Friends have asked me several times what I do when I lead a Bible study. If they are American, I usually cringe when I hear the question. (I don’t do much of anything . . .). If they aren’t, I tell them. In most of the world, there isn’t such great access to Bible study curriculum, inductive training manuals, commentaries, Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias, so we have to let the Bible speak. In all honesty, having used lots of curricula over the years, I love the simple 6 questions that we use now.
Two things I have noticed with these questions: 1. People discuss more. I’m not the expert, and they realize they can answer most of these questions just as well as anyone can. 2. Two of the questions engage an emotional response. I know it sounds stereotypical, but the women in our groups respond more to these questions than they ever did in a prepared curriculum.
These questions have been around forever – supposedly they come from a missionary in Asia – I wish I could find the source. (Edit – John DeVries, founder of Mission21 India, came up with these questions prior to 1989) Also, they exist in different orders and wordings, and lately have become popular again with “Discovery Bible Study”. I first got them verbally, from a buddy, which seems so appropriate. He didn’t have them written out. I wrote them on a napkin a couple of times, but they are easy to remember:
Read a passage from the Bible out loud. We usually read a chapter, and usually everyone reads a few verses.
1. What don’t you understand from the passage? This is really the only question where the “expert” gets to shine.
2. What do you like from this passage?
3. What don’t you like, or what do you disagree with?
4. What do you see about God in this passage?
5. What do you want to remember this week from this passage?
6. What do you need to apply in your life from this passage?
Here are the questions in a bookmark, with a link to a ministry that will send you more.
As you can see, my order is a little different. Other than keeping the first 3 questions before the last 3, I don’t think it really matters. And we don’t always do all 6.
I have the questions in Polish, but if you’re Polish and you’ve read this far, you can probably translate them better than I can!
Of course, this is similar to the other old standby:
What? (What does the passage say or mean?)
So what? (What does it mean in my life?)
Now what? (What do I need to do?)
The point is, you absolutely don’t need a Bible study curriculum to start reading with your friends. You don’t need a seminary degree, or years of Christian experience.
What you need to do is: Read. Discuss. Do. Every portion is equally important, and we all know that it’s the last one, DO, that usually gets neglected.
So. What are you waiting for?
Missions in Europe 