A02 The Three Main Goals of Discovery
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A02 The Three Main Goals of Discovery
(Turn the English subtitles on in the video!)
When we say “reading the Bible”, different people imagine very different things. Before we get to particular principles and steps, we need to focus on a question why we are doing this. What do we actually want to achieve by the “creative Bible reading”. We do it with people who don’t know Jesus yet, and then, of course, also with all Jesus’ disciples.
1. Getting to know living Jesus
One of the goals of Discovery is get to know living Jesus. The Czech people either don’t know a thing about Jesus or their ideas of Him are distorted that I’m not even surprised when they refuse Jesus with resistance or with mocking. The first goal of our creative Bible study is to get to know living Jesus together. To learn interesting information about Jesus, to see His greatness, power, His love and His character. And also – this is extremely important – the goal of Discovery is to experience Jesus’ presence. Yes, to perceive Jesus’ direct presence here and now with us, while we read the Bible together! I’ll explain how we accomplish this goal in the next lessons.
2. Getting to know the Bible
Besides knowing living Jesus, another goal of Discovery is to get to know the Bible. If I ask my non-believing friends what comes to their mind when I say “Bible” (which I do sometimes – and I recommend you to ask your non-Christian people as well), the answer is either general respect that doesn’t have any content or I hear even unbelievable drivels. Bible they describe would be boring or uninviting even for me.
It is remarkable that reading short stories about Jesus together, and creative group talks about it change my friends’ view of the Bible quite quickly! Then I sometimes hear beautiful: “Oh boy, that’s in the Bible, really?!” Two or three sessions and people who don’t know Jesus yet, for their own surprise, are finding out that this Bible is actual, practical, that consists of things useful for today’s life, and that it even has a personal message for every one of us, as we read it together!
3. Creating communities, that will reproduce
Our next goal of leading Discovery is to create communities that will reproduce. Within Discovery, besides the reading itself, we care about each other, about what we’re grateful for, what we are dealing with and how we can help each other. For some participants, this is the first experience that someone cares about them. For others it’s beginning of thinking about other people. Also we ask with whom can we share our discoveries from the Bible. Thanks to all this, after a few meetings, a community, which is focused not only on the inside, is born. It is a small fellowship that encourages its participants to share their discoveries, and at the same time to start such reading with other people soon.
Grasping these goals is very important for your next steps towards Discovery! It would be nice to get used to the goals as a natural part of our thinking about Discovery.
The goals of the creative Bible reading, which we call „Discovery“ are:
1. Getting to know living Jesus
2. Getting to know the Bible
2. Creating communities, that will reproduce
I have a challenge for you! At the closest occasion share these goals with a friend who already knows Jesus and who would also like to do something for their friends…
Lord Jesus, we realize that we can’t reach these goals of the Discovery on our own. But while we read the Bible, You are with us, so You fulfill these basic goals in an amazing way. Thank You for that and I’m excited to hear what You are going to do in many other groups that will start a Discovery.