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Welcome – We’re glad to have you on board. We’re excited about the work God is going
to do in you during this Study, connecting you to His Word. This Study exists for anyone
who wants to become more familiar with the Bible, and understand it in a more complete
way. In this session, we’ll discuss the goals of the Bible Study, how the Study will
be structured, as well as key characteristics of the Study. Before you launched this session,
you were presented with four questions for you to answer. If you haven’t done that
yet, pause and do that now. If you’re still here, then we’re ready to move on!
Before we talk about the structure of this Study, let’s discuss our goals [of the Study].
Our first goal is to expand your knowledge of the Bible. We often have access to the
Bible and talk about its lessons, but often, we don’t fully grasp the content of the
Bible itself. One way we understand the Bible is by exploring its major storyline. In this
Study, we’re not going to focus on all 31,173 verses of the Bible, but rather we’re going
to focus on key characters and themes – the stories that make up our faith. Also, the
Bible is made up of different styles of writing that require different approaches, and we
will identify these different styles of writing, as well as how to read them. So knowing more
about the Bible is the first and primary goal of this Study.
The second goal of this Study is to learn and discuss key beliefs of Christianity as
expressed in Scripture, or the “theology” of Christianity. Now, don’t let that word
theology scare you. Theology is simply what we believe and say about God. So anytime we
talk about God, or have ideas or thinking about God or religion, that’s theology.
All of us have a theology, the question is how well developed is yours and mine? The
theology we will focus on is the core beliefs of Christianity. For example, we would say
that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is a core belief of Christianity. You have to
believe that in order to be a Christian. On the other hand, we will not say that you have
to be baptized in a certain way to be a Christian. We’re only going to focus and include unifying
beliefs, not beliefs that are divisive. What we’ll always do is see how theology, the
beliefs we’re studying, are expressed in Scripture. So as we learn the Bible, wherever
there are key theological points that we can explore at a point in our study of the Scripture,
then we’re going to study them. The third key goal (add text above) is to
let the study of Scripture change us: who we are, how we act, and what we do. It’s
really important that what we believe transforms us and makes us different and better people.
So one of our key ideas is learning God’s word, understanding what He calls us to do,
and expressing that in how we live out our daily lives. As our understanding of God grows,
it changes us, it makes us more aware, it changes how we think, and it changes how we
act. The better we understand the Bible, the better we understand God.
Our last [Fourth] goal for this study is to empower relationships with other followers
of Christ. We want to continually build an idea of community both in how we study and
how we develop. The Bible has always been a community project. The very fact that we
have the Bible is not because one individual handed it down, but multiple generations handed
it down, safeguarding it, making sure it was written down correctly, and they did so for
thousands of years. So studying Scripture in the context of community is recognizing
that we help others learn as they help us learn. No one person knows everything, so
we benefit from opportunities to learn from others, and in turn we can help them. And
last, we can gain and provide accountability. We can help others be faithful to what they
have learned and they can do the same for us.
So our four goals for this Study are: first, learning about the Bible, second, discussing
the core beliefs of Christianity, or theology, third, to use the Study as a tool for God
to change us, and fourth, to empower relationships with other followers of Christ.
Knowing the goals, let’s talk about how the Study is structured, and what you’ll
be doing. Let’s start with a “big picture” view of the Study, and then we’ll zoom in
for more details. We’ve broken the Bible down into seven units
of study. Each of these 7 units are made up of common themes, authors, or styles of writing.
We’ll refer to each one of the units of study as a “module.” After you finish
this Intro module, you may complete each module in order, or you may decide to skip around.
Each module is made up of 3-7 “sessions,” depending on which module you’re studying,
and these sessions help to break the information down into smaller bits. We’ve created each
session so that it can be completed within a one-week period. A session might take between
1 to 3 hours, including your group time. Your group may decide to complete each of the sessions
in a shorter or longer period than a week, which would shorten or lengthen your overall
time in the Study. It’s not important when you finish, it’s just important that you
do finish. You’ll see that each session is built the
same way. You will begin by studying Scripture and answering questions about the selected
Bible verses. Then, you’ll learn information that will help solidify your understanding
of the Scripture you read and introduce important theological principles. You’ll end each
session by answering questions to help you grow. By answering these questions, you will
explore how the Scripture you read impacts your life, and you will discuss these questions
and answers with your group. Let’s go back to the three elements within
each session and dig a little deeper. When you begin each session by studying the Bible
and answering questions about the selected verses, our prayer is that this is an important
time for you to study and learn God’s Word in a dedicated way. You won’t just have
your own answers to rely on, but if you do the Study in the context of a group, you’ll
also be able to offer and receive guidance from others. After you read the Scripture
and answer questions, you’ll then learn more about the Scripture and its key themes.
