Please join us Sunday, Oct. 8 from 9-10am at the YMCA as we explore the practical tools and resources to get started with 1-1 Bible Reading.
If you’re anything like me, maybe you’ve felt paralyzed by the thought of sharing about Jesus with others. You know what he’s done in your own life and you desire to share with others, but you don’t feel like you know how to get into a conversation or - even if you were in a conversation - you don’t know what to say. You’re not alone!
When it comes to sharing about Jesus, we often put too much pressure on ourselves to have all the answers. What if, instead, we helped connect people with Jesus directly and let his Word challenge, encourage, and transform?
We’d like to introduce you to a tool that could help you do just that - it’s called 1-1 Bible Reading.
This short class will give you the tools to facilitate conversations about Jesus with friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors through reading scripture together.
Take a look at the testimony of Matt Roberts who shared about his firsthand experience a couple weeks ago:
My name is Matt Roberts. I’ve been attending Trinity Grace for about a year and a half now. About a year ago, I was asked if I’d like to read the bible one on one. My first thought was “I don’t know about that, sounds so lame.” However, I said yes because I’ve always had trouble reading the bible. Names and places were difficult to read and it can be hard to understand (reading and spelling were never my strong suit.) I had also never really been shown how to read the bible.
I went to that bible study once and I’ve continued once a week before work for over a year now. I’ve even started reading on other days with close friends because now I can’t get enough of it.
In my experience, we've been meeting at Bluefront around 8am once a week. We usually talk a little about life and then pray for God to open our eyes up to his word. Then, one of us reads a chapter out loud. Then we talk about the things that caught our attention and how it points us to Jesus and how we should live in response.
In the last year, I’ve been through the book of Mark twice, and Acts twice.
Going through the book of Mark with a friend and seeing what Jesus did for me helped personalize the message that I was hearing on Sunday morning at church. That was a real game changer.
Before coming to Trinity Grace, I had been out of church for a while. So, when reading through Mark, it seemed like God was reaching out and constantly saying “welcome back.”
Since I began reading, I’ve noticed that God has given me the chance to witness more and more. When I would get nervous to share, Mark 8:39 would come to mind “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
I’m a skateboarder, so I started taking my bible on skate trips and doing my daily reading in the hotel lobbies while my buddy’s were getting breakfast or getting ready. Little did I know, God was working through something as simple as that. I was quizzed on the way home being asked questions like “yo man so you like bible STUDY huh?” Giving the perfect opportunity to share what Jesus has done and is doing in my life.
I also love the book of Acts where I encountered Paul. When I read about him, I pray God will help me be more like him. One passage that stood out to me was Acts 17 where Paul says:
“Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,[a] 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.”
Paul got me thinking about how I used to pray to the “fog” - he was a distant and unknown god. But this reminds me that the Spirit is here now and that, through Jesus Christ, I can pray to the God that is right here with me - This has changed my prayer life completely.
I would encourage everyone to reach out and start reading with others (you don’t have to know everything or have all the answers in order to do this). Diving into God’s word with a friend is a whole new level of getting closer to Jesus. Learning more about him and what his plan is for us. Also sharing about new life in Jesus with a friend that may not be a believer is the greatest way you can say I love you. I hope you’ll give it a try. Take a chance and see what God might do! Thanks for letting me share.
You don’t have to be a bible scholar to facilitate these conversations. If you’re a Christian and you can read, you can do this! This is one beggar showing another beggar where to find bread.