I’ve posted a couple of Bible studies this past week. After going through that material with my wife (who is brilliant at stuff like this), I realized that I’m off track.
The material that I’ve written is taking a hard turn toward the academic, and away from what I wanted: practical, usable, discipleship-oriented material.
So: when in doubt, go back to the objectives, the “student learning outcomes” in academic jargon. Ask: What am I trying to achieve? Refocus on that goal and rewrite the material, the content, to move closer to it.
So what do I want this study to accomplish? It’s the nexus of worldview and story, informed by the work of N.T. Wright.
Outcomes: at the end of this study, participants should be able to…
- Recognize the overall story of the Bible as the story of God (the Big Story, with six parts; creation, corruption, covenant, Christ, church, completion.)
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Name the six parts of the Big Story in order.
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Describe (briefly, 25 words or so) what God is doing in each of the six parts of the Big Story.
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Locate specific episodes (e.g., Pentecost [Acts 2], the Ten Commandments, Noah & the flood) in the Big Story.
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Describe how the Big Story continues today and into the future.
- Describe how their lives fit into the Big Story.
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Describe how the Big Story forms the way they understand the world around them, themselves, and their purpose. (This description = a biblical worldview.)
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Articulate their emerging worldview (in terms of the six questions below.)
Based on the story of God (the Big Story), we should be able to agree generally on answers to the following six questions:
- Is there a God? If so, what is he like?
- What does it mean to be human?
- How should we understand the world around us?
- What is wrong with the world around us?
- How does God fix what’s wrong with the world around us?
- Where is all this headed, and how fast?
These six questions make up a basic Christian (biblical) worldview; in other words, this is how the biblical story (the Big Story) wants to shape the way we understand ourselves and the world around us.
Circleslide 