Team Meeting Preparation Notes

Transcription

1 Team Meeting Preparation Notes christiansinsport.org.uk

2 Team Meeting Preparation Notes Sports Plus 2011 Only God can perform a miracle in the hearts and lives of the young people that attend Sports Plus this summer. We believe that He does this through the living out and teaching of His Word. We hope that the young people under our care see a difference in the way we live but are also affected by the things we teach. 2 Tim 3v15-17 gives us our two-fold framework for how God s word promises to work. a) v15 and how from infancy you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus God s word teaches the truth about God s rescue plan of salvation b) v16-17 All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. God s word teaches how to live in every situation in response to being saved The following booklet is a guide to assist you in your planning for Team Meetings. (We call them this because for some young people Bible study might sound too heavy.) The harder we work before camp, the greater chance each young person has in understanding the cross of Christ and of being a true follower of Him. We simply want to assist you in being the best you can be at helping the young people in your care. A Good Bible study consists of the following ingredients: 1 A Good Understanding by the Leader 2 Effective Packaging of the Study 3 The Delivery of the Study There are dangers of it being an ineffective bible study: If 1 is not present but 2 is, the group may have a fun time but not a life transforming time. There is real danger of the leader teaching things that aren t true or that are pulled out of context. This can have damaging effects. 2

3 If 2 is not present but 1 is, the group may be taught truth but there is danger that it won t take its place in young people s hearts because it doesn t grip, lacks energy and can simply seem boring. The group may learn very little because it will seem like a lesson imparted information of head knowledge but not a life changing experience of God s living word. We want young people to find out the answers themselves through directed Bible study. Even if 1 and 2 are present, the hard work can be lost if 3, the delivery of the study, isn t done well. 1. A Good Understanding by the Leader Prayer It is so important before we ever try to read the Bible to ask God to help us understand it. We also need to pray that we might be effective in communicating the message and that we might be obedient to what it calls us as individuals to do. Thirdly, we need to focus upon praying for the group, that they would understand, be changed, and live obediently to what they have heard. Personal Understanding Here you are trying to get to grips with the meaning of the text you are studying. It is helpful to try and get some basic information on the book before you begin this process. One part of a document needs to be understood in relation to the whole. - Who is the author? - When was it written? - Who is it written to? - Situation of author and reason why the author writes it - What are the main themes? There are 3 very helpful questions we can look at to help us in this process of understanding the passage we are studying. Alongside these questions we have tools to answer each one. If one part of this process is missing there will be a misunderstanding of what the Bible is actually teaching. What does the passage say? The Paragraph Tool (working through the structure and vocabulary layout of the passage) What are the main points the text is making? When and where does this take place? Who are the main characters? What key words are repeated? Do you have an understanding of all the words used in the passage? Can you assemble the passage into different sections and write the main point in each section? 3

4 What does the passage mean? The Context Tool (working through the purpose of the passage within the chapter, the book and the whole Bible to that specific audience at that specific time.) The crux of understanding is in this section. Why does the writer include this part? What would we miss if the writer left it out? Why is it included here? What happens before and what happens afterwards? Look at the detail in each verse why is it included? Are there any surprises that jump out at you? How do the words (verbs, nouns, adjectives, conjunctions) fit together to establish the meaning? What is the focus of the verse? Try and assemble the passage into sections before continuing the process of getting to the bottom of the meaning. What does the passage mean to me? - The Application Tool (working through what the direct/indirect application is to any given people at any given time) Are there any direct applications any specific commands to follow? Are these for the first readers or for all time? What are the principles you have learnt from the main points? What shape do they take for your study group the day to day issues that your group are facing? Apply them to yourself before trying to teach them. Summarise the Main Points of your Study This is a very important step as you personally move from understanding to communication. At the end of your work in trying to understand the passage, it is helpful to write down two separate sentences. Theme Sentence what is the thrust of the teaching in the passage in one sentence? Aim Sentence How you want the group to be changed? From their understanding of the passage how should they be transformed? 4

