Writing Material So Others Can Use It – 10 Suggestions

I am always in pursuit of new Bible curriculum to post in the Small Group Lessons and Bible Class Archive here on the blog. I have approached quite a few people trying to get them to submit something. Most people don’t write lessons so that they can be used by others. Some of you guys probably even just scratch everything down on a notepad and go and do an excellent job that way. Others write it in a way that it only makes sense to them. No one else can just pick it up and go. That is natural. It is important to write your lessons (if you do that sort of thing) in a way that you can teach it to the best of your ability.

It is important to consider the good that can come from formatting your lessons and their flow in a way that others can pick it up and use it as well. I no longer write a lesson for it to get taught once. I write them with other teachers in mind because I don’t want it to get used one time. One reason I do that is because I have to. Some of the lessons I write are for our small groups so I am forced to write it in a way they can all teach it with ease. In addition to that though, it is important to me that if I am going to spend all that time studying that my class is not the only one to benefit from it. It is like multiplication…you write it once and it gets used hundreds or in some cases even thousands of times. That is good stewardship. I don’t say that in any judgment of those who do otherwise whatsoever.

Here are some thing to consider when writing lessons so others can use them:

1. Give suggested answers on tough questions. Nothing worse than teaching a lesson and get silence and not know the answer yourself because you are teaching someone else’s material. Give them a few suggestions under the tough questions in bullet points.
2. Likewise, give definitions for words that are more difficult so that people aren’t missing the point because they don’t understand what is being said. What is more someone may ask what the word means and the teacher is equipped to answer.
3. Use bold headings when you start a new topic/subtopic in your lesson. If the lesson makes a turn, make it obvious to the teacher.
4. Bold all scriptures so they stand out. If I want something to be read out loud I will put Read John 3:16-19
5. Italicize discussion questions. This makes them stand out so that the teacher easily recognizes they are reading a question. Your intonation is different with a question and it gets kind of weird if the teacher starts of reading it as a statement rather than a question.
6. End with application questions. I will typically put the heading Application at the end followed by a few questions for the group to discuss. It is vitally important that every lesson have clear application.
7. If there is an exercise you want them to do I either use that instead of an application section or in addition to it.
8. Put relevant prayer needs that are specific to the lesson at the end if needed or if it fits well
9. If you are writing it for people you know, encourage them to see it as a guide, not a concrete outline. They know their class best and can make the lesson fit better than anyone else. Give them freedom to adjust the lesson as they see fit.
10. Send the lessons to me so I can share them with the world here on this blog

Finished A New Evangelistic Bible Study – Jesus 101

Update – I just posted the pdf in this post – Download Jesus 101

I just wrapped up writing an evangelistic Bible study that works through the Gospel of Mark called Jesus 101. The reason I wrote this was to promote more Bible study with non-Christians at Northwest. We realize on the front end that one major hang up people have in studying with others is figuring out where to start. This book is simple and non-confrontational. Instead of blasting people with facts this study has them read Mark chapter by chapter and just asks questions that helps them open up their eyes to who Jesus is. Also, this study follows the pace of Mark. They aren’t asked who they think Jesus is until Jesus asks that same questions to his disciples in Mark 8. They are asked again at the end of the study where the study turns to a discussion of what God wants from us/what is our response to the Gospel. A few other nice features of this study include a Glossary of more difficult terms and further evidence in the back of the study.

We gave out 250 copies on Sunday and hope to give out hundreds more. I am curious to find out what studies you guys use when studying with non-Christians? What have you seen work and what doesn’t work so well?

Rightnowmedia.org is an Excellent Online Resource

We just started using Right Now Media to get curriculum in the hands of teachers and church members. One thing you run into when you run a small groups ministry is that it is nearly impossible to use video curriculum because you have to buy a ton of copies so each group can have their own. That gets really expensive, really fast. Right Now Media has offered a solution. They have a website that streams Christian curriculum to your computer. That way all your small groups can watch the same thing at the same time without having to buy multiple copies. You no longer pay per series. The cost is an annual fee that gives you access to everything they have. They already have a lot up and it is growing each week. Here are a few of their titles:

• 5 Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith – Andy Stanley
• Sacred Marriage – Gary Thomas
• Song of Solomon Series – Tommy Nelson
• The Reason for God – Tim Keller
• God’s Story, Your Story – Max Lucado
• Surrender – Francis Chan
• The Truth About Sex – Doug Fields
• Crazy Love – Francis Chan
• Revolutionary Parenting – George Barna
• Think the Essence of Orange – Reggie Joiner
• and many more

On top of that you can download video illustrations. These are the same guys who run Bluefishtv.com
The cost is about $100/month which will be prohibitive for some. I believe they will scale it back if you are in a small church but I am not sure how low the price structure goes and at what size. However, if you use these materials on a regular basis and/or would like to do this for small groups but the cost would be too high, here is a way to do it. Anyone else using this?

