What did it take to get 100 or more ordinary church members to give up a substantial part of a valuable Saturday on 25 February?
The answer is the first of a trio of ‘Ready to Go’ training courses organised by the Gospel Kent area of the South East Gospel Partnership to improve the Bible-handling skills of those involved in any Bible teaching within their church. A big attraction for the first day at All Saint’s in Loose, near Maidstone in Kent, was the presentation by David Jackman on understanding the book of Joshua.
God in the driving seat
David, who founded the highly respected Cornhill Training Course in 1991, gave a masterly analysis of the book, emphasising how, in understanding any book of the Bible, we need to spend time listening to what God is saying before making personal applications. In our preparation for any Bible teaching ‘God must be in the driving seat’ of our understanding of the book or passage. David also helpfully reminded us that, as we convey the message, we aim to engage the mind, heart and obedience of our listeners.
Having analysed the big themes of the book, (‘Know-How’ and, in the second session, ‘Show How’), David showed us with clarity and humour how to analyse Scripture for ourselves and, in the book of Joshua in particular, how to handle narrative passages. All through the session we were reminded to emphasise the nature and character of God, to look out for the scene changes within the story, that words are more important than the action, and to look out for the climax where the main teaching point usually resides.
For the third session of the day (‘Go Now!’) we split into smaller groups to consider how to apply these principles to individual areas of church ministry: evangelism, occasional preachers, children and youth work and leading small group Bible studies.
Including lunch, the sessions were completed by 2.30 which helped those with busy lives to return to. Two more days are planned, 6 May (Andrew Sach in the book of Mark) and 30 September (Nigel Styles in the book of Daniel). See www.gospelkent.uk for more details.
