Making it Practical

Ideas from EFCA leaders for encouraging biblical literacy in your congregation

## Fishing in useless ponds

How wrong actions can lead to wrong actions • BY DAVE ZIERENBERG

YEARS AGO I WAS ON A FISHING TRIP WITH FRIENDS, driving through southern Wisconsin and stopping to fish at any body of water that caught our eye, when we spotted a small pond in a residential neighborhood. It looked “fishy,” so we got out of the car and began casting. We were a little perplexed when passersby stared at us and kids on bikes pointed and laughed.

Then we noticed something strange sticking up out of the water on the far side of the pond. After staring for a few moments, we realized what it was: the top couple of feet of a swing set. Then we noticed the top of a slide. Suddenly, we realized we were fishing in a neighborhood park that had been flooded by recent torrential rains.

It’s just like God to teach us a serious lesson through a silly situation. We were fishing in a park because we believed it was a pond with fish in it. We were wrong, but the point remains—our beliefs determined our actions.

Being skunked and feeling embarrassed are not serious consequences. But error in our understanding of the things of God can have far more serious consequences.

It’s just like God to teach us a serious lesson through a silly situation. What we believe shapes what we do, so it seems obvious that we place some level of emphasis on teaching what we believe, rather than simply encouraging people to act in Christian ways without a firm belief system as the foundation for those actions.

But what should we teach? How in-depth should we be without overwhelming our congregations? Which doctrines are central and which are peripheral?

At Grace Bible Church, we have used a variety of approaches and resources. We’ve taught through the EFCA Statement of Faith several times in various settings—presenting both essential Christian doctrine and the distinctives of our association.

We’ve also used materials developed by Credo House Ministries—DVD-based resources on a variety of levels. At any given time, we have several groups working through a combination of:

Bible Boot Camp—a four-session course, covering the Trinity, the Incarnation, the trustworthiness of the Bible and a biblical view of mankind.

Discipleship Program—a 10-session course covering the same topics on a deeper level, with an emphasis on application in daily life (powerful as follow-up to an initial declaration of faith/baptism).

Theology Program—an in-depth (seminary level) series of courses for those who might never attend seminary.

Through these offerings we feel we have significantly strengthened the theological foundation of our congregation. People are showing genuine enthusiasm toward learning more about who God is and who we are in Him, and this greater understanding is producing fruit.

A great resource to help teach the EFCA’s Statement of Faith is the book Evangelical Convictions, available in both print and digital editions.

Theology for all ages

Training our teens • BY JULIE ANDERSEN

AT TRINITY EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH, we train our youth in doctrine, because we believe that they are able to critically think and claim truth, and to communicate it in a culturally relevant way both for their peers and for children who look up to them. Teens who receive this training are then eligible to be Sunday school teachers. They become valuable mission-oriented and grounded workers for the kingdom who continue to serve and teach in the church through adulthood.

We have trained teens for 18 years, but in the last 10 years, we’ve also partnered with several inner-city EFCA churches to lead summer Backyard Bible Clubs for children. Our youth do the teaching, under the leadership of a trained college student from our church. Together, they present Bible truths through stories, present the gospel and extend invitations to receive Christ.

Each team consists of four to seven students, plus the college leader, going into several homes each week for three or four weeks. A typical summer has 10-14 clubs hosted in homes around our church neighborhood, and an additional two to three in the inner city.

In addition, some of the club material has been adapted for open park outreaches, or for hosting VBS programs on behalf of local small churches who cannot find enough resources for their own program.

In preparation, we offer an intensive training for our teens that includes:

• lesson planning
• understanding how the biblical narrative points to Christ
• presenting the gospel to children, and counseling for salvation or for assurance of salvation
• the how-tos of leading large groups, and understanding children’s developmental stages and learning styles
• creative teaching methods

The number of teens trained each year has varied from 15 to 25, with more than 200 being trained since we started 18 years ago. Some who were involved as teens have become the college students hired to lead the clubs. Others are serving as missionaries or pastors. Still others are leading small groups or teaching Sunday school in their own church and using their biblical training to teach the next generations in their own home.

“My relationship with Christ was jump started as I got to see the love for God in kids ages 3 to 9,” says Kierstin Bird, a high-school sophomore who started teaching Backyard Bible Clubs several years after her parents hosted them in their own home. “And I am so much more open to sharing Christ with others because I have been trained.

“The younger [age at which] we train our brothers and sisters,” she adds, “the [sooner] we can reach others who need Jesus.”

Scripture is full of references about the importance of passing faith from one generation to the next. One of my favorites is Psalm 145:4: “One generation commends Your works to another; they tell of Your mighty acts.”

By training our young people in how the ministry and message are built on foundational doctrine, we lay the groundwork for them to continue to spread His name to all generations.

The joy of discovery

How literacy springs from delight in the Word • BY DAVID V. MARTIN

I’M CONVINCED THAT AN IMPORTANT WAY to build biblical literacy within our churches is to first excite our leaders (lay and vocational) to see for themselves the rich beauty of the gospel as it is progressively revealed in Scripture.

When they discover the delights of the Word and how it all points to Christ, they almost inevitably desire to pass on their joy. So, in the classic, multiplying way, the beauty and power of the gospel takes further hold upon a church.

After three years as director of the EFCA GATEWAY Theological Institute in the Eastern District, I’ve seen it happen, often.

