Nourishing Bible study –
“Staying immersed in the Word of
God.”
Once
the newborn Church inhaled its first breath, the Holy
Spirit started leading God’s people to immerse themselves
in four activities that are timelessly useful for spiritual
formation and impact (see Acts 2). These elements are still
the primary means God uses to vitally connect us with
Himself, each other and the world around us. Churches are
most healthy when everyone involved is devoted to
maintaining a balanced diet of all four. But the first
activity on that ancient list of "things to do" is still
the most fundamental: "They continually devoted themselves
to the apostles' teaching" (Acts 2:42).
Willow Creek Community Church
in Illinois recently completed a survey of 80,000 people in
200 churches. One of the standout conclusions they reached
needs to ring in our ears like permanent tinnitus: “The
Bible is the most powerful catalyst for spiritual growth.”
“Reflection on Scripture is by far the most influential
spiritual practice” (Greg Hawkins and Sally
Parkinson, Follow
Me, pp.
105-6).
If we're serious about following and becoming more like
Jesus, we need to do at least these two things:
(1) Concentrate a good portion of our times together on
reading, discussing, understanding and applying the
Scriptures.
(2) Help every person among us to cultivate a daily regimen
of their own that includes reading God's Book and
discussing it with Him.
We must also be diligent to ensure that our Bible studies
consistently go beyond "informational and interesting" to
genuinely "nourishing and life-changing." That will
probably require us to focus less on designated teachers /
preachers and to interact more with each other about what
we're reading and how we're doing.
Important
insights into how to do this effectively are included in
the book,
Gold, Silver and Precious Stones.
You can order it
on the Products and
Resources page.