Holding Warnings and Encouragements in Tension With Each Other – The Example of Hebrews

In the book of Hebrews, warnings and encouragements crop up all over the place. Those two things are the tools the writer uses to admonish the readers to remain faithful. As a parent that makes complete sense. Discipline itself is not just punishment. The two sides of the discipline coin are rewards and punishments. You can’t have just one or the other. If you want healthy kids you have to have both. As I am studying through Hebrews I see the writer interweaving these two pieces over and over to make a healthy call to steadfast discipleship, following Jesus even when the whole world seems to be against you. (What made it even more difficult for Jewish Christians that Hebrews seems was written to was Judiasm was more widely accepted by the Romans than the new upstart religion, Christianity. So there was a temptation to go back to Judaism, still worship God, but not face the persecutions and threats of death).

I just mentioned that as parents we can’t have just one or the other. The same is true in how we present the Gospel and also how we encourage God’s people to persevere. Encouragement without warning makes people complacent and makes Jesus our buddy. Warning without encouragement makes people afraid and makes God a fearsome monster. Teaching both helps us find the balance we need that reminds us how serious life really is and how the pioneer of our faith, Jesus Christ (Heb 12:2) has already blazed a trail for us to follow in his footsteps. So keep on fighting. Keep on walking. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Don’t look away because the alternative is serious and deadly. I honestly believe there are times each one of us needs one of those more than the other but we will always need both. So read them if you have time and maybe there is something in there you need to hear to make your walk with God closer.

Here are all the warnings and encouragements in Hebrews. What is interesting is this is almost every single verse in the whole book of Hebrews that is directed at having the reader make application.

Warnings and Encouragements in Hebrews:

“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” – Heb 2:1-3

“Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.” – Heb 3:1

“See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.  But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.  We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.”
- Heb 3:12-15

“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.” – Heb 4:1-2

“For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.  There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.  Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.” – Heb 4:8-11

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.  Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. ” – Heb 4:14-16

“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.  In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…” – Heb 5:11-6:1

“It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,  who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,  if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, becauseto their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” – Heb 6:4-6

“Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.  God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.  We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.” – Heb 6:17-20

“The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.” – Heb 8:1-2

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while,

“He who is coming will come and will not delay.
But my righteous one will live by faith.
And if he shrinks back,
I will not be pleased with him.”

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” – Heb 10:19-39

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” – Heb 12

“Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”

So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?” – Heb 13:4-6

“Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. ” – Heb 13:9

“The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. ” – Heb 13:11-14

“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, ²¹equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

“Brothers, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written you only a short letter.” – Heb 13:22

Abraham’s Belief in the Resurrection…A Necessary Inference.

Before I get started, this post really has nothing to do with the concept of necessary inference or its adequacy or use in biblical interpretation. What I do know is that Abraham had been told two things by God:

1. Your son Isaac is the son of the promise. You will have a great number of descendants through his lineage.
2. Kill your son

Abraham believed God. Abraham wanted to obey God’s commands and yet these two things seem contradictory. Abraham reconciled those two things by reasoning that God could raise the dead (Hebrews 11:17-19). That would be courageous enough if Abraham had 1000 pages of scripture at his disposal to inform his view on that. What makes this all the more remarkable is that all Abraham had to base this on were his personal conversations with God. Nothing more. Nothing less. Based on that alone he came to the conclusion that Isaac could be both the lineage of his descendants but could die before having his first child by God raising him back to life!

What is clear is that Abraham had a relationship with God that was strong and he knew God was faithful. His belief in God and God’s faithfulness was so strong that he was all in. Today we have 1000 pages of witness about God, Christ, salvation and all the rest…would we be as faithful as Abraham given all we know about God today?

Teaching Eutychus – A Helpful Book for Teachers and Group Leaders by Houston Heflin

Houston Heflin has just put out a book for teachers and small group leaders called Teaching Eutychus. We had Houston do a teaching seminar for us in January and it was excellent. Some of that material is reflected in this book but there is much more to it than that. This book helps you undertstand what it takes to be an effective teacher. He examines the perspective of those who are seeking a deeper faith and what they are looking for in class, in their teachers/group facilitators and how to go about implementing the tools to teach and lead effectively. I don’t think there is anything else out there quite like it.

In addition to adding tools to our teaching toolbox, Houston does an outstanding job discussing the character and integrity of the person of the teacher. He makes some excellent points of the importance of living out what we teach and the importance of integrity and transparency in the process of teaching that are worth the cost of the book alone.

Third, Houston discusses meta-cognition. How do people learn, think, process information and grow from that process. He has a good section on learning styles and how to creatively implement them into your teaching repertoire. I could list the rest of the contents of the book but I would rather you pick it up and read it for yourself. Right now it is just available for kindle/e-readers. If you don’t have one of those you can download one for your PC.

