There are lot of things in life that confuse me. Things that I don’t understand. As one who has had seven sinus operations, I don’t understand piercing noses, for example.
For most of my adult life, I have been involved in some sort of Christian ministry either as a lay member of a church or group or else as staff or leader of those types of groups. The Lord has allowed me to engage in this either in person or online on five continents and 14 different countries. In nearly every instance at some point in the process one of the participants asks why they haven’t been shown how to study the Bible in their church. Or one of the pastors will confess to either downloading and presenting another pastors sermon or else not speaking on the Bible but his own thoughts.
Consistently one thing emerges in all my seminars and workshops. There are many who have been in churches all their lives who have not been equipped to study the Word of God on their own. They are dependent then on secondary sources or the teaching of others, which amounts to the same thing. They are engaged in the Word of God by proxy.
In John 8:31 – 32 (here @ Bible Gateway), Jesus states that in order to be His disciple one must abide in His Word. If one does not know how to abide, if they have never been shown how, can they be a disciple? Yet there are many churches of which I am aware who are struggling with the idea of how to more effectively make disciples.
Shouldn’t that start with equipping those in these communities of faith to personally engage in the Word of God? Rather than giving a member a book about, say, Philippians, why not show them how to study the book on their own?
Rather than giving them a devotional book, why not show them how to engage in a quiet time on their own?
Rather than… well I’s repeating myself…
Thoughts?
For most of my adult life, I have been involved in some sort of Christian ministry either as a lay member of a church or group or else as staff or leader of those types of groups. The Lord has allowed me to engage in this either in person or online on five continents and 14 different countries. In nearly every instance at some point in the process one of the participants asks why they haven’t been shown how to study the Bible in their church. Or one of the pastors will confess to either downloading and presenting another pastors sermon or else not speaking on the Bible but his own thoughts.
Consistently one thing emerges in all my seminars and workshops. There are many who have been in churches all their lives who have not been equipped to study the Word of God on their own. They are dependent then on secondary sources or the teaching of others, which amounts to the same thing. They are engaged in the Word of God by proxy.
In John 8:31 – 32 (here @ Bible Gateway), Jesus states that in order to be His disciple one must abide in His Word. If one does not know how to abide, if they have never been shown how, can they be a disciple? Yet there are many churches of which I am aware who are struggling with the idea of how to more effectively make disciples.
Shouldn’t that start with equipping those in these communities of faith to personally engage in the Word of God? Rather than giving a member a book about, say, Philippians, why not show them how to study the book on their own?
Rather than giving them a devotional book, why not show them how to engage in a quiet time on their own?
Rather than… well I’s repeating myself…
Thoughts?
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