Adaptable meeting guide: How to read the Bible

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THIS WEEK’S PASSAGE: PSALM 119:9-16

PREPARATION: Photocopy enough of the case studies for each small group.

THE SMALL PRINT: WHY BOTHER WITH THE BIBLE

10 mins 

Ask someone in the group to read out this week’s passage and then say: 7500 people inadvertently sold their souls to an online gaming company in the UK. Gamestation added ‘an immortal soul’ clause on their website so that you couldn’t buy any games from them unless you gave the company the rights to your soul. Everyone just ignored the small print which said:

By placing an order via this website you agree to grant us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should we wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within five working days of receiving written notification.

No one noticed because most people don’t read the fine print. Have a show of hands to see if anyone has purchased an app by just clicking through the notifications. The words pop up but they don’t even get beyond the back of our eyeballs – our brain doesn’t connect with them, much less our hearts. How does this kind of reading differ to the kind of reading mentioned in the passage? What difference is reading the Bible supposed to make to us?

FACING UP TO REALITY

10 mins 

Ask the group to vote on which of the following reasons make the Bible a difficult book to read: forgetting to read it, never getting anything out of it, ending up with more questions than answers, it being irrelevant.

Perhaps the problem is that we haven’t been reading the Bible correctly. Watch the videos from the links section. Other people’s words can change how we think, act and feel. How much more powerful are God’s words through which the universe was created (Genesis 1), our faith was ignited (Romans 10:17) and our lives and the world around us transformed (Psalm 119:11).

FOUR THINGS YOU NEED in order TO READ THE BIBLE

5 mins 

Ask the group to get into pairs and come up with four things that you need in order to read the Bible more effectively. Use the following list to supplement their suggestions:

• A modern translation of the Bible such as the New International Version, New Revised Standard Version or the English Standard Version. A paper version is fine but so are apps for your phone like YouVersion.

• A wise friend. It is likely that there is someone in your youth group, church or family that is godly and wise, and it is good to have them on speed dial when you hit a part of the Bible that you find difficult to understand or challenging to live out.

• An attitude of humility. The Bible is a gift to us from God who wants to get closer to us in relationship. Our attitude will affect our receptivity to hearing God’s voice through the pages of the scriptures.

• A plan. Life is busy, so unless a conscious decision is made it is likely that Bible reading will quickly drop off our list of priorities.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

15 mins 

Divide the young people into three smaller groups and give each small group a different case study. Ask the groups to come up with three practical ideas they could offer to the person in their case study. After ten minutes, ask someone from each group to read out the case study and someone else to explain the three practical suggestions they have come up with:

• Iqbal is 14 and became a Christian last year at Soul Survivor. He has never read any of the Bible. The rest of Iqbal’s family are Hindu and they are a little concerned about his new-found faith in Jesus, asking him lots of questions. Iqbal read in Psalm 119:9: ‘How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.’ So he is keen to get started with the Bible, but he doesn’t know where to begin or how to do it.

• Jenny is 15 and is the daughter of the vicar. Jenny has been to every Christian conference you can think of. She has read the whole Bible twice and is secretly a little bit bored of it. Jenny is beginning to ask questions about her faith and is not sure she believes anymore. She has read Psalm 119:14 and is envious of the Psalmist who says, ‘I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.’ She believes the Bible is important but she doesn’t know how to connect to it anymore.

• Conner is 17 and finds it a lot easier to connect to God through music than he does through reading the Bible. Conner realises that he needs God’s word in his life in order to survive as a Christian. He likes the idea in Psalm 119:11 where the Psalmist writes, ‘I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you’ but he struggles with fitting Bible study into his day; he is often out late at gigs and barely gets up in time to get to college in the mornings.

Decision Time

5 mins

Mark one end of the room ‘Yes’ and the other end ‘No.’ Ask the following questions and ask people to vote by moving to one end of the room to decide. Does Bible study have to be daily or could you binge read at the weekends? Is there any advantage of using a paper Bible over a digital one? Are you more likely to read the Bible on your own or if you meet up with someone else?

PRAYER

5 mins 

Ask everyone to think of a practical resolution they could make to start reading the Bible more consistently. Then ask them to share their resolution with a person sitting next to them and then ask them to pray for each other in pairs.