Since its 2007 release, For the Bible Tells Me So, the groundbreaking documentary on homosexuality and the church, has been changing countless hearts and minds wherever it’s been screened. Now, a new companion study promises to extend the film’s reach even further.

“This I Know” is a six-lesson course intended for either small-group or individual study in a multi-week format. Its publisher, Northaven United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas, a member of the Reconciling Ministries Network, has assembled a roster of nationally recognized authorities to contribute original material to this new resource.

“The curriculum has been designed to meet people where they are,” says Rev. Eric Folkerth, Northaven’s senior pastor. “It’s built on the premise that people tend to respond to the issue of homosexuality and faith from a place of fear. This study offers a path to respond with Christ-centered love.”

In the first lesson, Folkerth points out, influential evangelical thinker Brian McLaren identifies an entire list of fears beyond the fear of going against biblical authority.

“For example, he points out that many people are afraid of the divisiveness this is causing in churches,” Folkerth says. “Others are afraid of hurting the LGBT community and their families if they say the wrong thing. The bottom line is, fear has caused silence, and that silence has done tremendous harm to the church.”

The study culminates in an essay by noted Jesus scholar Marcus Borg, who calls on participants to examine the issue through the life and teachings of the ultimate authority, Jesus Christ.

Other “This I Know” contributors include Rev. Jack Rogers, author of the best-selling Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church; Rev. Victor Paul Furnish, long recognized as among the most influential interpreters of the Apostle Paul; and Roberta Showalter Kreider, a devout Mennonite who turned 180 degrees on the issue to become a champion for gay rights in the church. Disciple Bible Study author Richard B. Wilke also has written several of the study’s scriptural reflections.

Early reaction to the new study has been enthusiastic.

Author and lecturer Peggy Campolo has called it “the best collection of information I have read in more than 25 years of walking beside those children of God who happen not to be straight.”

The Rev. Dr. Mel White, founder of Soulforce, has praised the six lessons in the course as “important, down-to-earth, and life-changing.”

In an essay posted on Sept. 27 in The Huffington Post, noted religion writer Christine Wicker, author of The Fall of the Evangelical Nation, says of the study: “There’s no doubt it has a particular point of view, but it respectfully beckons its participants into discernment and discussion rather than dragging them by the collar into some ideological corner.”

The non-denominational study is being sold exclusively at its website, www.thisiknowstudy.org. For $40, purchasers receive access to 50 pages of downloadable curriculum and a downloadable leader’s guide. A copy of the DVD (mailed separately) is also included in the price.

Customers can then photocopy or email the study to a class of up to 40 participants. A renewal license for subsequent classes costs $20 and does not include a copy of the DVD.

For more information, please visit http://www.thisiknowstudy.org or email info@thisiknowstudy.org.

To read Christine Wicker’s essay in The Huffington Post, visit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christine-wicker/learning-to-talk-about-god-and-sex_b_741189.html