In an effort to keep the sessions in sync so that members may swing to whichever session fits their schedule, the Cavins study I'm in isn't meeting next Tuesday. Therefore, even though the two little ones will be home from school for Presidents' Day, I intend to visit the study at the Presbyterian church that I'm mostly missing this year.
Since January, the emphasis has been on discipling more than about holding a simple Bible study, using materials from Redeemer. I bought and downloaded the pdfs tonight. I printed out the correct lesson (Acts 4:1-31) and worked on it. I don't really want to reproduce any of the material here because of copyright stuff but the five questions on the pericope are easy. Just observation questions. I may glance at the leader's guide to check my answers, to avoid stupid mistakes.
The second section distinguishes between an outline of the gospel and a summary. I'd have to say that I've probably almost always given a summary in conversations with others. If that much. I am naturally interested in people's objections and enjoy trying to offer an explanation. Plus, I don't like putting people "on the spot."
The outlines include the Crusade tract, "The Four Spiritual Laws," which I have used formally in outreach. It's the most familiar of those discussed. In addition, I have Hybels's book and probably read it long, long ago. I don't remember being impressed.
But, so, attending this session next Tuesday is going to be awkward because I'm not an evangelical and I don't even want to pretend to be one for the sake of the others there who are. Oh, well, maybe my attitude will improve between now and then. Or I'll just sit there with my mouth shut. I'm pretty damn good at doing that.
2 comments:
Hi Teresa - I've run into your comments on the Visits to Candyland site. I'm really interested in your Bible studies with Protestant materials, and how you ended up in such study groups. We have remained with our Protestant small group since our Tiber swim, and as time passes, I'm finding myself more and more frustrated with some of the comments and studies (mostly from our old pastor, and not our current group members). I'm trying to learn how to make constructive comments from a different POV, and not be either sanctimoniously preachy or silent but frustrated because I Just. Don't. Agree. Again, that's mainly a disagreement with the old pastor, who I fortunately don't have to see every week.
I'd love to hear your experience on how you navigate those waters. I want to stay with the group because the people matter to me - we are close friends, and our kids are good friends.
Hi Erin. Well, you don't want my life story but I got into the Protestant study groups very easily by googling "Bible study NJ" and the Presbyterian church came up. That was ten years ago and I've been there weekly since. Except this year, I'm doing Cavins's Great Adventure Bible study which conflicts with the Presbyterian study.
Actually, I'm pretty frustrated about my inability to speak up when I disagree. When I do happen to blurt something out, it's usually not premedidated.
I would say on matters where there really are legitimate differences of opinion, it's ok to give the alternative position. Because there may be people present who, for whatever reason, hold that view but are afraid to say so and end up thinking they are wrong for it. Then the "group think" mentality is avoided.
Tuesday is going to be difficult. I'm going to need some special grace to get through it because the material is very deprecating of religion and the old evangelical saw that if your religion is about "DO" instead of "DONE" (John 19:30) you can never be sure you've done enough.
I would certainly appreciate ("covet") your prayers. Thank you. And thank you for your comment.
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