An online friend, @joshchapman (twitter), asked me to talk about the differences between Scripture-only and Biblically-based Bible studies. The answer is pretty simple, but a little more than a 140 character conversation can handle! So I decided to blog my response. Thanks, @joshchapman, for asking such a great question!
Right now, I know there are about 85,000 churches in India and Africa who use the Scripture-only, obedience focused approach for all they do. Some of these churches are 14th generation churches. (A church that planted a church, that planted a church, and so on.) That is roughly 2 million baptized Believers in multiple people groups! All of these churches started in the last 15 years in some of the roughest areas in the world.
But, the success of this approach isn’t confined overseas. Last Thanksgiving, CityTeam Ministries (http://www.cityteam.org) started 25 Scripture-only, Discovery Bible Studies (Creation to Christ). Within two months, these groups started 26 new groups. After eight months, they had 3rd generation groups!
God moves when we study His word and show our love for Him through our obedience. Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Matthew 22:34-40, and John 14:14-20. Scripture-only Bible studies reinforce these values harder than most Biblically-based materials.
Here is a quick chart I put together to outline some basic differences:
|
Scripture-only |
Biblically-based |
|
Starts with Scripture. |
Might start with Scripture or an illustrative story. |
|
Focuses on entire passages or narratives in Scripture. |
Often focuses on a few verses in a passage or narrative. |
|
Scripture is the focus of the study. |
What a person or persons say about a passage is the focus of the study. |
|
Scripture and the Holy Spirit are the authority throughout the study. |
The person or persons who write the curriculum or who teach the curriculum are the authority on the issue. |
|
Open-ended questions drive the study. |
May have fill-in-the-blank or multiple-choice questions or a few discussion questions at the beginning or end of the study. |
|
Questions focus on people declaring how they will obey what they read. |
Questions focus on whether people understood or retained the material in the study. |
|
The focus of accountability is on whether or not people were able to obey what they declared to the group. |
The focus of accountability is whether or not you did your homework. |
|
When the study is over, people move on to the next passage. |
When the study is over, people have to find another book or class to attend. |
|
Cheap for people to use and develop. |
Potentially expensive for churches to use and develop. |
|
Group discovers truth in the passage. |
Teach reveals the truth within the passage. |
So how does it look online? Well, all you have to have to get it started is a Bible and some way to communicate. You can easily text, twitter, plurk, instant message or ustream the Scripture passage to a group with a URL to the passage on BibleGateway. You can read the passage together and shoot questions back and forth. At the end, you can each declare to the group what you are going to do within the next 24-48 hours to obey the passage.
Here is the cool thing: as a new church plant, you didn’t have to spend money buying expensive curricula for everyone. Better yet, you didn’t have to ask them to spend their money buying the curricula. Additionally, group members will become stronger because they had to wrestle with Scripture rather than letting someone do all the heavy lifting for them. Finally, as members are obedient, their relationship with Christ will become stronger. They will experience more of the Holy Spirit in their life.
If you are interested, I can email you a basic outline of a Scripture-only study.
This was a quick and dirty compare and contrast. If you have any questions, ask them in the comments and I will get back with you.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
where can I find out more about the Scripture-only approach to Bible Study? Thanks.
Hey Ric!
Here is a link to get you started
http://www.davidlwatson.org/2008/10/09/church-planting-essentials-simple-inductive-bible-study/
Let me know if you need more.
Blessings,
-Paul.
You talk about the Discovery Bible Studies and going from creation to Christ and then obedience. Is there an outline of scripture available I could see and use for starting groups? Thanks!
@Dusty – Send me an email and I will get you a copy of what we use – blackstaffusa at gmail dot com.