Investigative Bible Studies With Internationals
Contents
Foundational for Investigative Bible Studies:
- God wants to speak
- He speaks through His Word
Without conviction on both of these points, you can't
lead an investigative Bible study.
People become Christians through Investigative Bible
Studies
Example: Singapore. In 1974, there were 160 members in
the group. They began 20 investigative Bible studies. In
1975 there were 200 members and 40 investigative Bible
studies. In 1976 there were 400 members and 60 investigative
Bible studies. In 1977 there were 700 members and 100
investigative Bible studies. Today, there are over 2,000
members. Most of them became Christians because they met
Jesus through investigative Bible studies.
God wants to speak, and He speaks through His Word!
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The Goal
Our ultimate goal is that people come to faith in Jesus
Christ. An investigative Bible study is a good place for
people to find out who Jesus really is.
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The Leader
The leader of an investigative Bible study needs to:
- Believe that God has prepared some people to become
Christians (John 4:35 ff.).
- Trust God's Word and believe that God speaks through
His Word, and that through His Word people will come to
faith (Acts 8:35 ff.).
- Pray and invite people to the investigative Bible
study.
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The Group
It's best if there are only two Christians in the Bible
study group. The group is for seekers, not for Christians.
If Christians are in the majority, seekers may feel under
pressure and not have total freedom to ask their honest
questions. A good group size is 2 Christians and 4 seekers.
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Starting
Pray daily, and find others to pray. Pray for yourself,
your preparation, and that God will show you whom to invite.
As God brings people to mind, you might want to write a
list of names, and pray for each of them. Ask God to show
you which of these people to invite. If you find you have no
non-Christian international friends, pray to get to know
some near you - in the dorm, lectures, etc.
Think about the Bible texts to use. Think about the
people on your list, their needs, the questions they're
asking. The texts should focus on who God is and who Jesus
is, since this is the main purpose of an investigative Bible
study. One of the Gospel narratives is probably best; there
Jesus meets people in their need - something which people in
your group can relate to.
You might choose a series such as: Who is God? What is
man? Who is Jesus? Why did He come? What did
He do? How does one become a Christian?
Or use a good study guide, such as Ada Lum's Jesus,
One of Us, or Bill York's, One to One, or a new
guide specially written for internationals, Passport
to the Bible, which should be available this
fall. These guides, and others, are available from InterVarsity
Press.
Get enough Bibles in one translation. A unified
translation helps the discussion focus on the text, rather
than get lost in a discussion of "which translation is
better?" Also get Bibles in the mother languages of the
international students who will join.
You may wish to photocopy the particular text which will
be studied, so that the members will have a text on which
they can write questions and observations, and take home
with them. Other languages could be photocopied next to
English for the internationals. This helps international
students understand the passage better, and to improve their
language skills.
Set a time for the meeting according to the best time for
your friends. In the beginning, plan on meeting for only one
hour per week. It's better to have your friends complain the
time is too short, than to have them stay away because it's
too long.
Let everyone know at the start how often you'll meet.
With a set number of times for the investigative Bible
studies, your friends will know they're not getting into
something for years. Seekers will be more willing to
come to something they know will last 5 or 6 times, or one
semester.
Prepare carefully. Plan on 1 1/2 hours of preparation
time for each study. Set aside this time and guard it! Pray
during your preparation time that God will speak to you
through the text, that you yourself will get to know
Jesus better.
Write out questions which could be discussed in the
group. The questions should focus on the text, making it
living and pragmatic for our lives today. Your written
questions should focus on three areas: What does it say?
What does it mean? What does it mean for us today?
Invite your friends. Pray. Trust God. Tell your friends
the theme; when, where and how often you'll meet; how the
meeting will be run; that they don't need any knowledge of
or background in the Bible, their religious background won't
make a difference; the discussion will focus on the text,
and any question goes.
A half hour or an hour before the meeting begins, remind
your friends. Very likely, they have higher priorities in
life than the investigative Bible study, and may easily
forget if you don't remind them.
