Bible Reading One-to-One
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
1 Timothy 3:16
Getting Started
I would recommend that you contact who you will be meeting with, or talk to them at church and arrange a meeting time for the following week. With the busyness of life, it can be very easy to let weeks slip by!
““For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.””
Matthias Media has provided online, a way to read through the gospel of Mark in 8 weeks (8 meetings). If you would like to work through this study you are welcome to, but if you have a specific book of the Bible in mind let me know and I can provide a few resources to help you and your reading partner work through the book.
You may choose to prepare in advance by reading the text and looking at information about it, but there is no expectation regarding this- this would be something you and your reading partner can discuss and choose if you so wish.
If you do choose to prepare in advance, please see the excerpt “How to Prepare” from the One-to-One Bible Reading book below.
Below is an excerpt from the book One-to-One Bible Reading by David Helm that may help clarify some basic questions you may have, and help you get started-
Regardless of the pattern that emerges in your one-to-one Bible partnership, your first meeting will probably look a little different.
If you don’t know each other well, you may need to spend some time just getting to know each other better.
You may need to decide together which book of the Bible to read
It’s worth taking a few minutes to get out your diaries and calendars and agree on the first three to four meetings. Make sure you set a pattern that is regular and realistic.
If you haven’t done so already, you’ll need to establish the duration of your one-to-one Bible reading partnership. It’s often good to put an initial time limit on your reading partnership- say six weeks, or three months, or six months-so that neither of you feel trapped in an open ended commitment. You can always choose to extend the time later if you want to.
By the time you have done all these things at your first meeting, there may not be time for much Bible reading!
Perhaps it goes without saying, but every reading one-to-one appointment should conclude by confirming the next meeting time together.
At one level, there is no typical meeting for one-to-one Bible reading. We are all at different stages of growth, and will approach passages of the Bible with our own questions and backgrounds and contexts.
When asking God to help you understand the text you will be looking at during your meeting, begin by reading the Bible passage out loud together. This will influence the place you choose to meet-at times this is effectively done in a café, but not always.
Talking together
“It is very important to employ the art of conversational dialogue on biblical texts. Nothing will kill a conversation faster than when one of the two partners monopolizes the time by pontificating on the text (or worse, something other than the text). The remedy, of course, is to be as good a listener as you as a speaker. Your reading partner will not be challenged or helped if you talk at them rather than with them.
There is one more piece of advice when planning your meetings. Remember to never be so driven in making a particular point or accomplishing some specific result that you miss out on being enriched by the joy of friendship, support and mutual encouragement. Trust that God is at work. (Of course, the opposite danger should also be mentioned- of spending so much time chatting and sharing about life in general that you leave very little time for actually reading the Bible!)
How to Prepare
If you are going to do some preparation, agree together on how much time you will invest in this (30-60 minutes is normally enough).
In general you might follow this sort of pattern as you prepare:
Pray for understanding, and that God will use these meetings to grow you mutual faith in the power of the gospel.
Read through the assigned portion of the Bible at least twice.
Write down your impressions after reading the text each time- observations, main points, questions you have.
Pray based on what you have read, and pray again for your forthcoming meeting.
If you need further resources or have any questions about Bible reading One-to-One please let me know. I have found the One-to-One Bible Reading book by David Helm to be a wonderful resource for further information.
Please let me know when you have finished reading through your book, and/or when you have finished the time prearranged for you and your Bible reading partner to meet.
I hope and pray that this time can be an enriching and growing time for you and your Bible reading partner.
The COMA Method
Read the passage aloud.
C - You ask some context questions of the text:
What sort of writing is this? (A letter, a narrative, a poem?)
Are there any clues about the circumstances under which it was written?
What has happened so far?
3. O - You ask some observation questions of the text:
Are there any major sub-sections or breaks in the text?
What is the main point or points?
What surprises are there?
What are the key words? What words or ideas are repeated?
4. M - You may ask some meaning questions of the text:
How does this text relate to other parts of the book?
How does the passage relate to Jesus?
What does this teach us about God?
How could we sum up the meaning of this passage in our own words?
5. A - You may ask some application questions of the text:
How does this passage challenge (or confirms) my understanding?
Is there some attitude I need to change?
How does this passage call on me to change the way I live?