God has gifted certain people to be faithful and clear teachers of his Word. The will teach us in Church and also in Growth Groups. However, God’s Word is able to be read by everyone and has the power to change everyone. So we are passionate about having as many people open up the Bible with another person to read it and pray about what God has said.
The beauty of one-to-one Bible reading is that every Christian can do it. It is easy to organise, as you only need to find another person to do it when you both have a common time. It takes no preparation. It allows you to hear God again at another time during the week, so you can grow in maturity. You can tailor application to be very specific to the two of you. It allows you to keep each other accountable and pray for non-believers and other areas of your life. And it deepens your relationships.
There are lots of ways to do it. One suggestion is as follows that keeps the Bible central is:
- Find someone (the same sex is best) to meet with each week (weekly is best, because if it’s every second week, and you miss one, then you don’t meet for a whole month). Make sure you keep it to the hour, otherwise it becomes too big a commitment and makes it harder to meet each week.
- Read the bible, discuss and pray from it. It is helpful to choose a New Testament letter, as it’s easier to apply (say Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 or 2 Timothy or Titus).
- Ask each other:
! What stands out
? What don’t you understand
–> What can you apply - Pray for 3 local non- Christians to pray for each week and share how you are going in inviting them to hear the gospel, or to church, or sharing the gospel yourself. This part is absolutely vital, as God will use us to bring people to hear the gospel and be saved! Perhaps if we don’t have any local non-Christians friends , it will encourage us to think of some we can develop.
- Briefly share other prayer points for yourself. Take care not to let this blow out in time. Take notes of each other’s prayer points, so that each week it becomes quicker (as some things will not change week to week).
- Pray. Pray for your non- Christian contacts and other prayer points.
Keep everything confidential. As time goes on, the relationships will develop, and this allows each other to support, encourage, and spur one another along.
It is good to meet for 6 months or 1 year so that you both can go and meet someone else one-to-one. Make sure this is clear when you first start. After 6 months or a year, multiply the group.
These things below are good in themselves, but are different from letting God speak to us by His Word and praying to Him. What One-to-One is not:
- Coffee and a chat
- Counseling session
- Prepared bible study
- Motivation for godly life.
A very useful short book is One-to-One Bible Reading: a simple guide for every Christian by David Helm.