In some cases, you'll want to offer to pick your friends
up and bring them. For many international students, this is
only polite.
Begin!
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Tips for Leading
Briefly introduce the text in a way that makes it
exciting to study this particular passage. For example,
during the introduction time, you might have asked everyone
what they think about people who are very wealthy. As the
Bible study time is introduced, you could say, "What would
Jesus say to a man who's very wealthy? Tonight we want to
read a passage in which Jesus met a rich man...." Another
possible introduction would be to do a dramatization of the
passage.
It's helpful to read the text aloud in various languages.
If there are more than 8 members in your Bible study group,
divide everyone into smaller groups (6-8 persons), each
group led by a team member with prepared questions. Another
possibility for discussion would be for each person to write
down one question about the text on a card and turn the
questions in to the leader, who then reads the questions to
everyone for discussion of the passage. Or the text might be
typed out, and each participant given colored pencils to
mark their questions and observations directly on the page.
After a time for each to study in this way, the leader could
ask people to share what they have written.
The leader will need to be sensitive to language
difficulties, and the fact that students may have little or
no Bible knowledge. Generally, international students are
interested in discovering how the Bible relates to everyday
life (practically, not theoretically, and not necessarily
theologically).
During the study time, let people discover for themselves
what the text is saying. Don't rely on commentaries or other
help materials, unless it's really necessary to understand
the text. Let the Bible speak for itself! As leader, try not
to answer questions. Help the group learn to discover the
answers from the Bible.
It's important that people sit so they can see each
other. If someone is sitting outside the circle, they feel
"out of it" as well, and won't participate well.
Help the group to stay in the text. Don't jump around in
the Bible, it only confuses and frustrates those not
familiar with the Bible.
Help the group to stay on the point. There are many
interesting things one could talk about; a fruitful
discussion, however, has a goal.
You can lead the discussion through your prepared
questions, but don't be tied to your questions if someone
has a different question which is related to the text. Be
flexible. If questions seem confusing, reword them. Create
an atmosphere where anyone can ask any question, and each
person can share something. Everyone's contribution has
worth. Help the group to understand the main teaching of the
text and possible applications for our everyday lives.
After 30-45 minutes (small groups join together again),
one of the Christian team members should summarize in
one or two sentences the most important points from the
passage.
The above points are important if our friends are going
to discover the Bible has answers for their questions which
they can learn on their own. They don't need to always come
to you for the answers. One doesn't need a theological
education or a commentary to understand the Bible. Start and
end on time. When it's time to stop, stop, even if the
discussion is interesting and important. You can say, "It's
time to stop. Whoever needs to go, feel free to go. If you
want to stick around, feel free to stay longer." It's better
for the participants to wish that there had been a longer
time, than to wish that they hadn't been obligated to stay
so late. The discussion can then continue after the
"official" end, and is often more honest and personal during
this "informal" time.
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Follow Through
The personal contact outside the group meeting time is
absolutely critical! Don't get trapped into a "come to the
meeting" mentality. Jesus says, "Go!" We need to take time
for people, and meet with them in their everyday lives. This
is how we show honest and true interest in them as persons.
Visit the people from your Bible study group regularly.
During a visit, it's easy to mention the discussions you've
had in the group. You might ask, "What have you gained from
the discussions?" or "Are there questions you'd like to ask,
but haven't yet?" or "I've been thinking about that question
you asked during the study..."
Learn to listen! Show true interest in their interests,
eat together, share a hobby, study together, share your
lives together - that's love. Share your belongings: books,
cassettes, CD's. Feel free to borrow too - it shows your
friends have something to offer you too.
Invite your friends home over break, or to a camp or
weekend where they can meet others who are interested in
Jesus.
Be ready to share the Gospel. Consider what Jesus means
for your life personally, how you became a child of God, and
be ready to share this with your friends. When you note that
one of your international friends seems far enough,
encourage him to trust Christ. Be ready to help him become a
Christian.
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