Community

If you read my most recent post on Evangelism, you might have some questions or concerns. Specifically, (and forgive me for putting thoughts in your head, I just have to assume, unless I get comments) "When does the Bible study/discipleship happen?"

Don't worry, the Bible is absolutely essential (obviously) to, and is the crux on which we place our evangelistic message.

However, you must have a follow-up plan of action, an opportunity for discussion, a chance for student's to begin to discuss face-to-face where they contribute to the discussion, not another lesson.

What I am proposing is giving your students a chance to dig into the big group meeting time's Biblical text and answer some discussion questions. Thee main goal of this time is transformation and community building. With this you have the opportunity to unpack the scripture passage at a much deeper level.

Honestly the depth at which you choose to take this is all up to you and your group's maturity level.

I think there is value to taking this approach for two simple reasons.

1. Continuity- You maintain the same topic for all of your meeting times in a given time frame. You are not jumping around from curriculum to curriculum, you are maintaining your focus on one specific topic or book of the Bible. This helps your teenagers keep their focus in one area. Let's be honest, we adults need this too!

2. Expertise- By simply attending your large group time, any one student now has an opinion on the topic. When you sit in a conversation about a movie that you've never seen, do you have an opinion? No you probably leave the room so the ending isn't spoiled for you. Same with students if they attend your meeting time, they can have an opinion, and not do much extra prep work.

This model could give you the chance to prioritize evangelism, and also promote is if students invite their friends to this group. At the same time, it allows students to take their faith a step deeper and make their understanding of Scripture more full.

What do you think? Is this an outside the box type of mentality? What problems are posed with an Evangelism-Discipleship, on two different nights type of method?

How does studying the Bible take place in your student ministry?