From Week 13, Leadership Development training for University Fellowship of Christians.
Would you commit to reading the Bible with one other person?
You may be thinking:
“I’m not ready”
“I’m not trained”
“I don’t know enough”
“No one did this with me”
Inside you may have so many excuses. Moses had FIVE when God asked him to lead his people out of Egypt.
But just like with Moses, God is longsuffering with us and our own reasons for not embarking on a fruitful discipling journey.
Reading the Bible with one or two people is just one way we have of making disciples of Jesus. But it’s very effective.
Don’t forget. You’re not in this on your own. The Holy Spirit is with you. HE inspired the words of the Bible. He will illuminate these words and bring them to life for you and your friend.
A few years ago Suzie Smith put together a training resource for Uni Fellowship to help students know how to get started with reading the Bible with someone. In this video we explore some of these ideas.
First … Why you?
As a disciple of Jesus, you have been commissioned to make other disciples of Jesus, teaching them to obey everything he has command us. Love God. Love others. Love one another.
Why you?
Because you want to see other people know the joy of everlasting life, turning away from a life of rebellion and destruction.
Why you?
Because you know the power of God’s Word to transform lives and you want to share that with others.
So How do you get started?
Before you begin:
Pray
Pray that God will prepare you.
Pray that God will also prepare a person for you to read the Bible with.
Pray that he will open your eyes and heart to opportunities to read God’s Word with someone.
Invite
If you’re considering asking a Non-Christian to read God’s Word with you, you might ask: “Would you be interested in reading the Bible with me for a few weeks?”
Or maybe God has brought to mind a young Christian: “How about we meet up and learn from God’s word together?”
Before you meet:
Establish a timeframe to get started. Will you meet weekly for a semester? 8 weeks? Find an amount of time that sits well with what you are able to commit to. When this time is nearing the end you can decide to continue meeting or encourage THEM to find someone to meet up with and read God’s Word together.
Decide what you will focus on during your time together. Remember, this time together is for learning from God’s Word … together. YOU don’t have to have all of the answers. And you don’t have to spend a long time preparing a Bible study beforehand. You’ll be learning together. Choose a book of the Bible and journey through it together.
Factor some time into your meeting when you can work on developing your relationship. You might commit to meeting for an hour and a half. Starting with 45 minutes to read God’s Word and then 45 minutes catching up on your lives. You’ll be surprised how your time in God’s Word together will shape your discussion afterwards.
When you meet:
Begin with prayer to help focus your minds and thoughts and give your time together over to the Lord as he guides and directs you to his truths.
Read the text out loud to each other. Read through a good solid chunk alternating readers frequently so you are both engaging with the reading of the text. You might choose to do it twice. Once at normal pace and once a bit slower picking up on some things you may have missed the first time through.
After you have read through the text ask the following questions:
Summarise the reading in your own words.
What questions did the reading raise for you?
What is the context?
In the passage or chapter? (What has happened just before your passage?)
In the Bible book? (What have we seen so far in the book?)
In the Bible? (Where does this fit in God’s story?)
Genre? (Is what we’re reading a gospel, letter, prophet, history, poetry, narrative etc? This will affect how you read it and understand it.)
What do we learn about God?
Father, Son and Spirit?
What do we learn about people?
Unredeemed humanity?
Christians? Those who follow God and his ways?
How did people respond to God? Did they change the way they thought or acted? Did it change their desires?
As a result of reading this passage, how am I going to change:
the way I think?
the way I act?
what I desire?
And finally Pray the passage. Use the words of the text to mold your prayers.
Homework?
It’s not necessary to have homework. Remember this time together is two disciples of Jesus coming together to learn together from God’s Word in this moment. If either of you are curious and have found a strong desire to read further or that questions pop up in reading together and you are excited to do some digging and research, do it and come back and share what you learned when you meet again.
Give it a go.
Start with a new Christian. After your time period of a semester is up, you might like to suggest to meet for another semester but invite a curious and interested friend who has expressed interest in knowing more about Jesus or the Bible to join you. The three of you can be disciples together all while having the pleasure of introducing someone to Jesus for the first time. The person you originally met with is also being trained to learn and have experience in being a disciple who makes other disciples.
It’s a grand, rewarding adventure to make new disciples of Jesus or to journey alongside another and learn to love God, love others and love one another.
It might seem scary but if you are drawn to this or wish someone had done it with you, remember, start with prayer. God will begin to direct your path if you desire to read the Bible with another person.
At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.
Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.