Bible Reading Groups FAQ

Transcription

1 Bible Reading Groups FAQ How do I start? Most groups will start informally based on a personal invitation to further spiritual conversations that have already happened at other times and places. The invitation might go something like: We ve been talking a lot about spiritual life. I ve found the Bible to be a great source of inspiration. Would you like to meet this afternoon to read it together? I ve enjoyed our spiritual conversation. I wonder if you would like to meet with me and a few of my friends who read the Bible together and talk about the same kinds of things together. These invitations are preceded by other conversations, sometimes many conversations. They might happen over coffee, trips to the hardware store, sports activities, helping with a projects or walks around the campus. Sometimes there will be many invitations as well. Remember that a vague no or yes is not the same as a refusal. With busy American schedules starting something new or arranging a schedule or even explaining the meeting to a spouse is a big deal. You ll know you re making a huge step forward when your friend s cell phone number is saved in your contact list! For a new reader, start by reading passages out loud together. Discuss ideas, questions, interesting words or insights. At times it maybe helpful to start with the table of contents of the Bible and discuss the major sections of the Bible: Old and New Testaments, Historical Books, Gospels, Psalms, etc. If your Bible Reading partner doesn t have a Bible, or one with readable language, then hook them up immediately with something useable. Later, encourage them to buy a more complete version on their own. What is the flow of the meeting? Start with Connecting conversations. Transition to pre-assigned Bible reading using this simple format. o What spoke to you? o What do you want to do about it? If someone says, nothing. Then thank them for their honesty. If everyone agrees on the same thing, then ask permission to check results next week. Agree on next meeting time, place and Bible Reading assignment o Sometimes the best assignment is doing the previous one over again until everyone catches up. o If one of the group participants consistently skips the assigned reading consider reading the scripture portion out loud together. It helps the group.

2 What Bible Study Methods do you use? There are a variety of acceptable and useful methods, but REMEMBER this is a reading group, not a study group. The expectations are different. Practice reading longer portions of scripture like 5 to 10 chapters before adding study methods. Consistency with reading should be the expectation before reinforcing with ideas for improving reading. Overview: Subject, Themes, Context Ask 5W and 1H questions. Become keen observers. Find answers together. Hand, Head, Heart OR Serve, Think, Connect Write out and paraphrase Who leads? As much as possible let the group be facilitated by the Bible Reading agenda: The passage and the discussion. To the extent that the group is strengthened by having a convener who also reminds the group of the time, date, place and assignment, then let that person serve. Seek to share the leadership of the discussion, let gifts be used as they emerge. Usually a leader emerges during the meeting. It will be someone who is growing as a result of the meetings and is experiencing life transformation. Watch for multiple leaders to emerge. They become the ones who help multiply the ministry. How do I know if I m doing it right? What is the expectation? The format and flow is really simple. If the format isn t working, then change it. If it s still not working, stop meeting and try another way to have spiritual conversations. Keep the format simple. We discuss the assigned reading. We talk about what moves, inspires, energizes us. We talk about what we want to do about it. The flow should be casual and conversational. Sometimes it starts with, I got some horrible news this week! Other times you ll hear, I can hardly wait to show you what I learned! And then more likely, Can you believe the game last weekend? Let the conversation emerge as friends coming together, not with the expectation to cover a certain amount of material or accomplish a task. Doing stuff together is likely to emerge naturally as common interests are identified. How do we do evangelism? Reaching out to other friends and family members will likely grow out of a concern to share your journey with others who need to hear about the Gospel. Sometimes your outreach will simply be a sharing of your relationships first. An extended meeting with a meal, or learning something or going to an event are all reasons to invite others to meet your Bible Reading friends.

3 Many people have found a simple discussion outline a simple way to introduce the Gospel. The picture in Kingdom Journey is one way to represent a path people experience while making spiritual discoveries. How do we invite new people? Begin first by praying for those whom you d like to invite to the group. Mention the friends by name and save the names for future reference. When you have opportunities to introduce your friends to others in your Bible Reading Group in other places then do that prior to an invitation. When inviting someone new to your group, remember that it often takes people several weeks to arrange their schedule or change a routine so that they can meet with you. Don t take a lack of response as an outright refusal. Your new friend may be dealing with the logistics of adding another appointment to their schedule. Prepare your group for new people joining the group by praying for them, planning outside activities and talking about whom you want to invite. How do we multiply? Often starting a new group happens as simply as finding a new time and place to meet that works better for some of the new members than for the group that has been meeting for a while. Some groups will start alongside of an existing group for a different set of friends. For example, a group member may want to start a group at work during the lunch hour with friends from work, but maintain connection with their original group. Kinds of multiplying: Better Time/Better Place Side-by-Side Add One Send Two One reason to multiply groups is to keep the circle of relationships small enough so that everyone has a chance to contribute to the group. Once you have more than four people in a group, sharing can become difficult. It can also take longer time than you have available to maintain the quality of interaction. When you start running out of time for everyone to share, multiplying the group may become your best option. How long do these last? They may last several months or even several years. As groups endure, they often adopt patterns of more effective habits, more concrete study methods and camaraderie. These are something to look forward to, but these gains can also come at the cost of excluding others. One idea is to start another group alongside the existing group. Or, possibly move toward a community group that invites still more people, perhaps from among family members or friends. What are the logistics? Where do we meet and what time?