In phase one of GATEWAY, which lasts one year, current and prospective church leaders gather regionally to study the EFCA Statement of Faith. Students are helped to see how their individual callings and ministries “fit” within God’s redemptive mission as reflected in that statement. Phase two, lasting three years, comprises further training for ministry and preparation for ordination in the EFCA, when that is desired.

Both phases, however, are open to students who simply desire further training. Usually half our phase-one classes are men and women not seeking a credential; they simply desire a ministry shaped more fully by the gospel.

In 2009 I helped open my first GATEWAY site, in Baltimore, Md. It was a beautiful group of believers, diverse in their ethnic as well as socio-economic and educational backgrounds, coming from five or six different EFCA churches.

A student from that group later wrote to me:

I am putting into practice what I am learning in GATEWAY. “I’m celebrating Christmas differently this year. Because of the privilege of being a GATEWAY student, my wonder at the incarnation is deeper and richer. The questions I stressed over and the wordsmithing of my paper have all settled into a heart full of awe at this incredible miracle. This Christmas Eve, all over the country, GATEWAY students are able to give God more glory [than] they’ve ever been able to before! I can’t thank you enough.”

More recently, I heard from a Spanish-speaking brother named Mario, who studies in our phase-two GATEWAY class at Immanuel Free Church in York, Pa.:

“I have been praying to reach the people [who are] asking for money in the 7-Eleven stores, bus stops, Walmart and other places. I shared the gospel with a man named Phil. God was telling me to ask him if he wanted to receive Jesus as his Savior, which he did. I led him in prayer, and he was very happy because other people have been talking about Jesus to him. I am putting into practice what I am learning in GATEWAY.”

If you want to increase the level of biblical literacy and the practice of the gospel in your church, I’d encourage you to consider the GATEWAY Theological Institute. It’s a wonderful way of exciting, grounding and deepening first your leaders, and then others in your congregation, in the wonders of the biblical revelation and the gospel of Christ.

Learn more online about how your church can link up with the GATEWAY Theological Institute.

Savoring Scripture

Engaging the entire church in one grand, life-changing resolution • BY MARY ANDERSON

ON JANUARY 1, BLACKHAWK CHURCH in Madison, Wis., joined countless others in making a New Year’s resolution. Though we didn’t pledge together to lose weight or exercise more, we did make a commitment about what we’d eat.

We called the challenge “Eat This Book,” inspired by Eugene Peterson’s book of the same name in which he calls Christ-followers to taste, chew, savor, swallow and digest Scripture. Our goal was not simply that people read the whole Bible in a year; instead, we wanted to cultivate the daily habit of opening up the Bible and letting God’s Word shape us.

To motivate our community, we set each Sunday message to correspond with that week’s reading. We also developed several helpful tools: reading guides; a video series in which one of our teaching pastors would share what to expect in the upcoming week’s reading; and a blog on which to see where others were asking, “What’s up with that?” in their daily readings.

Within the first month of our challenge, more than half of our Sunday adult attendance expressed a commitment to Eat This Book. One woman wrote, “I can’t tell you how I’ve loved each early morning session with God; it has made a difference in the way I feel about my own life and the lives of those around me.”

We are thrilled that our student community is involved as well. Elementary and middle-school leadership teams developed their own versions of the plan to make reading the Bible more accessible for their students.

“I can’t go anywhere without people stopping me and talking about what they are reading in the Bible,” says Chris Dolson, Blackhawk’s senior pastor. “It is viral. All of our generations are doing it. Can’t say enough about it.”

Adds another Blackhawker, “I don’t know what it is this time around, because I have tried this before and would get behind and then not stay on track. Perhaps the power of community. Anyway, it’s been wonderful.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Writing It Out

Techniques for gleaning theology straight from the Scriptures • BY BONNIE SOLBERG

I HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN TEACHING Bible studies since my college days in the early ’80s. The Lord has used many godly men and women over the years to influence my approach to Bible study.

Of course, I have offered many of the excellent published Bible studies. Yet I still prefer walking through a book of the Bible together—digging deep and learning to read for understanding and application.

I teach the women at our church to use a notebook or journal to write out the passage for each week in ways that promote comprehension. For example, if there is a list in the passage, write it out as a list; if there is a name followed by a description, write the name, then indent and continue with the description under the name. We then have these wonderful notebooks we can go back to, where we’ve handwritten an entire book of the Bible.

The Lord has used many godly men and women over the years to influence my approach to bible study. On the page opposite the passage, they make observations and ask questions. I encourage them to utilize commentaries and tools, but only after they’ve taken the time to notice things themselves. Then we come together and discuss what we’ve learned, what it means and how we should apply the passage.

There are two things I love about this approach. First, we are encountering theology in context. Second, we are learning basic Bible study skills to use whenever we approach Scripture.

As a result, many women are hungry to go deeper and truly want to experience the life-changing impact of knowing God and His Word. It’s been a blessing to watch:

• a single mom in the middle of a difficult divorce go from anger at “God’s plan” to peace and trust in His sovereignty;
• a young woman who struggles with body-image issues go from insecurity to recognizing her value through the Creator;
• a woman who’s thirsty to explore faith want to keep learning about God, the Triune Creator and Redeemer.

Scripture is so rich and deep that no matter how many times I read it, write it out or study it, the Lord brings new things to light and challenges me in my walk with Him.