant Church merged in August 2011, Becky Keller asked Emily O’Donnell why the church didn’t offer a women’s Bible study. Emily asked her to meet with Andrew Fulton, the associate pastor, and get one started. 

Fifteen years later, the Women’s Bible Study ministry, which meets on Wednesday evenings and Thursday mornings, is thriving. WBS seeks to study, understand, and apply the Word of God. While the focus is the Bible, participants share their lives and encourage, support, and love one another.

Patty Hvizdos co-leads the Women’s Bible Study with Becky Keller. Below Patty shares her thoughts about the importance of WBS.

Why do you participate in Bible study?
I have been involved with women’s Bible studies since 1990, when we joined a PCA church in Downers Grove. That is when I first began to read the Scriptures for myself, which for me is somehow much more transformative than hearing it read by others. I am motivated to always be in a Bible study because I am basically weak at forming concrete schedules for reading the Word and praying every day. By being a member of a Bible study, I am held accountable to the study of the Word of God and prayer, and committed to fellow Christians who have mentored me throughout my life.

Tell us a little about your life, and how Bible study with other women has made a difference.
I was born the youngest of five children, and my life has been hard for as long as I can remember. My father died when I was five years old; when I was eight, my mother remarried a much older man, who had never had children and was very mean and an alcoholic. I hated to be home with him around. 

I was a good student and active in many things, but when I became a teenager, I followed friends into bad activities. It was a downward spiral into deeper and deeper sin. I have much to be ashamed about from those wild years of youth. I eventually married Steve at age 21, and we had four children. I don’t know what I would have done without my friends from church that encouraged me during the years of child-rearing. 

The wise counsel and gentle love of other godly women have helped me to develop a closer relationship with the Lord. From the Bible, I have learned who God really is, not who I fantasized Him to be, and how much I desperately need His mercy. He gave His mercy to us by sending His Son to take the penalty of our sins and wipe away our tears and shame. I am eternally grateful! I love the Lord and I love His people, who have taken my hand and helped me along the way. 

God has used Bible studies to mold and shape my rough edges—not that there isn’t a lot left for Him to chisel. We come together to share our struggles and our joys and pray for one another at New Covenant’s Women’s Bible Study. I wouldn’t think of missing out on this important time with God, in God’s Word, with God’s people.

Next week: Patty and Becky answer nuts-and-bolts questions about WBS.

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