4 Try keeping your meetings to 60 minutes. Most of us can accommodate a regular meeting of that length in our schedules. The more people you have in the reading group, the harder it is to complete in one hour. If your chosen meeting time becomes unavailable for a group member, ask if its time to start another group at another time. How big do these groups get? Reading Groups are usually limited by two factors, the amount of time you need for quality interaction and the amount of space you meet in. If you meet at a restaurant, it s not unusual for a table for four to become the limiting factor. If you meet at work, the length of your lunch break may limit the interaction available. What else do we read beside the Bible? Learning to read the Bible well is the focus of these groups. Bible Reading methods can be expanded to enhance your learning. Your group may also introduce the use of Bible Maps, Dictionaries or Explanatory notes, but the focus should be on everyone reading the same portion of scripture prior to each meeting. If you find that everyone is completing the Bible reading assignment to easily between meetings, then either increase the amount of reading from say 4 chapters to 8 chapters OR the frequency by reading 2 chapters 2x instead of 1x. As a group you may also choose to add disciplines like Bible memory, Prayer reminders or serving. Be sure to take time to review commitments you ve made to one another or to follow through on an Action Step that you have recorded in your notebook or journal. What kind of problems have you run into and what do you do about them? Keep in mind, most problems sort themselves out by spending time together AND making a commitment to read the Bible. If problems persist, increase the reading assignment and check-in every week to assure everyone is completing the work. Once you have a consistent pattern of participation in the reading assignments, there are three problem areas that may need to be addressed: Spiritualizing, Rigidity and Pandering. Spiritualizing is when every difficult passage or, more likely difficult application, ends up with a sincere commitment to do nothing. If you run into a pattern of spiritualizing, try focusing more specifically on the context in which the Bible passage was written. This may require that you do additional study with cross-references or consulting a study Bible. After getting a clear idea of the context compare it with your own. Focus on applications that are meaningful in your setting, with the situations you deal with. Ask, How would this make a difference in our lives today?

5 Rigidity occurs when readers jump to a conclusion about the meaning of a passage prematurely. Some readers fall into a this pattern because they have not taken enough time to study a passage and form their application. Instead, try living with your conclusions over time and evaluate what you learn. Another way to free up pre-conceptions is to discuss what ifs in your group. For example, What if we served our families, then we could expect. The way you fill in the blank helps be more concrete with your application, which leads to obedience to God s word. Pandering happens when group members give preference to a leader they admire or a member of the group instead of thinking for themselves. Encourage members to defend their ideas. Conflict has a way of keeping a group interesting as members wrestle with their conclusions. What would a typical reading assignment look like? Where do we start? Suggested Reading Ideas: 1. Read the Gospel of Mark a. 2 chapters, 2 times before the meeting b. 4 chapters, 1 time before the meeting c. The entire book in one sitting before the next meeting 2. Read an Old Testament Narrative a. Genesis, Exodus and 1 & 2 nd Samuel make great places to start b. Decide a number of pages you want to read vs. the number of chapters i. Note how to use the book outlines to keep track of where you are in the story ii. Talk about the development of the story as if studying literature. 3. Read a New Testament Epistle Multiple times through. a. Read the book 2x before the meeting Discuss the development of the Big Idea b. Read the same book 2x again before the next meeting Discuss circumstances of the writing c. Read 2x again Discuss teaching concepts Key Questions? What spoke to you from your reading this week? What do you want to do about it? What are we going to do with what we ve learned? Is there someone in my life who needs to hear this story, message or theme? How will we apply this in our group? How will we be different? Bible Study tools? Keep your outside sources to a minimum so that each person is challenged to bring the results of their personal study to the group meeting. Encourage the members to share their discoveries instead of reading from a book or commentary. If you run into a subject requiring in-depth research, suggest another Bible Reading assignment to deal with that subject, so that the Bible is answering your

6 questions. For example, when reading the book of Acts and you ask, I wonder what Ephesus was like? Suggest reading the book of Ephesians next. Another approach is to assign special study emphasis on that topic, but make sure everyone has access to some additional study material so that they can be involved in the process of discovering together. A Study Bible with introductory notes for each book and comments about key people, concepts and places. Used bookstores often have excellent copies of the NIV Study Bible for reduced prices. Online Bibles with reference materials and multiple translations. ( or ) Try to use the same translation as much as possible. As a supplemental study resource, however, an alternative translation can often shed light or help raise questions for further study. Explanatory Video training at