Mixed Bible Reading Groups
"Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" – Luke 24:32
INTRODUCTION
The ‘mixed Bible reading group’ is proving to be a contextual ‘form’ that enables the people of our increasingly post-modern culture to experience community as well as the ‘freshness, power, and relevance’ of the Scriptures. A ‘mixed Bible reading group’ is a small group of friends who meet together to read the Bible, reflect on its message and its relevance to their life context.
It is called ‘mixed’ because people are at different places in their spiritual journey. All are learners but not all are Christians.
It is deliberately referred to as a ‘reading’ group not a ‘study’ group. The word ‘study’ linked to the Bible is not a helpful word for people of our times. It triggers conations of precision, rationality, facts, definition, and cognitive activity to a generation more comfortable with ambiguity, intuition, and flexibility.
It is a group. “To read the Bible alone has become more and more difficult for people.” For an increasing number of people it is more motivating to read in a group. The different thoughts and ideas that come up in a group help people to form their opinions. Reading it with another individual can arouse a fear of being manipulated. Presenting the Bible in dogmatic terms does not seem acceptable or a relevant way ahead with friends, work associates and neighbors.
FOUNDATIONAL ASSUMPTIONS
The Bible is a unique book.
Through the true stories of people and events, using a variety of
literary forms the Bible reveals God and his purposes. It is the
primary means he has employed to do this. In the Bible “we read of real
people living in real situations experiencing God in their own
particular historical and cultural contexts. They are like stories
within the big story. Stories of individuals, communities and peoples
relating to God and to one another. Together these stories trace the
moving story of Gods amazing love for humanity.” Through the Bible the
people of our generation can encounter the living God.
The Holy Spirit is at work.
As people read the Bible together the Holy Spirit is at work. He can be
trusted to use the consistent message if the Bible to reveal God and
work in the lives people. We do not need to defend the Bible. Neither
do we endeavor to prove its authority. We do not have to take control
of this process. We can pray looking with confidence to the Holy Spirit
to work in his mysterious ways and according to His timing.
The receptivity of the heart is vital.
This is the point Jesus makes in the Parable of the Sower. Observing,
reasoning, analyzing and concluding has their place but they are
inadequate as we read the Bible. “A glass window stand before us. We
raise our eyes and see the glass; we note its quality and observe its
defects; we speculate on it composition. Or we look straight through it
on the great prospect of land and sea and sky beyond.” The author of
Proverbs tells us that whatever else we do we need to be sure we watch
over the condition of our heart. “It is by the heart that God is
perceived [known] and not by reason…so that is what faith is: God
perceived by the heart.”
Mutual Learning
The Bible reading group is a meeting place of learners. Each person has
something valuable to offer out of the interaction of the Scriptures
and their life context. It is not a place where levels of knowledge
create distinctions. The group leader is not a person who has the truth
clear and then skillfully uses questions to communicate that truth. All
are learners. All are listeners. All are contributors. In this way God
reveals His character and ways to the group both corporately and
individually. “We need on another to help us detect our personal biases
of which we ourselves are unaware. Through the open probing of what a
text means or implies, the worst misinterpretations of truth are
exposed and corrected by the others in the group. We also need the help
of one another to go beyond present understandings.”
People value Community
In our frantic consumer orientated society it is increasingly rare for
people to experience meaning full community. Yet this is an essential
component of our humanity. The Bible reading group provides a ‘meeting
place’ for community to emerge. Friendships deepened and people feel an
increasing freedom to share personal and specific needs.
Ownership belongs to the Group
The Bible reading group is based on affinity (common life
circumstance). It does not belong to anyone other than those in the
group – not just the leader, not just the Christians in the group and
not The Navigators Organization.
Long Range Purpose
I see the mixed Bible reading group fulfilling the following purposes.
- A safe place for continued growth as a follower of Jesus Christ. – The creation of a spiritual home. It is a place where people can bring their life context and through interaction with others and the Scriptures move forward in their spiritual journey.
- A simple form that enables people to introduce their friends to the scriptures. It has potential to be ‘generational.’
“Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” – Luke 24:32
INTRODUCTION
The ‘mixed Bible reading group’ is proving to be a contextual ‘form’ that enables the people of our increasingly post-modern culture to experience community as well as the ‘freshness, power, and relevance’ of the Scriptures. A ‘mixed Bible reading group’ is a small group of friends who meet together to read the Bible, reflect on its message and its relevance to their life context.
It is called ‘mixed’ because people are at different places in their spiritual journey. All are learners but not all are Christians.
It is deliberately referred to as a ‘reading’ group not a ‘study’ group. The word ‘study’ linked to the Bible is not a helpful word for people of our times. It triggers conations of precision, rationality, facts, definition, and cognitive activity to a generation more comfortable with ambiguity, intuition, and flexibility.
It is a group. “To read the Bible alone has become more and more difficult for people.” For an increasing number of people it is more motivating to read in a group. The different thoughts and ideas that come up in a group help people to form their opinions. Reading it with another individual can arouse a fear of being manipulated. Presenting the Bible in dogmatic terms does not seem acceptable or a relevant way ahead with friends, work associates and neighbors.
FOUNDATIONAL ASSUMPTIONS
The Bible is a unique book.
Through the true stories of people and events, using a variety of
literary forms the Bible reveals God and his purposes. It is the
primary means he has employed to do this. In the Bible “we read of real
people living in real situations experiencing God in their own
particular historical and cultural contexts. They are like stories
within the big story. Stories of individuals, communities and peoples
relating to God and to one another. Together these stories trace the
moving story of Gods amazing love for humanity.” Through the Bible the
people of our generation can encounter the living God.
The Holy Spirit is at work.
As people read the Bible together the Holy Spirit is at work. He can be
trusted to use the consistent message if the Bible to reveal God and
work in the lives people. We do not need to defend the Bible. Neither
do we endeavor to prove its authority. We do not have to take control
of this process. We can pray looking with confidence to the Holy Spirit
to work in his mysterious ways and according to His timing.
The receptivity of the heart is vital.
This is the point Jesus makes in the Parable of the Sower. Observing,
reasoning, analyzing and concluding has their place but they are
inadequate as we read the Bible. “A glass window stand before us. We
raise our eyes and see the glass; we note its quality and observe its
defects; we speculate on it composition. Or we look straight through it
on the great prospect of land and sea and sky beyond.” The author of
Proverbs tells us that whatever else we do we need to be sure we watch
over the condition of our heart. “It is by the heart that God is
perceived [known] and not by reason…….so that is what faith is: God
perceived by the heart.”
Mutual Learning
The Bible reading group is a meeting place of learners. Each person has
something valuable to offer out of the interaction of the Scriptures
and their life context. It is not a place where levels of knowledge
create distinctions. The group leader is not a person who has the truth
clear and then skillfully uses questions to communicate that truth. All
are learners. All are listeners. All are contributors. In this way God
reveals His character and ways to the group both corporately and
individually. “We need on another to help us detect our personal biases
of which we ourselves are unaware. Through the open probing of what a
text means or implies, the worst misinterpretations of truth are
exposed and corrected by the others in the group. We also need the help
of one another to go beyond present understandings.”
People value Community
In our frantic consumer orientated society it is increasingly rare for
people to experience meaning full community. Yet this is an essential
component of our humanity. The Bible reading group provides a ‘meeting
place’ for community to emerge. Friendships deepened and people feel an
increasing freedom to share personal and specific needs.
Ownership belongs to the Group
The Bible reading group is based on affinity (common life
circumstance). It does not belong to anyone other than those in the
group – not just the leader, not just the Christians in the group and
not The Navigators Organization.
Long Range Purpose
I see the mixed Bible reading group fulfilling the following purposes.
- A safe place for continued growth as a follower of Jesus Christ. – The creation of a spiritual home. It is a place where people can bring their life context and through interaction with others and the Scriptures move forward in their spiritual journey.
- A simple form that enables people to introduce their friends to the scriptures. It has potential to be ‘generational.’
