Here's some more of our Saturday series on being a servant of Jesus. Last week we were encouraged to think about finding an opportunity to read the Bible one-to-one with someone we know. This week we come to some general tips about how to make the most out of reading the Bible together.

Here are some tips to get you started. You will develop your own patterns along the way.

• Decide to meet for a specified period of time—say, six months—so it is easy to stop if you need to.
• Give priority to reading the Bible rather than Christian books.
• Try a variety of methods for Bible reading:
  • Verse by Verse: read the text verse by verse, and work out what it is saying. Using a Bible with marginal notes and cross references will deepen the discussion.
  • QUIT: look for QUestions that need to be resolved, Implications for life and major Themes in the passage.
  • Interactive Bible Studies: prepared studies, such as those published by Matthias Media. You can do some preparation before meeting, or just work through the material together.
• Leave plenty of time for prayer. Pray about the implications of your Bible reading and the current concerns in your lives. But also pray beyond your own horizons for unbelievers, your church and gospel ministries around the world. If you can't work out who to pray for, ask your pastor or get some newsletters from evangelists and church planters in Australia and overseas.

Who to meet with

The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

• Christian friends for mutual encouragement at church, work, school, college, university or in the neighbourhood—anyone who is ‘spiritually hungry’.
• Young Christians to build foundations in the faith.
• Potential leaders who need nurturing and training in Bible reading and prayer.
• Christians who want to do some deeper Bible study.
• Your pastor who would love to read and pray with someone.
• A friend going through a crisis.
• Christians who are struggling with faith.
• Non-Christians who want to work out systematically what the Bible is saying.
• Christians who are restricted in some way from attending church or groups.

Some warnings

The priority of God's word, not our problems

Have you ever noticed how people with problems absorb your time and energy? You feel the energy drain out of you as they enter the room. In groups, they dominate the discussion. We all have problems, but some people become problem-centred because of the severity of their needs. One mistake in personal ministry is to be dominated by such people. They are so needy that, in our compassion, we feel guilty if we don't give them all the energy they demand. We end up visiting them again and again, or meeting them regularly at the expense of others.

It sounds harsh at first, but there is a better way. Firstly, if you do meet with such a person, set a different agenda. Instead of starting with his or her problems, start with Bible reading and prayer. He or she will then start to see how God views their life and problems, and thus they will make some progress in dealing with life under God's word. Secondly, give priority to training others in ministry. Meet with a spiritually hungry, ‘problem-free’ person who will mature and begin to serve others. Then you can give better care to those with problems because there will be more carers. Investing time in training others in service multiplies the workforce in the church.

The spiritual guru syndrome

We don't want to become spiritual guides for people and make them dependent on us, rather than God. Meeting regularly with someone and drawing them into close relationship can be highly manipulative. Some have never had such close attention from anyone, and they will agree to anything to protect the relationship. You can reduce such dependency by deciding to meet for a specified time period and by ensuring they relate to other Christians in church and small groups.

The cults have deliberately exploited the power of personal discipleship to control their members and movements. We need to ensure our personal ministries are characterized by freedom and flexibility. Some people should never be invited to regular personal meetings because of their insecurities.

Gender issues

One-to-one ministry tends to suit women better than men. Women enjoy the intimacy and are more articulate, which is a boon to conversation.

In general, men find it difficult to start these one-to-one meetings. They are more comfortable doing something together, like sport, fixing things or watching TV. Men don't just sit down and bare their souls to each other. Some men will find it easier to meet in threes or fours to reduce the intensity and so they feel less threatened and exposed. Meeting in a familiar context, like a club or McDonald's, may work better. For many men, they will learn more by having a healthy argument over the Scriptures, and they will let down their guard once they get drawn into the fight! You may not like these cultural stereotypes, but men do need to work out their way of meeting one-to-one.

Pepper the earth

If you meet with a Christian for Bible reading and prayer for the next 12 months, what will happen? You don't know exactly, but you can have certain hopes and prayers. Both of you will grow in the knowledge and love of the Lord. Perhaps you will encourage others to start meeting one-to-one. Perhaps you will both continue to meet with different Christians for the next 40 years. Just imagine what could happen if it was commonplace for Christians to meet for one-to-one Bible reading and prayer! What would happen if our society was peppered with thousands of such meetings? What growth in godliness might we see?

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