New Curriculum Posted – Living by Faith: Studies in Hebrews 11

I just posted a new small group series called Living by Faith: Studies in Hebrews 11. The study works through the stories of those mentioned in Hebrews 11 and ties us in with them and the ministry of Jesus as well as the early Christian and contemporary martyrs. Have a look…

Living By Faith

That makes the free curriculum posted on this blog: 900 lessons, 3000 pages, and 48,000 pdf downloads! Thanks to everyone who has downloaded and used this material.

Have We Lost Our Love for the Lost?

When I was a kid I remember going with my mom to do Bible studies with people. She would take the projector and the Jewell Miller filmstrips from the church library and study with people. There was a time in the church when one-on-one Bible study was big. I can only speak from experience but it seems our willingness and enthusiasm for studying the Bible with people is dying. I am sure there are exceptions but I am just speaking generally here.We have to get serious about studying with others without swinging the pendulum so far over that we get manipulative and crazy. It sure seems like we have a hard time finding the balance but it can be done.

It may be that we need to regain our love for the lost. Have we lost it? If we love them we will reach out to them without arm twisting, fear/guilt tactics or manipulation. If people see we care they will be more responsive. I believe that is what made Jesus so effective (besides his divinity of course was that he was approachable and you knew he really cared. Maybe our problem is that we don’t know lost people well enough to care about them or that we have heart issues and just don’t care at all or maybe it is just that we have gotten lulled into thinking everyone is really pretty much the same and it sounds kind of weird to think of good people as lost when we have our own issues. Or maybe we don’t really know the Bible ourselves and so we fear what people may say or questions they may ask so we avoid it entirely.

Whatever the case may be, if we love them we will reach toward them in whatever ways we know how. There will be mess ups along the way but at least we are trying to live out what Christ has called us to do. Remember, he called us to go, not expecting them to come on their own. The problem is we have often gotten the Great Commission backwards and have assumed if we build a building the world will wake up one morning with a burning desire to be there and will flood our buildings with lost people, who will then be reached through a professional minister delivering a 20 minute sermon and the church will have revival. Anyone ever seen that happen?

Some ways may be more comfortable for us than others but we will reach. If we are unwilling to reach why should we expect them to do anything but stand at arm’s length?

The Problems with Video Curriculum in Bible Class

From time to time I have used video curriculum in my teaching. There are some really great ones out there including Faith Lessons with Ray VanderLaan, the Song of Solomon with Tommy Nelson, Nooma with Rob Bell, and a ton of great stuff put out by Northpoint with Andy Stanley and Louie Giglio. Video curriculum has its place in our arsenal of tools for teaching a quality Bible class.

However, there are some drawbacks to these as well.

1. It gets cost prohibitive to use them for small group study. Imagine having 10,20, or 40 small groups and having to purchase 40 copies of the same DVD at $15 each for all your groups just to be used once.
2. It limits your discussion time. You get a master teacher in the room at a low cost. Those are good things. But often videos run 30 minutes or longer and leave you with a list of six or seven things to discuss in the remaining few minutes. The meat of a Bible class is not in listening to the teacher. The meat is reflecting on God’s Word and having time to discuss what it means and what we are to do about it. Videos often don’t leave time for the most important part of the class.
3. If the class teacher/leader has a great deal of credibility, those in the class would probably rather hear the lesson coming from someone they know and respect rather than from a stranger, even a very gifted stranger.
4. Credibility – there is not an automatic connection with the class from someone they don’t know. Often speakers use humor and things like that to engage people they don’t know. If you teach regularly and have a relationship with the class you don’t have to cut through all that on the front end and that opens up more time to get into the meat of the class. I have heard some guys do a 20 minute intro to a class just to get people’s attention before really diving in. That can get ridiculous.
5. It is passive. We are trying to engage people and make them active participants in growing their own faith. Video curriculum makes the class passive observers. It isn’t interactive. We don’t want people to become the audience. That is what happens when you show a video.

Video curriculum can be great when used in small quantities. But don’t rely on it. Don’t allow it to become a crutch.

Evangelistic Study of Mark

We are about to implement a better plan to increase the number of one-on-one Bible studies we are engaging in as a congregation. In doing so we are needing material to pull this off. So I have started writing an inductive study of Mark and it is really pretty exciting stuff. What I mean by inductive is, the case is being built for who Jesus is based on certain evidence in the narrative along the way. This culminates with Peter’s confession of Christ in Mark 8. Basically, the study isn’t going to assume people believe that but walk them through the build up of the evidence so that when we get to Mark 8 (lesson 3) people are on board and their faith is beginning to take root so they can believe what Peter believes. I think this is such an important approach because we can no longer assume people know anything. You really do have to start from scratch with people and work them to the solutions. I will let you know how it turns out!

Here are some of the evidences that will come up through the discussion of the narrative in the Bible study:

• Authority of Jesus based on his miracles, his teachings, and the testimony of others about him (including John the Baptist, God and God’s Spirit in Mark 1).
• The mission of Jesus and his disciples against the “strong man” (Satan) of Mark 3:27 and how that theme runs through much of what Jesus does and teaches in Mark.
• Death and resurrection predictions and fulfillment

Any more you would add?