Cumulative effect

Over the next couple of posts I'm going to draw on some quotations from Derek Wilson's Out of the Storm (see previous post). Lazy blogging? Probably, but I'm going to do it anyway!

"Dramatic sights stick in the mind while the daily routines of early life become blurred in recollection but it is the latter that, cumulatively, have the greater formative effect."

So how does this apply to our Christian experience? Many, particularly in evangelical churches, place a strong emphasis on the 'dramatic moment of conversion' - I don't, because I don't have such an event.

For me the greater signficance is the ongoing formation of character, as we seek to become authentic Christ followers.

There are scary thoughts here:

• What are we doing to support and nurture people exploring Christianity?
• What are we doing to keep on developing ourselves?

(Please note - I didn't say that the posts would be about Luther!)

BiSY bees

I've mentioned before that I write bible study material for a bunch of teenagers. During term they meet in our house after school every Thursday - we call it "Nurture Group". Aye, not too original - but it does what it says on the tin, and any time we've tried to change it the youngsters protest (maybe geeky is the new cool?). I should mention at this point that the study leaders are my wife and a couple of friends from our church. They are the real heroes in this endeavour.

Anyway, today was the first Thursday of the new school term and we had record numbers - 28! And at least a couple of the regulars missing. I'm stoondit - 28 kids coming to study the Bible (and eat food and have a laugh), then one of them asked if she can bring 4 friends from her church!

It's only a few years since we were wondering if we should keep the group going when the numers dropped to a handful. But since they were faithful in turning up each week - and growing as individuals - we decided to persevere.

There is hope!

So why BiSY bees as a title for this blog? Well, before I get into that I should explain that our planning for NG covers a six-year period. This coincides with the maximum duration of a secondary school career in Scotland - unless you're a teacher. It also means that my brain only has to cope with Revelation and Creation once every six years.

Right, BiSY is a new introduction this year - it stands for the Bible in Six Years. We've introduced an optional six year plan for reading the whole Bible. We'll see how it goes. By the way, if anyone knows of a six-year plan it would save me a bit of effort;-)

The thinking behind this is kind of inspired by Brodie's blog on "Deep Scripture". I've tried the Bible in a Year stuff - but it becomes a mind-numbing chore, with more effort going into 'ticking the boxes' than into reflection and learning. I've tried the Bible Study notes approach - they're a bit variable (that's a euphemism). So I figured that we would give them a different approach. Along the way we'll give them some tips, prompts, quizzes etc to make them think about what they're reading, but most of all we'll celebrate the fact that our house is too small for all of the kids who want to study the Bible in Perth.

Rejoice!