HIGH VISION: Building relationships through Bible study

GenOn's bimonthly newsletter featuring insights, ideas, events, resources and announcements.

September/October 2016

www.genonministries.org

Safe spaces: Building LOGOS relationships around the Word

Seth Lovell, Youth Ministries Director, Olivet Presbyterian Church, Charlottesville, Va.

I grew up in a LOGOS church. Wednesdays were my favorite day of the week. I loved building relationships with other children and adult leaders. One of the most significant ways we did that was around the Word as we studied scripture to learn about faith and how to be authentic disciples of Christ.

I loved how LOGOS created a safe space to read and reflect on scripture and to learn its value in our lives. We asked questions and actively engaged with scripture. We were invited into conversations to explore the Bible's richness and depth.

We learned how, through scripture, God makes known who God is and what God has done. We learned that God's extravagant love made manifest in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit both call forth and enable our response of love, gratitude and faithfulness. We studied scripture not to know merely what it said, but to recognize how it challenges us and calls us to live our lives.

I recall my childhood LOGOS experience with deep gratitude. I want my children to have similar experiences within a community of faith. LOGOS teaches you that you belong to God and to God's family. LOGOS also teaches you that you are loved and allows you to experience this love first-hand through people who care about you.

Through meaningful study of scripture, you learn that we are called to love God and to love neighbor. You learn that service to others and care for God's creation are key elements of faithful living. By practicing "Kingdom" living, you're given a foretaste of God's Kingdom. I could not imagine my childhood without LOGOS, and I'm thankful that I belong to a faith community that incorporates LOGOS theology into our mid-week ministry.

I am so thankful I grew up as a LOGOS kid and am even more grateful that my children are now growing up with the same experiences.

How do you build relationships through Bible study? Share your story via the LOGOS Ideas group on Facebook or GenOn's website.

I wonder how sharing builds relationships in Bible study

Liz Perraud, Executive Director, GenOn Ministries

I've taught preschoolers, elementary students, middle schoolers, high school youth and adults. There's not an age that I like best. But it always feels like a better experience when I've talked less and they've talked more (whoever "they" are). Perhaps it's facilitating then, that I like more than lecturing.

I've learned the importance of asking "wondering" questions rather than those that seem to have a right or wrong answer. Most students respond better to wondering questions. "I wonder why the disciples pretended not to know Jesus." "I wonder what God was thinking in sending Jesus as a newborn baby." "I wonder how we know the Holy Spirit is present." "I wonder what it feels like to be a good friend." They're not even questions, they're conversation and so turn the teacher-student relationship into more of a shared experience. Sharing is good. Sharing is relational. Relationships build Christian disciples.

I will be teaching the 6^th/7^th grade Bible Time class at LOGOS again and needed to remind myself how to make the experience more relational this year. Here's to new beginnings!

In Christ,

Liz Perraud

Executive Director

GenOn Ministries

Cell: 443-255-8492

Toll-free: 877-937-2572

Parents Corner: What if?...Catching the faith with home Bible study

Shirley Carlson, La Crescenta Presbyterian Church, California

As parents, we hope our children will "catch the faith" from us. Modeling good Christian practices does pay off. But we sometimes forget God's charge to us in Deuteronomy 11:19. "Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."

What is the "them" in that verse?

God says it is MY WORD. Church is a good place to learn the scriptures, but it should not be the only place.

When my kids were young, they attended worship and Sunday school regularly, and often I was their teacher. But we did very little home Bible study. Once during a youth group retreat at our family's cottage, I sat in on a Bible discussion. My sons actually knew the Bible pretty well.

But that experience made me realize that we hadn't taken other opportunities for great discussions at home. My sons are strong Christians and raising their children in the faith. But what if we'd had regular devotions and/or Bible study at home? Would our relationships with God and each other be even stronger now?

All home Bible studies start with a good children's Bible. Ask your Christian Education director or youth group leader for recommendations. Search Amazon for options. Choose the one that best fits your family's religious traditions. You'll be blessed if you build strong relationships with your children through Bible study. And you won't have to wonder, "What if...?"

Consider these GenOn resources, recommendations and other helpful links: