Puppets give you power: power to engage and hold children’s attention, even in a crowd; power to create a ‘proxy child’ with whom the audience can identify; power to create a regular structure that children can master and within which they can learn.
Through prayer and eyes fixed on Jesus and his promises, we can stand firm and flourish in our faith (9 studies).
I am a reluctant convert to the Swedish Method for Bible study. I read the Briefing article all of those years ago and decided to try it out in a couple of Bible study groups. It didn’t work! It didn’t seem to make group members think deeply enough about the passage, and it seemed to promote surface-level easy answers.
It was our first cell group meeting. There was Victoria, a committed student leader in her second year of university; Paula, a new person in her first year of study; and me, the missionary who had arrived to accompany and train leaders. The other people who were invited didn’t come.
Bible reading with ready ears and an open heart is engaging and fruitful. There’s something fresh about letting God speak for himself, especially when you search the Bible yourself, making the effort to hear.
Sympathy cards address the sadness death causes, but few acknowledge the rage. Yet that rage is real. It should be: death is the very opposite of God and all that he has created. We should hate it. Christ did.
"Do we have to forgive people who aren't sorry?" How would you respond? Our instinct can be to rush in with some kind of ‘yes/no’ answer. What we may fail to do is consider whether or not answering the question as asked is the most helpful response.
I’m talking about people who don’t struggle at all with the English language; people who might have postgraduate degrees in law or English; even people who might work with words professionally every day. So why do they need help?
It was the week following the videos coming out of the beheading of 21 Christians by ISIS, which made our discussion about Jesus saying to turn the other cheek pretty tough to wholeheartedly embrace. It’s a difficult demand, and you’ll find there’s plenty more in the New Testament about not taking up arms and solving problems with violence, but rather living as part of the kingdom that is not of this world.
Who is Jesus? And what kind of kingdom does he promise his followers? These are the big questions at stake in Matthew 13-17. Eight studies.