Learning – Page 3

July 18, 2017

Preparing to Teach Using the Daily Discipleship Guide

The adult group I lead will begin using the Explore the Bible Daily Discipleship Guide in the fall. How I prepare will be different, but I think the process will give me more time to focus on other responsibilities I have as the leader of the group. Here is the process I plan on using to prepare to lead my group.

First of all, on Sunday evening I will read the Bible passage listing key words, phrases, places, and people. I will then review the first five pages of the Daily Discipleship Guide for that session and the commentary provided in the Leader Helps in the back of the book. As information is discovered about the words, phrases, places, and people listed, I will record that on my sheet of paper. If needed, I will look at other helps such as the keywords in QuickSource, consult the Explore the Bible Adult Commentary, and read any Biblical Illustrator articles that give biblical backgrounds to the passage. I will pay careful attention to the Apply the Text section for that session, looking for ways I need to apply that passage to my life. The last thing I will do on that Sunday will be to review the teaching plans. Since these are available digitally in the digital bundle and the Leader Pack CD-ROM, I will make adjustments to the plans and then send that file to my smartphone.

On Monday through Friday, I will complete the Daily Exploration activities, one a day. Since I have my group plans on my phone, I can add notes each day as I go deeper into the passage. As the week progresses, I will gather the items I plan to use in the group time including the posters and handouts in the Leader Pack.

On Friday, I will meet with three or four other teachers to share and pray with them. We will also use the Talk It Out feature to spur on our conversation. I am doing what I am asking my group members to do, but I am doing it prior to the group time and will encourage members to meet with a small group after the group study time.

On Saturday, I will pray for group members, send emails reminding them of the passage we will study the next day, and review the plans one more time. A quick double check of posters, handouts, and other items I plan on using will be conducted.

On that Sunday, I will arrive early so I can make sure the area we use is ready and so I can pray. When the first person arrives, the study time will begin. I will follow my plan but will also be ready to adjust as I go.

After the group time is over, I may need to contact the group to encourage them to complete the Daily Exploration section, share gathered prayer requests, and other appropriate information. I will also record insights gained about the act of teaching, group members, and Scripture. Then the process starts all over again.

Using the Daily Exploration features should help me manage my study time better without compromising the quality of my study. Meeting with other teachers will give me a way to bounce around ideas, and hold me accountable for my own spiritual growth. I believe this process will make me a better teacher, for I will have chewed on the truth of a passage throughout the week and will be ready to help my class do the same thing in the week that follows group time.

Download four free sessions of the Daily Discipleship Guide.

Group Leadership

July 17, 2017

How Adults Learn: Daily Discipleship Guide

By Dwayne McCrary

For the past four years, I have taught two Bible study groups on Sunday mornings: a group of 50-year-olds at 8 am and a group of 4-year-olds at 11 am, with worship sandwiched in between. One of the common questions asked of me is how teaching these different age groups compare.

When adults enter a classroom, they do so with a filled mental slate. Children, on the other hand, walk in a classroom with a mostly blank slate, looking for something to learn. Adults have slates filled with facts, presuppositions, and experiences. They are not so interested in adding to their slate, as they are interested in making sense of everything they already know.

Some adults are interested in adding to their slate, but not for the reasons we may think. They don’t want to make sense of their experiences. Adding is easier and doesn’t require them to take a critical look at their past experiences—especially the painful ones. But if they only add to their slate, it becomes more cluttered and less clear. Going deeper in Bible study isn’t always about learning new facts; rather, it usually involves connecting the dots between facts that are already known, along with life experiences.

The experiences of adults drive their learning. For example, an adult has a friend with a terminal illness. That friend appears to have done everything right in life and is the most generous person they know. So how do they reconcile terminal illness happening to people who do the right thing? What they believe (good things happen to good people) does not match up with their experience (good people get sick).

For adults, education becomes self-directed as a function of making sense of experiences. Connecting the dots between knowledge and experiences usually takes place as adults reflect on an experience in light of a truth discovered, rediscovered, or recast in a different way.

Our responsibility as teachers of adults is to highlight a truth, provide tools to dig deeper into that truth, and then allow adults to reflect on their experiences in light of that truth. The Daily Discipleship Guide was created around this concept. Group time serves as an orientation time to define a biblical truth, and setting in motion the opportunity for members to dig into that truth after group using the five daily exploration activities. Personal reflection is encouraged through questions at the end of each daily exploration section. Additional reflection is encouraged through the questions found in the Talk It Out section, helping the adult come to some conclusion about their life experiences in light of biblical truth.