5 2. Effective Packaging of the Study After you know what the passage is all about and the main teaching points that come out of it you can start structuring the study: You need a list of relevant questions These should enable you to draw out the correct understanding of the text for your group. There are 3 main groupings of questions and these give a suitable flow of where to take the study (i.e first; find the facts, lastly; apply to lives). However the questions shouldn t be strictly kept in this order but integrated throughout the study. Your preparation sheet will be laid out in a way that enables you to take 2-3 main points and follow the questioning structure through the main points of the passage. Finding out the Facts Designed to enable the group to work out exactly what is going on. These questions should be easy to answer and should include everyone. It is always important to ask where the group are answering from, as by doing this you are getting the group to refer to the Bible and glean the facts from it. Finding the meanings These are the how and why questions, the most important ones yet often trickier to work out and answer. E.g. Why does Jesus make such a fuss in this incident, or how does Jesus get His point across and why does He do it in this way? Finding the relevance These are the so what questions. These questions flow out of the meaning of the passage. Beware of getting to this point too early. You will often have to hold back the reigns and pull the group back to work out the meaning before you talk about its effect on our lives. You are trying to get the young people engaging and responding positively, working out what it means in their particular situations. E.g. - What do we often consider to be our greatest need in life? In what ways do we get side tracked from following God? Question Guidelines Avoid asking questions that: - Can be answered in one word. - Take longer than a sentence to ask. - Have hard words that could embarrass people if not understood. Ask questions that: - Are easy to understand. - Make the group look at the passage. - Have several valid answers. - Lead the group towards the key aim of your study. Perception Try to imagine what sort of answers the young people might come up with to all your questions. 5

6 Additional Preparation Starter question - There are two general types of launching questions: Topical to raise the issues related to the goals of the study by posing a dilemma or asking an opinion. Textual to raise an issue in the text being studied which will help to unravel the whole passage. The question should be engaging, thought provoking, interesting, easy and open. Summary Make sure you save time for a summary of what you have learnt. Visuals Often a great way of keeping the young people engaged in the study (maps, diagrams, illustrations). However they must be of sufficient quality to aid to the overall aim of the study. Dynamics - There are different approaches depending upon the young people you have: - Buzz groups might be a good way to get everyone talking with feedback at the end. - Multiple choice question sheets can often help the less confident to understand the passage without the pressure of asking questions early on in the study. 6

7 3. The Delivery of the Study Try to keep within the allocated time you have to deliver the study. The study should ideally be a maximum amount of time of 20 minutes. Give opportunity at the end for the young people to ask questions and stay behind if they want to discuss it more or walk away if they don t want to discuss. Getting started Seating Arrangement It is essential that you can see the faces of every young person. You need to find a comfortable (yet not toocomfortable) place, preferably not in a bedroom and definitely not lying on beds. Try to make sure that your co-leader is not sat next to you but amongst the young people. Read the passage It is important that you demonstrate the idea of reading the Bible passage. There is no set rule for reading. Often one voice or a couple who volunteer are ideal. Never demand that anybody should read. Pray Start the meeting with a prayer by yourself or another leader. Prayer should be simple, short and along the lines of asking for God s assistance in understanding the passage. Discipline At this time, do not be reluctant to be quite forceful in your discipline. If one or two young people are playing up and causing the others to loose concentration have a plan to deal with those young people as you see best. What is being understood? Throughout the study you need to keep monitoring whether or not the young people are actually taking in what is being taught. We must never presume that if one person is on the ball, the other seven are following suit. Neither must we presume if a young person answers correctly that they understand exactly why they have answered that way. It is good to have a few summary questions that can be thrown out as the study progresses such as: - So explain how we got to this point? - You have all come to this conclusion. Is this the main point the text is making? - Do we all agree with X s answer? Why? You will have to correct people who do give wrong answers. It is hard to do but must be done! Be sensitive, affirming and gentle but always correct by pointing the young people back to the text. Always ask the young people where did you see that? to make them get into the Bible text and not be satisfied with just a broad statement. 7

8 What difficulties might arise? Understand that there might be many different problems in your group. Silence is always a tricky one! It might be because your questions are too hard or even too simple that it is embarrassing to answer. Often however time is needed to get into the swing of the study and time is always needed to think through what the answer might be. A co-leader can be helpful in answering the question partially. Shyness use eye contact to encourage response. Talkative don t look at the person and ask others what they think. Avoidance Young people will often want to talk and there will be some in the group that with the best intentions talk about issues not central to the study. Tell them that at another time you can come back to that issue but you are going to maintain focus on the passage. Social issues The passage might trigger some unforeseen response in a young person. Sadness and anger are common responses. Always address with sensitivity and with the young person individually, not in a formal group setting. Summarise Always summarise main points and finish with a conclusion drawing things together. A great way to end a study would be to pray as a group. Encourage everyone to take part stating that nothing is ever too stupid, whilst explaining the fundamentals of prayer. Always guide young people in their praying and look to focus their attention on acting upon what they have just learnt and thanking God for understanding Material used in compiling How to lead a bible study Read Mark Learn Leaders Manual, Justin Mote Growth Groups Colin Marshal Dig Deeper Sach and Beynon 8