Stories Include

As we engage in discovery Bible studies and oral Bible studies, one thing I keep noticing is the way Bible stories grab everyone.

In one of our weekly meeting households there is a teenager with some kind of emotional/social issue. He can become violent suddenly, or experience an emotion that doesn’t fit the moment. He has trouble talking to people directly and almost never makes eye-contact. He is extremely intelligent and loves to read and use the computer, more than interacting with people.

He often has to be physically forced to sit with the family to participate in the Bible study and has tried several times to run away as soon as it get started. However, once we start listening to the Bible passage in order to learn it by heart and tell it to each other. He gets quiet. Once we start telling the passage to one another, he participates. Once we start talking about the story, he identifies with it. A transformation occurs. It is temporary, but amazing.

He starts talking in multiple sentences, instead of short phrases. He starts looking at people when they talk and when he talks to them. He smiles. He talks to his parents about how he will obey the scripture and how they can help. He really engages.

Then by the time we close with prayer, he is back in his shell and ready to run away to the other room.

(He wants to be baptized now. Not in a church, however. He wants to be baptized in a river.)

And the Kingdom Grows

As I mentioned before, these home bible studies tend to yield a family of new Christians in about three months time. Sometimes they can form a church, sometimes they join an existing one. Yesterday we saw another family come to faith together. Just under the three month mark. We will look at baptism and what they would prefer next meeting (for us to baptize them and start a home church or for them to be baptized into a local traditional church).

One family that is now hitting the 6 month mark is starting a new bible study of their own and looking to lead another family to Christ.

We ourselves have been invited to start another bible study with a family in yet another neighborhood. This is one we should have done 2 years ago, but did not follow through when God called us. He was gracious to give us this opportunity again.

Our Bible studies are simple inductive bible studies where everyone learns the passage orally before we begin any discussion of the text. It takes a few meetings to get the technique, but the results are obvious.

Surprisingly Full Participation

In our second oral style inductive Bible study with this new family, we wanted to be sure to do our best to set the pattern well and encourage full participation. The family is a family of four, with two sons. The older one is a teenager and has some significant social and emotional challenges. The younger one is four years old. Perfect for playing with my son Nilson, who is five.

Our passage this time was a short one from Matthew 7. The Two Builders. I told the story in my own words, faithful to the Scripture.

We then called the two young boys from playing in the bedroom to come and do a sketch for us. I told them that they would be houses with their arms over their heads making a roof., one would stand strong and the other would fall. As I retold the story, the father made raining and flooding movements with his hands over his son. When he blew on him, representing the wind, the small boy flexed his muscles and stayed firm. As I was telling the story, the father repeated the motions over my son. When he blew on him, he fell with all the drama a five-year-old can muster. Everyone clapped and the boys took a bow. They then returned to playing.

I asked everyone to tell the story in pairs. I did not participate in this part, I just observed. (I am still deaf, did you know that? It’s been two months, but I am making improvements in my hearing.) The story is short, so everyone was able to tell the story well. The older son, who would not speak or even make eye contact last week, told the story with great precision.

I then asked if someone would read the passage word for word out of the Bible. Who do you think did it? Yes, the older son. This was touching for everyone.

After this, we asked some basic questions to find observations and applications in the passage. You would be surprised at the depth here. We ended with each person making an “I will” statement. That is, each person declared what he would do to obey the passage.

The whole study was shorter than usual, but for a group just starting out, it was just fine. It lasted about an hour.

NOTE

I haven’t done a great deal of story set development. What I have found through experience here is that starting with The Four Soils, and following up with The Two Builders has been extremely effective in reaching nominal Catholics who have opened up their homes for Bible studies. Since they are already familiar enough with Jesus, these passages help set the habit of hearing God’s message by reading the Bible and obeying immediately what is understood. This has led to quickly transformed lives and baptisms.

The process of the inductive Bible study itself creates accountability and community. We model the process first, then transfer the facilitation of the process as quickly as possible to the leader of the family.

New Family, New Bible Study.

We started a new evangelistic home bible study with Bible storying this week. Challenges and blessings. I am not sure how much I want to write about this family for certain reasons, but I will write about the scripture passages we used.

We started with the parable of the Sower. One person from the family read the scripture. I told it in oral style, and then the whole family pieced it together, telling it as a group. We really only needed two or three questions for the discussion to begin and for God to move.

• What kind of soil represents you?
• What kind of soil do you want to be?
• What do you need to change?

I must say. God is already doing something special in this family.