This sponsored post was prepared by The Word One to One.
The Bible You Have in Your Hand is Probably Useless. While this title may shock you, the shocking reality is that it’s probably true. All too often the Bible is left shut when we talk to non-Christian friends about our faith. This is what makes our Bible useless. Instead we might say we’ve been to church, or that we are a Christian. In doing so, we congratulate ourselves that we’ve mentioned Christian things, but actually we’ve been of no spiritual benefit to our friends and neighbours.
Can you imagine instead opening your Bible and sharing the good news of the gospel from the Gospels? That would transform your useless, closed Bible into being the open Word of God. We are convinced, as we’re sure you are, that when God’s Word is read, He brings life by His Spirit.
There’s a resource that’s been developed over the last 10 years called The Word One to One. It was developed at St Helen’s Bishopsgate in London where Dick Lucas was Rector for many years. They found that they were in a similar position: People were having conversations about Christianity, but weren’t using the most powerful tool at their disposal – God’s Word.
Rico Tice, author of Christianity Explored says: “It’s genius. A wonderful resource. Why? Because as you meet with your friend one to one… it presents the God’s Word to them.“
The Word One to One walks you and your non-Christian friend through John’s gospel, verse by verse. It breaks it down into manageable chunks of three or four verses at a time and then asks a question about it. Uniquely, it then gives all the answers. In our Adult Bible Classes, we’re used to trying to work out the answer. But our non-Christian friends haven’t got a clue what the Bible says so we want to provide the answers instead of embarrassing them. This also allows us (and our whole church family) to have great confidence – because we can’t get it wrong! Our friends can sit back, relax, download the information and then discuss what they’ve read from God’s Word.
So why not ask your non-Christians friend or neighbour two questions: 1) Have you ever looked at the Bible for yourself? 2) Would you like to?
You’d be amazed at how many people have thought about reading the Bible but have never had the chance or the support to do so. We want to invite them to read it together – like a guided read through – saying “I could show you, shall we meet for a coffee and we’ll begin to look at it for ourselves?”
When was the last ‘gospel’ conversation you had? When was the last time you opened up the Bible to explain the good news of the gospel with your friends?
Val, grandmother of five, has been meeting a friend of hers for nearly a year now. “It has taken rather longer than most to complete the studies – well over a year. But that didn’t matter. What did matter was seeing God at work helping my new friend to a point when she would turn to me with a huge smile one afternoon and say: “Now I understand what it’s all about.”
Thousands others have been using this resource and we’re delighted that people are seeing friends come to Christ as the Spirit of God takes hold of the Word of God and brings life. Who could you invite to look at the Bible one to one? As you sit down with your friend and read together, let the work of God be in action through the Word of God.
To find out more visit www.theword121.com or www.10ofthose.com.
Making the most of The Word One to One from 10ofthose.com on Vimeo.
