One-to-One Bible Reading: A Simple Guide For Every Christian (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
It doesn’t take a whole lot of research and insight to understand the greatest weaknesses of most churches are evangelism and discipleship. Fixing those problems would cure most (if not all) of what ails us. Salvations, baptism rate, church discipline, regenerate church membership, giving, church planting, unity, doctrinal fidelity—all would be cured if we could just get our evangelism and discipleship problems fixed. Because of that, there are countless programs developed and books written on those subjects. I have benefitted from many of those books and many of those costly church programs can be very effective. But I believe the little book, One-to-One Bible Reading, by David Helm, can have more impact on your church than anything else.Why? Because of its biblical simplicity. The author does not just pay lip-service to the fact that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God—he really believes it and has built his whole evangelism/discipleship concept around it. The book is only 103 pages long, with over one-quarter of its pages taken by resource helps and copyable worksheets to aid in your reading. The concept is simple. If you have a friend who needs Jesus—read the Bible together with him. If you have a friend who is seeking answers—read the Bible together with her. If you have a friend who needs to develop her faith—read the Bible together with her. If you have a strong Christian friend who needs to develop as a leader—read the Bible together with him. It’s a very simple concept. That’s why the book is so short. Though it is a simple concept, it is an absolutely life, community and church changing concept. That’s why the author takes seriously people’s apprehension about doing it. No Christian would deny the power of the Gospel to save and transform lives. But at the same time, most Christians would be terrified to ask a friend or business colleague to read through the Gospel of Mark with them. The author removes much of that apprehension by clearly and simply describing the process. He also provides two simple methods of studying the text together, as well as Q&A sheets you can copy and share.At the risk of seeming superfluous, other than the Bible, I can think of no other book with as great a potential to radically change your life and your church as this one.Paperback: 103 PagesPublisher: Matthias Media (April 1, 2011) ISBN-10: 1921441984Matthias Media provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. In no way did that influence my opinion of the book or my review. Title: One-To-One Bible Reading: a simple guide for every christianAuthor: David HelmDate I Finished Reading: November 30,2012My Rating: 5/5“Reading one-to-one is a variation on that most central Christian activity — reading the Bible– but done in the context of reading with someone else. It is something a Christian does with another person, on a regular basis, for a mutually agreed upon length of time, with the intention of reading through and discussing a book or part of a book of the Bible,” (page 11). When I read this description of one-to-one Bible reading, I at first thought it sounded formal, perhaps uncomfortable, and maybe for someone with more knowledge of scripture that myself. However, as I read through this book, my thoughts quickly changed. By the time I was through I had been encouraged to seek out someone in my own life with whom to do this.This book was pretty short. However, the content was great! The author discussed first why one-to-one Bible reading is beneficial, who it is beneficial for, and how to go about doing it, and it does so in a very simple format. It wasn’t intimidating either, as I expected, in fact it was just the opposite! I was brought to the realization of just how simple, beneficial, and encouraging this process can be.In this book Helm discusses how doing this type of Bible reading can benefit non-believers, new believers, and fellow mature believers alike. In doing so, he presents a common pattern/ form these meetings can take, although it may have to be slightly tweaked depending on yourself and the person(s) that you are reading with. On top of that he also provides you with different passages of scripture that are good to begin with, and evaluation questions to get the most out of what is being read.One detail of the book that I found helpful is how the author explains both effective methods for one-to-one Bible study, the COMA method and the Swedish method. He list the ups and downs, goods and bads, pros and cons of both, allowing you to choose which one would be best for your situation, and allowing the reading to be more effective.The thing I liked the most about this book probably has to be chapter ten. In this chapter, Helm discusses each genre of scripture (from poetry to prophecy to the gospels), and provides evaluation questions that help you better observe the scripture, as well as to understand the context, meaning and application. The reason that I was so grateful for this is that it not only greatly enhances what you take away from one-to-one Bible reading, but it also helps you to better comprehend, appreciate and apply what you are reading in your own personal devotions and Bible time.Overall, I thought that this was a great book. I mean, I have seen and been involved in Bible studies and programs that study the scriptures, which are all great! Yet there is something that seems very beautiful and beneficial about one-to-one reading that encouraged me to begin doing this with people in my own life. I would definitely recommend this book to you!Note: I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. However, my opinions are my own
What do You think about One-to-One Bible Reading: A Simple Guide For Every Christian (2011)?
Its very short and simple......I suppose thats good.
—nikki
