Discovery Bible Study

One of the most important tools for working with interested enquirers and nurturing people into discipleship is Discovery Bible Study - a format in which you look at Jesus together using (initially) the Gospel contents.

The exact nature of the time together can be tailored to suit the person or group you are working with. For example we have used a very simple meal + short video + story of Jesus + basic prayer exercise sitting with one or two families, and used a more classic sitting just with the gospel text with a faith seeking adult. The crucial thing is to help people look for themselves, putting the word 'Discovery' in Discovery Bible Study! The prayer is that people discover who Jesus is, believe and receive Him (John 1:12).

Ultimately we desire that people are spiritually reborn (John 3), rather than simply benefiting from our own Biblical understanding and wisdom. That probably means holding back in the early stages - giving people time to process and receive the initial nuggets they are discovering - resisting the temptation to heap on more complex information. That became obvious to me when sitting with someone who was born in another country, another culture and another belief system. Using the gospel story before us (Jesus healing the paralytic) we discussed who the story suggests Jesus is. The person's answer was in one sense correct, but their bigger answer included aspects that are questionable. As a theologically trained person I could have easily weighed in with something like "Ah, but that isn't right because ...". However I pinched myself, reminding myself 'This is session number 1! Hopefully we can sharpen the lens on this point in future sessions as they discover further ...".

As we discover together we encourage to apply: to receive Jesus and follow requires action on the part of each person. This can be introduced in the very first session, and is about modelling obedience to Jesus from the beginning. A Discovery Bible Study isn't simply studying for the increase of head knowledge: it is helping a person (or a group) discover for themselves, and learn to put into practice what Jesus is telling each of them to do.

Prayer is Hard Work

I go on many prayer walks around the local estate. On these walks I can pray in two different styles: one is simply pondering & wandering, praying on different topics as I meander the streets, while the other style is more intentional with a clear focus and direction to the prayers. For example the latter might be directly praying for a spiritual openness across the estate.

Both are valid and have their place, but here I want to focus on the second style with the intentional and purposeful prayers as I pass house by house. I discovered that such prayer is hard work! I would find myself physically & mentally tired after such a walk. I had already decided to pray round the estate methodically, so that each section is covered ... but in finding myself so tired it became necessary to divide the estate into zones to be prayed through on different days, so on each occasion I might have fresh strength!

On some walks I would feel like I was carrying a burden, as if walking round with a suitcase or heavy backpack: these were not casual strolls with the bonus of letting my mind wander!

It should not surprise us to understand such focussed prayer as 'hard work', for when we are praying like this we are interacting in the spiritual so that things might be re-arranged (in a Godly way) here in the physical. Just as gardening is physical, or moving around furniture requires strength and effort ... so it is as we pray for movement in the heavenlies concerning a place or situation.

It reminds me of focussed sessions of prayer for an individual ministering in the Holy Spirit - often I would come away from these feeling tired and as if I had just done a work-out. Recall the episode in Exodus 17 where Moses prays over the physical battle, and needs helpers to hold up his arms so he could persist in that prayer until the battle was won.

In Genesis God tasks and empowers humankind to be His stewards over creation (1:26,28 and 2:15). This is a spiritual combined with physical tasking for us. It is easy for us to imagine that the physical aspect can be hard work (especially subsequent to The Fall), but we should accept and tone ourselves up for the hard work in the spiritual as well.

Redeeming Halloween?

The new estate where we work has a Christian-seeded community work, along with a fledgeling Christian church. For Halloween the community work aspect proposed (as per previous years) to hold in their small community centre a 'Treat Station' - serving sweets, hot chocolate, pumpkin soup ... and warmth. This is a different approach to the classic church 'Light Party', in that it embedded itself in the secular Halloween culture - but within it offered something positive.

The same community work has encouraged year on year a respect for people's wishes and privacy: advocating across the estate that people should only knock on doors where households have placed a light, pumpkin, or other decoration outside, leaving those unlit undisturbed.

The experience in the community centre was positive. From 4pm until nearly 7pm there was a continuous stream of families passing through to meet, greet, and enjoy the refreshments. The atmosphere was lively and friendly. Many dressed up, but it was just as much general fancy dress as questionable costumes: there were dinosaurs, princesses, iron/spider-men as well as the darker choice of attire. For sure some of the older children had some unsavoury costumes and makeup, but they weren't in the majority, and they did not spoil the otherwise family atmosphere. Families came together: children with their mums and dads. All were welcomed and were pleased to be welcomed.

The warmth inside was echoed outside. Children tended to go around the estate in family & friends groupings with their parents. Many houses on the estate willingly opened their doors. This was interesting in itself, because we have been praying across the estate for 'open doors'!!

We heard no reports, nor saw any evidence of any nastiness or unpleasant behaviours. So overall it made us wonder: is this perhaps pointing towards a redeemed Halloween - in part at least? For sure some of the costumes worn and house outside displays were not wholesome from a Christian perspective, but the overall atmosphere and community-shared goodwill was way better than we had ever experienced.

Maybe the following points can be said from a Kingdom mission perspective:

• In this place at least, Halloween largely seems to have become more of a secularised party than a time with any great dark spiritual significance or overtones
  
• Year on year, positive influences can help set the tone for a secular cultural event to help it be more wholesome than it might otherwise be
• For Christians intentionally being a light within (rather than an alternative to) arguably gives potential to influence a much greater number of people across the diverse community
• Amidst the secular party atmosphere, there a ways to do this without endorsing the darker aspects that Halloween traditionally represents
  

Christians are called to be a contrast society - but that doesn't necessarily mean isolation in everything. Jesus affirmed his hearers as the salt and light. For salt to be a preservative it has to be put against the meat. For the light to shine it has to be raised, not hidden away. In every context, and in ever changing contexts, we have to work out what being put against the meat and being present so as to be seen might look like.