You can learn by listening to the audio file, or you may be more of a visual learner, and
will choose to view the learning content. And for each session, there is also a Study
Guide available. As you end each of the sessions, you’ll grow by answering the designated
questions so you can relate that Scripture to your life. We’ll call them “Relational
Questions.” These Relational Questions will ask us to think of how this Scripture applies
to our everyday life, and how we can change from knowing God’s Word. You’ll share
your answers with your group, which will help with accountability and provide perspective
of how the Scripture relates to others as well as it does to you.
There are various ways your group may structure your time within each session. For example,
your group may decide to meet once a week for one hour, online or in person. When you
meet, each person will have answered the initial questions, viewed the learning information,
and also answered the Relational Questions, and you can all discuss your discoveries through
these elements as a group. Or you may decide to structure your time in a completely different
way. What we want you to do is to find out what works the best for you and your group.
Now, let’s talk about some key characteristics of the Study. Knowing these will help frame
your understanding of the Study better and shape your expectation appropriately. First,
it’s important to know this is self-motivated learning. The learning will be driven by you,
with added motivation from the group that you’ll be a part of. This will help encourage
ownership of what you learn. When we invest our time, energy, thoughts, and emotions into
something such as this, we will value it and value the information even more.
A second key characteristic is the idea of learning with a group of fellow believers
[in Jesus Christ]. We are strongly committed to the idea that people learn and apply Scripture
to their lives best when it’s done in the context of community, simply meaning with
others. Incomplete theology, and remember theology is simply what we say and believe
about God, tend to be the result of an individuals’ own interpretation of the Scriptures, often
due to the fact that scriptures may be taken out of context or overly influenced by their
opinions. Repeatedly we see in Scripture that God directs us to study as a group. Also,
we might stumble into our own misunderstandings, so we encourage you to study this within a
group as a way of avoiding some of those mistakes. Sometimes others can see clearly what might
be a little foggy to us. Sometimes others might pass over a valuable nugget while reading
what we might be able to point out. Together we can both avoid misinterpretations and find
more value in our study of Scripture. That’s a really important contribution that you can
have to someone else’s spirituality and growth, and they in yours.
Another key feature is accountability. We’ve already talked about you taking charge of
your learning and being self-motivated. But we want to emphasize accountability: holding
each other accountable for learning the Scripture, and then applying it to our lives. Accountability
helps to move our desires and intentions into actions and results. Think of it like a workout
partner, or a coach, or personal trainer that’s going to help us make sure that we show up
and exercise regularly. Remember at the end of the day, it’s for our own benefit.
A fourth key characteristic is the commitment to changing behavior. The lessons learned
through studying God’s Word have to be expressed in the way we think and in the way we act.
If not, it’s a book that we study without any real application in our life, and without
any real transformation. Because of that, it’s important that we be open to implement
changes based on what we learn through this Study.
The last key to our time in this Study is the commitment for all participants to contribute
to the discussion. We want to talk about Scripture, without making it a point of needless debate.
To encourage discussion and minimize debate, we’re going to focus on the central unifying
issues of theology in the Bible. We’re not going to spend time on minor points or beliefs
that only a particular group within the Church affirms. Also recognize that unhealthy debate
can frustrate your study of Scripture and frustrate those around you. Therefore, the
attitude that you bring to this Study, and the attitude you will encourage in others,
should be one that minimizes debate when possible. When we as a Church are united on central
issues, there is so much that we can do for the Kingdom of God.
If you come to a point where there are disputes that can’t be settled, you can decide as
a group how to move forward. It is important that you are fueling the group positively
with your interactions and contributions, rather than fueling it in a negative or destructive
way. Each of us can do our part in contributing to a positive group experience.
We’ll wrap this up by talking about what you need to know to get started. If you’re
not already, we encourage you to get into a group or form a group yourself. You may
already have a friend or several friends in mind. You may want to do this study with your
family or even with co-workers. You can ask them to prayerfully consider doing this Study
with you. There are also ways for you to connect with a group online. An online study group
can enrich your learning in a great way by gaining perspectives from others outside your
normal environment. From the main page of this site, check out the ideas on how you
can find and initiate groups. (keep link on the page to the “Connect with Others”
on screen until end) Today, we have talked about our goals, how
the [structure of the] Study will work, and some key characteristics. To gain more clarity,
you may want to view this information one more time. Your next step is to read [and
answer] the Relational Questions for this first session, and take time answering them.
As you move forward with this Study, remember that you bring something special and unique
to the table, because God created you that way. And God gave us the Bible, His word to
us, so that we can get to know him better. I encourage you as you go through this Study,
to look and see all of the wonderful things that God has in store for you over the next
year.