Saturday, I led a Small Group Leader "Crash Course." The 13 of us, including all 4 Thrive SGLs, dug into Jesus encountering Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10. I helped them improve their observation skills.
Have you ever noticed the repetition of the word "today" in v. 5 and 9? It links Jesus and salvation. Or "sinner" in v. 7 and "he too is a son of Abraham" in v. 9 signaling that Jesus is restoring Zacchaeus not only spiritually, but also to his flesh and blood community? Or that this story coming right after Jesus heals a blind man in Jericho may tell us that Zacchaeus was spiritually blind, and this was what healing looked like for him? Jesus responded to Zacchaeus' genuine spiritual interest (so desperate he climbed a tree!) and showed the Father's love for the lost. And Zacchaeus truly was lost - a chief tax collector, defrauding his community - but also truly repentant, going above and beyond what the Old Testament called him to repay. It's so cool what good observation can reveal!
I basically cribbed all that from The Bible Study Handbook by Lindsay Olesberg. I just finished. I can't recommend it enough as a solid guide to communal inductive Bible study. The first section covers what you will hopefully receive from Bible study. The second covers how to observe, interpret, and apply. I appreciated the observation chart. The third goes through lots of practical advice, from research tools to prayer to imagination to identifying genre and structure.
We talked about pacing and group dynamics. Then we finished by brainstorming how to grow our Small Groups in prayer, mission, and community - because being a Small Group Leader isn't just about studying the Bible well!
I hope to refine the training so I can offer it again next year to students who can't make it to our SGL track at our end-of-year conference. After my prep, I think I might want to change what I teach at the SGL track, too.
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