Holy Swordsmen

[Jon_]

So, at my Bible study last night we talked about Scripture and how important it is that it live in us. And I was blessed to have been enabled to make some contributions regarding sola scriptura and how important the Reformers considered God's Word, and how important God's Word says it is! Anyway, the leader (of the Bible study) and I had this idea to start a Bible-reading accountability group. He admitted that sometimes he falls into the rut of taking his Bible to church with him and then coming home and putting it on the dresser until the next time he has to go to church. But who of us hasn't been there before!?

The idea of the group isn't to compel each other to vainly study the Word, it is to excite and encourage each other to do so. I was thinking that we would meet and discuss passages that we felt were specially pertinent in our lives, those that we felt the Holy Spirit had led us to. For instance, I shared last night that Psalms 119:9 had been an excellent verse for me:

How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your Word.

I was just wondering if anyone else had been in a very tight Bible-oriented accountability (which isn't the best term for it, but...) group before. If so, how did you conduct it? I'm just looking for some general ideas to keep things fresh, interesting, and exciting. Not that God's Word isn't exciting in and of itself, but you know how human nature is.

Should we set an outline for ourselves, or organize different passages or books, or set assigned reading, or anything like that? I'm thinking it might be too loose to just say, "Ok, everybody read your Bible and then next week we'll talk about what we read." I think people generally need more focus than that, but at the same time, I don't know if we should assign reading to each other.

I came up with a super-lame, cheesy name for the group, too: Holy Swordmen.

 

[Macrina]

Well, I've been in small groups where we all read the same passage, and rotated leadership of the discussions. That kept everyone involved. But if you're leaving it open-ended to read different passages... hmm... Perhaps everybody could have a book he is reading through or a topic he is studying, and then at the beginning of each meeting, you could go around and do a "check-in" of how things went for each person? Sometimes just knowing that you have to say something to a group will get you motivated.

 

[Croooz]

Just a word of caution:
The members who continually don't read will then label the faithful a host of unfair names. As long as everyone is truly willing to be accountable then it should work out fine. The one I was in fell apart because the members didn't want to be accountable in an accountability group...weird huh

I've found a general topic with a few searching the old testament and others the new for starters. You can narrow the studies down from there.

 

[Jon_]

Thanks for the input, friends. I will keep it in mind.

I just thought of an awesome pun on the original name!

The Holy Sword's men of God.

Ha! I love it.

 

[Imblessed]

Just a word of caution:
The members who continually don't read will then label the faithful a host of unfair names. As long as everyone is truly willing to be accountable then it should work out fine. The one I was in fell apart because the members didn't want to be accountable in an accountability group...weird huh

human nature.......


Jon, that sounds like a really cool group. In fact, I'm thinking maybe that would be an awesome small group to start at our church.....hmmmm maybe an accountablity group for us ladies--- it would get me off my behind and reading the bible more......

 

[Lockheed]

The one I was in fell apart because the members didn't want to be accountable in an accountability group...weird huh

I left an 'accountability group' after it became a "trash the sinner" group. These guys were more focused on whining about their lack of girlfriends that they never bothered studying Scripture.

Anyway, just a warning, 'accountability groups' might work in some sense, but I think the concept is dangerous in that it breeds familiarity and familiarity breeds contempt. If one needs accountability, let them first speak with their pastor and then find a strong believing adult friend who will disciple them, rather than letting the masses devour them and gossip take root.

 

[Jon_]

I left an 'accountability group' after it became a "trash the sinner" group. These guys were more focused on whining about their lack of girlfriends that they never bothered studying Scripture.

Anyway, just a warning, 'accountability groups' might work in some sense, but I think the concept is dangerous in that it breeds familiarity and familiarity breeds contempt. If one needs accountability, let them first speak with their pastor and then find a strong believing adult friend who will disciple them, rather than letting the masses devour them and gossip take root.

Yeah, this is why I was hestitant to call it an "accountability group." It's really more like a group of friends exhorting each other through the Word. It's suppose to be a very deep Bible study, you know? Instead of someone giving a lesson every week, we all teach each other every week. The idea is to positively encourage one another to dig deep into the Word, and often.

We'll see how it goes. We have at least 3 members right now, and almost assuredly 4. Depending on how that goes, we might add some more.

 

[Lockheed]

Yes yes yes! I'm glad for you Jon!

 

[Jon_]

We came up with a great idea last time we met. We're actually going to make this into a chain-email group. Instead of having set times to meet, we're going to email our thoughts and Scriptures to each other. We had considered calling each other, but then decided that wouldn't be the best because only the two people on the phone would be edified by the conversation.

I then also realized that this had a lot of potential. An email group isn't limited by space, or by times. We could have as many people join as would like. So, I thought that I would throw this out for everyone who wanted to participate. I think we'll be starting up the first thread sometime next week. If anyone wants to be a part of it, just PM me your email address, or you can email it to me at:

nicholson.jon@gmail.com (many thanks to Jesaiah for the invite!)

 

[Wilfred of Ivanhoe]

By all means have an accountability group, but pray to God for the stregnth and grace to read His word every day.