JUST FOR YOU If You Find Bible Study Difficult

[brothereicher]

A number of months ago, a friend was expressing the desire to do an in-depth Bible study but was unsure how to start.

I offered to write her a guide to walk her through the steps of digging into the Bible on your own. She found the guide very helpful, and I thought a wider audience might find it useful as well.

If you would like your own copy of Brother Eicher's EZ Bible Study Guide, shoot me a private message and I'll send you a copy.

The only thing I ask in return is permission to follow up with you and receive honest feedback, positive or negative!

[Haystack]

Is it a digital copy?

[brothereicher]

It's a 4 page PDF in mostly outline form.

[Valerie]

Please pm me, thank you- my son-in-law is really new at actually studying the Bible (didn't grow up in that kind of church at all) and seems confused on where to start and how to do-, although he loves when he reads it- I would appreciate passing it on to him. When you are new at studying the Holy Scriptures, it can be very confusing- as to 'how' and where to start.

Thank you!

[brothereicher]

I sent you an email through the site.

[temporal1]

It's a 4 page PDF in mostly outline form.

would it be possible to add it to this forum's "Written Word" category?
(your choice, just a suggestion)
i would like to read it, and, i would enjoy reading others' input on it.

some come to this site requesting help with how to study scriptures.

Welcome to MennoNet, brotherreicher -

[brothereicher]

I'm thinking about writing something entitled "Why the Studying in School Didn't Prepare You to Teach Sunday School or Give Topics."

What do you think?

[Bootstrap]

I'm thinking about writing something entitled "Why the Studying in School Didn't Prepare You to Teach Sunday School or Give Topics."

What do you think?

I love the title!

I wonder if part of the answer is that most of us don't learn to focus on something for a few hours, observing closely and carefully, coming back to it again later and repeating the process. We're too distracted and disjointed. This affects prayer, reading passages of Scripture, and relationships.

Prayerful focus, I think, is at the heart of serious Bible study. Keeping the text in front of our eyes, being OK with getting a little bored or tired or confused, letting God's Spirit unfold the Word for us as individuals and as groups ... these are things we often don't do. We look for instant look-say answers instead. We fall back on what we have always believed or learned in Sunday school. We look to a commentary or do a quick Google search ...

Many techniques can work, but I suspect none of them work that well without prayerful focus. And part of that prayerful focus is asking the Holy Spirit to reveal what we cannot see on our own.

[brothereicher]

Great thoughts! I'll incorporate them into my piece, if that's OK with you.

When we study in school, the objectives are different. Find this answer and fill in those blanks. That process is completely different from studying for a topic. You have to decide what the questions are and whether your answers are satisfactory. And we aren't taught how to guide our own study.

ETA: I completely agree that a careful, prayerful reliance on the Holy Ghost is a prerequisite, but we're lacking in teaching our people "hard skills," too.

[Bootstrap]

Great thoughts! I'll incorporate them into my piece, if that's OK with you.

You can certainly use anything I say, as long as you sort through the good and bad first. And I'm sure you will.

ETA: I completely agree that a careful, prayerful reliance on the Holy Ghost is a prerequisite, but we're lacking in teaching our people "hard skills," too.

Undershepherd has been doing some good work on that front, I think.

Some of the resources on Bible Gateway's Scripture Engagement page are really helpful, I think.