How adults learn matters. Adults need tools to go deeper on their own. They need opportunities to reflect. They want to interpret their experiences through the lens of biblical truth. If we want our group members to become spiritual adults, then we should teach them to connect the dots between their experiences and God’s truth.

Download four free sessions of the Daily Discipleship Guide

Group Leadership

March 21, 2017

Why the Daily Discipleship Guide: Engaging Daily in the Bible

By Dwayne McCrary

In her book Grit, Angela Duckworth discusses the importance of what she calls “deliberate practice” (see pages 120 and following; Duckworth borrows the term from Anders Ericsson). She tells of Olympic athletes, accomplished musicians, and skilled artisans participating in deliberate practice, usually doing one basic thing better than they did it the day before. She notes that this deliberate practice propels these people to be the best in their fields. Fine-tuning the basics deliberately is what makes us better today than we were yesterday. How does this relate to Bible study?

In Arthur Flake’s journal, on the page where he outlined the steps for growing a Sunday School, in big letters and underlined are the words “All need it….all need to study the Bible.” Mr. Flake didn’t explain why that was true in 1920; he simply knew that being a part of a regular Bible study group was important for both the unchurched and the senior saint.

In Brad Waggoner’s The Shape of Faith to Come (2008), he identified the daily discipline of reading the Bible (Waggoner calls it “daily Bible engagement”) as the number one predictor of a person’s spiritual growth. Think about the different parts of this discovery.

Daily: Implies a discipline much like exercising, brushing teeth, or eating a certain number of calories EVERY day. Marathon runners train even in the cold. Should we be any different when it comes to our spiritual training?
Bible: Values God’s Word, not the thoughts of great philosophers, leaders, or theologians. The ideas of others can be helpful, but they must not replace God’s Word.
Engagement: Implies participation in the act of reading, studying, and reflecting on His Word. Synonyms include engrossed, immersed, captivated by, wrapped up in.

In the new Daily Discipleship Guide, some of the Bible commentary is organized into daily segments. Bible commentary is provided for the group time (including the key words feature) that gives a building block for the following week. A Bible passage, directions for reading that passage, Bible explanation, and a reflection question are provided for each of the five days that follow each group time. These daily engagements will take the group deeper into the passage and connect to insights gained in the group time.

Learn more and preview four free sessions of the new Explore the Bible: Daily Discipleship Guide at lifeway.com/exploredaily.

G. Dwayne McCrary is a project team leader for ongoing adult Bible study resources at Lifeway, including the adult Explore the Bible resources. He also teaches an adult group and preschool group every Sunday in the church he attends.

This article was originally posted on the Explore the Bible blog.

Group Answers Podcast

March 23, 2016

The Groups Matter Podcast—Episode 19: Leadership for Small Group Leaders

By Group Ministry

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SUMMARY: In this episode, Brian and Rick speak with Dwayne McCrary, the team leader for adult and young adult group resources at Lifeway, about how and why church staff and group leaders should develop themselves in the principles of leadership. Dwayne shares his methods for selecting reading material aimed at leadership development and explains how church leaders can glean truth from leadership principles in contexts outside of the church. Dwayne also discusses how church leaders who are focused on continuing to learn and grow can produce a ripple effect that can benefit the entire church culture.

In addition, Brian and Rick discuss a blog post by Bob Mayfield titled 6 Teaching Methods Every Small Group Leader Should Know, and Rick shares his list of 5 reason it may be the wrong time to multiply a group.

The Groups Matter Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study expert from the Lifeway Groups Ministry Team, and Rick Howerton, the discipleship and small group specialist at Lifeway and author of Countdown: Launching and Leading Transformational Groups.

GUEST: G. Dwayne McCrary is the team leader for Adult and Young Adult group resources at Lifeway, leads two weekly Bible study groups (one for empty-nesters and one for 4-year olds), serves as an adjunct professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and carries 20-plus years of church staff experience. He is married to Lisa (both native Texans), and they have two children and one grandson. Find him on Twitter: @gdwayne.

EPISODE SPONSOR: This week’s episode is sponsored by SmallGroup.com. SmallGroup.com is an online subscription service that allows churches and group leaders to create customizable, sermon-based group bible studies. Visit the Groups Ministry blog for a quick how-to tutorial, or visit SmallGroup.com to begin your free 2-week preview.

RESOURCES: If you have a question you’d like discussed on our Groups Matter Podcast, please tweet your question to @BcDaniel or @RickHowerton.

The Groups Matter Podcast—Episode 19: Leadership for Small Group Leaders

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