Bible Basics started when I met a group of friends who wanted to study the Bible but weren’t sure where to begin. When it came to looking up a book, chapter and verse, they felt lost. Weekend sermons left them confused when the pastor would refer to a Bible story “everyone knows,” but they weren’t familiar with it. They were unsure about a lot of things, but they hadn’t found a safe place to seek help. When it came to Bible study, they were beginners.
So I offered a 4-day boot camp to do sort of a crash course in Bible basics. This Bible Basics Boot Camp turned out to be a fun way to develop their muscles when it came to lifting the Sword of God’s Word (Hebrews 4:12), and it launched a study that now meets once a week.
I have a heart for beginners.
I have a heart for beginners. I taught middle school Language Arts for a while. It could never compare to teaching true beginners in a kindergarten class, but a student’s first year of middle school is a year that feels like starting over with locker combinations, changing hormones, new friendships and insecurities about whether or not school is cool anymore. Middle school students are their own brand of beginners who are so much fun to teach when you treat them with respect like they’re in high school but give them grace like they’re still in elementary school. My job as their teacher was to get them all caught up on grammar and writing skills so that they could be confident as they progressed through school.
So I thought about these ladies as beginners when it came to Bible study, and I determined to help get them all caught up. There are some basic truths and Bible stories that everyone assumes all Christians already know, like the 10 Commandments or the Lord’s Prayer. But some of my new friends didn’t grow up in church, and some of them were never taught to study the Bible on their own. They were beginning to feel behind with no hope of catching up. So I took the Bible stories I’d learned through Sunday School songs and flannel graphs, the study tools I’d learned in college, and the experience I’d gained as a teacher and came up with a Bible study that would cover the major Old Testament stories while drawing connections to Jesus in the New Testament.
Bible Basics has become a way to get caught up on Bible stories and study tools that were missed somewhere along the way. My hope is to help everyone feel comfortable and confident navigating their own Bibles so that they can get closer to Jesus. I think Jesus has a heart for beginners, too. He spent most of His ministry years teaching 12 friends who weren’t sure where to begin, but who were willing to follow Him and learn from Him.
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