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"Now, if you were that cia agent and that piece of scroll—the first few verses of Philippians—was all you had to work with, what could you tell me from the document? Why was it written? What kind of people was it written to? What do they believe? What are they trying to do?"

For instance, if they had a scrap of , they would see Paul writing to the church at Philippi with its deacons and bishops—so they would discover the church is organized. They would see the name Jesus Christ used frequently in just a few verses—so whoever Jesus is, he's important to this movement. In fact, he's called Lord, and that means something in any century.

I don't care how much or how little Bible knowledge people have, this kind of approach creates an incredible Bible study experience. It enables Christians—novices or veterans—to do an inductive Bible study together. New believers have as much to work with as the older ones. The Sunday school expert who's memorized dozens of verses can't interject some oblique thought by saying, "Well over in John it says this and over in Luke it says this." He's restricted to focus on a particular scrap of material.

Forced to concentrate on a single portion, older Christians also make new discoveries. They thought they understood the passage so well, but they now realize, "Hey! I'm seeing new things."

Help People See the Word

Another method I've used helps people see the text, literally: I have them draw or doodle.

This is especially useful with youth. For instance, I've put a huge piece of butcher paper on the floor with, let's say, written at the top. I give a passage of those chapters to each pair of kids and tell them to draw a picture of what's happening in it.

Then we walk along the butcher paper, section by section, and talk about what the kids drew. In that way, they're not only hearing the words, they're also visualizing the text. And they see a sequence of events, especially when we're in the Gospels or the Book of Acts.

I've done similar things with adults. I'm a great believer in people doodling when I'm teaching. With people sitting at a table, each with some paper, I might say, "Before we discuss this passage, make some stick men and stick women—draw a picture of what you see happening here." Or I might ask them to make one simple drawing reflecting what they saw in the text. Then I ask those who are willing to explain their doodling to the others.

This works not just for the Gospels, but the letters of the New Testament as well. Paul's letters, for instance, are full of imagery (thorn in the flesh, crucified with Christ, running the race, etc.) as are other so-called didactic portions of the Bible.

Such a procedure not only reveals the vividness of the text, it puts everyone, new believer and old, on the same level. When people are saying, "This is what I saw" or "This is what I felt," there are no experts. There is no right or wrong answer to such questions.

Naturally, I want to take them beyond this level, because in the end the text has something to teach us. There are right and wrongs we must learn to distinguish between. But I begin by helping everyone start the journey to the deeper level from the same place.

Let the Text Define the Words

One of the responsibilities of the teacher is, as C. S. Lewis put it, to tell people "what the hard words mean." That is also a good way to teach a class mixed with new and mature believers.