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Small Group Bible
Studies
Information for trans-formation
My dad approaches
the Bible the way detective Joe Friday approaches a
crime scene, Just the facts, Ma' am. He asks
questions looking for evidence: who, what, when,
why, and how. And then, somehow at the end of all
the investigation, armed with facts, figures and
certainty, he is satisfied that this is what the
Bible is all about. He is well informed, and ready
to apply his scientific discoveries to his life.
Inductive Bible study
This approach is sometimes called Inductive Bible
Study. You start with the biblical text and use the
scientific method of investigation and from that
discover the truth of the text. Once the truth has
been found, its meaning can be explored and
application to life is possible. A popular approach
for adult education in many congregations, the
Inductive Bible Study usually includes three steps
with corresponding questions: Observation
What does the text say? Interpretation What
does it mean? Application What does it mean
to me?
But, what if the Bible is meant to do more than
inform? What if my dad's preoccupation with gaining
information-and that of others using the Inductive
Bible study approach-is limiting the impact of the
Holy Scripture? Is it enough to just know the facts
and be informed? What if God is interested in stir-
ring up more from the scripture?
Engaging the Bible
We can do more than just mine the Bible for
information. We can engage the Bible. We can
experience the Bible as a reality outside us that
acts upon us, making radical claims, giving
astonishing promises, asking probing questions,
inspiring daring service. And as we engage the
Bible, the Bible engages us. It opens our lives to
possibilities beyond the purely factual and
scientific. As we experience the Bible, we are not
only informed, but also form- ed, re-formed and
trans-formed.
Approaches to Bible study
Try one of the following small group approaches to
Bible study. But, be careful. They move from
information to trans-formation. They allow biblical
stories to become contemporary stories. They bring
you into the presence of the living God.
African Bible Study
In this kind of study a group listens to the
reading of a selected scripture passage and
responds to the question, What word or phrase seems
most significant or meaningful for you, and why?
The passage is read a second time and each
participant responds to the question, How does this
passage speak to your life now, and why? The
passage is then read for a third time and
participants respond to the question, What will you
change or do this week in response to this passage,
and why? The passage is read a final time as a
closing prayer. Voices of the story In this kind of
study a passage is read and participants identify
the biblical characters, individuals or groups.
Participants are assign- ed or select a character,
read the story from the perspective of their
character, and then share what they as the
character saw, heard, experienced, and felt from
their perspective.
Short-term memorization
In this kind of study, typically participants are
given ten minutes to memorize the passage, and then
gather in pairs. One partner shares the passage
from memory, while the other partner makes note of
words or phrases shared correctly, omitted or
changed. The partners then exchange roles. Small
group discussion grows out of the participant's
response to the questions: What was the easiest
part to memorize, and why? What was most difficult,
and why? What words or phrases were changed, and
why?
Story Then and Now
This form of Bible study happens when a passage is
explored by asking the questions: What is the
setting? When is this taking place? How does the
story line progress? Who is the audience? How would
they understand the point of the story? Next,
participants take the story from its biblical set-
ting and place it in a contemporary setting by
responding to the questions: Who are the
contemporary people who might correspond to the
biblical characters? What would be the setting?
etc.
In Your Own Words
In this study, participants read the selected
passage silently. Then, working individually each
writes a short summary and then tells what he or
she wrote. After every summary is heard, the group
talks about common elements. Each participant
reflects quietly on the following questions: What
new possibilities does this passage open for me?
For us? If I were to take my summary words
seriously, what would that mean for me? For us?
Finally, individuals offer their responses to the
questions.
Not my father's Bible study
Often our tendency is to approach the Bible as my
father does. But somewhere along the way, with just
a few subtle shifts in perspectives, we can meet a
living reality, a divine presence that starts to
question, judge and guide us. In the Bible we
encounter marvelous stories of what God has done,
is doing and has yet to do. We encounter a faithful
people endeavoring to arrange, order and live out
their lives as God's people. Their stories are our
stories. They belong to us, describe us and
identify us. Whenever and wherever the stories of
God and God's marvelous deeds are told, there God
encounters us and we encounter God. And so, the
book which begins as an object of our reading and
study, becomes a subject which reads us.
The truth my dad sought to discover is not only
knowledge that informs, but a God-with-us that
reforms. Study of this sort may begin with facts.
But it draws us into personal responsive- ness and
accountability before God, others and the world.
Bible study changes not only what we know, but
changes how we know and how we are known. It puts
us at risk of transformation.
Writer: Paul Lutz
Paul's father, AI Lutz, of Manchester, CT, is a retired engineer,
active in St. Bridget's Roman Catholic church in Manchester.
Copyright © 2002 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 8765
W. Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631. 800/638-3522. Produced by Christian
Education of the Division for Congregational Ministries.
Permission is granted for congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America to reproduce this resource for local use.
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