High School Bible Study

[Frisbinator]

Can any of you high schoolers out there remember a bible study/ Sunday school class that you were given that you thought was really really great?

If so, could you please answer these questions:

How was it taught as far as participation is concerned? Was it more of a lecture, or an open discussion, and how did the moderator encourage discussion? What kinds of questions did they ask, questions referring to the story itself or questions referring to applying it to your life? What was the lesson on and what, in your opinion, made it so great?

I teach high schoolers and am just lookin' for a little bit of inside info, thanks!

[princess_childofthekingofkings]

Well I am not exactly in High school, I am in 7th grade but I remember last year I had a Sunday school class at my church, and I have to say that was the only form of bible study that I actually felt like I learned some stuff about God. The class was taught by a guy named Mr. Steve (Steve Mechecnie) and he did not just sit and lecture us untill we fell asleep, he made the lessons funny, he made jokes, he applyed them to his and our lives. Then at the end he got serious told us what we really needed to know. I am to old for htat class now. It is the 5th and 6th grade class, but he still lets me and my sister (who is in eighth grade), visit and listen to his class.

[Nicks Girl]

How was it taught as far as participation is concerned? Was it more of a lecture, or an open discussion, and how did the moderator encourage discussion? What kinds of questions did they ask, questions referring to the story itself or questions referring to applying it to your life? What was the lesson on and what, in your opinion, made it so great?

When I was in high school, I ran into the most AWESOME Bible study/sunday school class. It was taught by a guy and his wife. They were an older couple but they rocked!

As far as participation, we were encouraged to speak up, and say what we were thinking on the subject. Alot of times our teacher guided the topic, or started the topic, but alot of times it drifted away from that subject to something else that the teens had been thinking about or asked questions about. Open discussion is sooo much better. I've been in SEVERAL Teen Bible classes, and this was one of the only classes that I felt like I benefited from and was truly interested in as a teen. I feel like it also made our group more tight knit. I got to know the people in my class better, because I could hear their thoughts on things, and we learned alot from each other. We focused alot on life issues. Things that affected us, and put those things into a biblical perspective, and even the teens themselves were encouraged to give examples where Bible references for the things that we were discussing could be found.

One good thing that I really enjoyed doing was this. Our teacher would have us all write a question down (could be anonymous if we wanted it to be), and we would fold our paper up and put it in a bag, and every week we would pull a question out, and it would be read, and we would have a discussion on it. The teens were encouraged first to try to answer the question, and our leader wrapped it up with a summary of an answer to the question. Sometimes we had time to do 2 questions, or more, depends on the question, and how long the kids wanted to talk about it. What made it so awesome to me, is that I felt like I grew spiritually better once we all had our "faults" out in the open, or were more accountable to each other. It was really awesome, and I'll never forget that class! In fact, my husband and I have been asked to teach that class, because my old teachers are doing other things now, rather than teach the youth class! We aren't living in that area, but we are praying about moving back there next year to be in ministry at my home church.

I hope this helped a little bit. I hope I wrote everything so that it was easy to read!

God Bless.

[Shelby]

I love those ideas Deirdre. You know I love owrking with teens, and any fresh Ideas help. It is hard sometimes to see what is going on in their heads and what is troubling or giving them pause at the moment, so really they decide the topic. so then the leader must be up to par in their devotions and reading of their Bible since it really is an on the spot synopsis.

Question?? Did you just leave the questions from the prior weeks in the bag, and then add each week, or did you make new questions each week?

[O'Dannyboy]

I will simply say that I only wish I could sit with Jesus among his apostles. Any gathering that even resembled such a discussion would be very pleasing. As I understand, Jesus' apostles were not scholars. I discussion among them had to have been very honest and inquisitive. When they had come to a conclusion on the topic, Jesus would help them answer the question they sought the answer for.

Simple yet beautiful.

[Nicks Girl]

Question?? Did you just leave the questions from the prior weeks in the bag, and then add each week, or did you make new questions each week?

we left the questions in the bag from prior weeks. It usually took at least 4-6 weeks to go through all the questions. We didn't add every week. Basically what was in the bag was there until all the questions had been read. We did that several different times throughout the year. The kids really liked it, and it was also really cool to get to hear what others in class were asking.

I wanted to mention something really quick, that I forgot to mention before.

All the other teen sunday school/bible studies I had gone to before usually used a "book" a teen study guide of some sort, and we spent little time in our bibles. I'm not against using supplements, I just don't care personally for using them as the sole resource. Alot of those books have errors in them, and can be confusing, especially for young believers in your class. I really liked the Teen Bible study I went to because I finally found a place where God's WORD was the only supplement being used, and I feel it is FAR more effective than using a cute book to try to attract teens to read. The goal of the Bible study is to help teens to grow in the Lord, and enjoy being in God's Word, showing them things they never saw, or knew before.

[Frisbinator]

Thanks for the help folks, it is very much appreciated!