One on One Bible Reading: Weaving into Church Culture (Model #1)
“When woven into church culture, one-to-one Bible reading can be a practice that helps craft a culture of discipleship. ”
In their book, The Vine Project, Tony Payne & Colin Marshall explain that “[Culture is] a way of summarizing the whole way you do things, the multifaceted web of […] beliefs and practices, formal & informal, that make up who you are and how you roll.” That means that any group of people, whether an ethnic community, a family, an office, or a team, that has a collection of shared beliefs and practices that seem normal to them, has a culture.
Churches have cultures too. We have core beliefs that shape our practices and practices that reinforce our beliefs. Though it requires patience and endurance, a church can slowly reshape its culture through intentional teaching and by introducing practices into the normal rhythm of its life.
As a pastor, I long to see my church become a place where discipleship is a normal part of the culture. I long to shape a culture where every member of our body embraces their responsibility to make and mature disciples of Jesus Christ simply because it’s “how we roll.” However, while it’s relatively easy to imbed the belief in our community that we should make and mature disciples, it’s far harder to imbed simple and effective practices into our culture by which people might put that belief into action.
One-to-one Bible reading, though simple, is a deeply relational and powerful practice by which disciples of Jesus might be prepared to fulfill this duty to make and mature other disciples (see previous article here). When woven into church culture, one-to-one Bible reading can be a practice that helps craft a culture of discipleship. In this series of articles, we’re focusing on five ways to help weave this simple, relational, and powerful practice into the culture of your church. The first, and most important way is to “model.”
Josh
Josh was 19 years old when he moved home. He had grown up in the church, tried his hand at college, but returned after one semester. His goal was to regroup and relaunch, but after a year back in his childhood home, Josh was still without a job or direction for his future. His life was in a rut and his faith wasn’t doing much better.
In the first few months of pastoring my church, I invited Josh to read through the book of Colossians with me. He agreed and we began meeting weekly to dissect, discuss, digest, and delight in God’s living Word together. Over the course of 3 months, I saw the flame of Josh’s faith begin to rekindle and our relationship deepen. Slowly, our conversations broadened from faith to life, giving us the chance to discuss and pray together about where the Lord might be leading him. After a few months of reading, talking, and praying, Josh enlisted in the air force where he is serving still today.
If I was hoping to weave one-to-one Bible reading into the culture of my church, why would I start with Josh? As a kid lost on the fringe of our community, he could hardly be considered a strategic starting point to shape a culture. Wouldn’t my time have been better spent pouring into someone who could immediately turn around and pour into others rather than someone who would immediately turn around and fly off to boot camp? Contrary to conventional strategic thinking, God’s heart is for the individual.
God’s heart for the Individual
In Acts 8:5-8 we read the story of Philip the evangelist whom the Lord was using to break new ground for the Gospel in Samaria.
“5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city.”
God was working through Philip in Samaria. So, imagine his surprise when, later in that same chapter, God calls him to walk over forty miles to read the Bible one-to-one with an unnamed foreigner on the side of a dusty road. This might have seemed illogical to Philip. Surely it was a waste of his time and talents to read the Bible with one man on the side of the road. Yet, our God is a God who loves the individual. He is the good shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to pursue the one (Matt. 18:12). Whether we minister to the masses or the individual, the work is worth our time.
Leader, Model One-to-One for the Flock
My first job when seeking to weave one-to-one Bible reading into the culture of my church wasn’t to construct a system, organize ministry, teach a discipleship class, or preach it from the pulpit. Rather my first job was to prioritize the making of a disciple over the crafting of a culture. If I didn’t show my people that ministry to the individual was worth my time, why should it be worth theirs? Pouring into those who will pour into others is good and Biblical (2 Tim. 2:2), but far be it from us to aim so intentionally at the exponential that we forget the individual. If you want to weave one-to-one Bible reading into the culture of your church, model it for your people.
Layperson, Model One-to-One for Each Other
Though a pastor’s and leader's effort to read the Bible one-to-one may be more visible for the church, the faithful example of a layperson has a far greater ability to make one-to-one feel normal. This is true for two reasons.
First, by modeling one-to-one Bible reading, you show the church that they are able to make disciples. You show them that no seminary degree or specialized training is required. If you can do it, they might begin to believe that they can do it too.
Second, by modeling one-to-one Bible reading, you show the church that they are allowed to make disciples. You don’t have to wait for the leaders to start an initiative or organize a ministry. You can show people that there’s nothing stopping them from doing the same. If culture tells us what’s normal, then nothing will make it feel more normal than a normal member of the church modeling it as a normal part of their life.
Whether you’re a leader or a layperson, if you want to help weave this one-to-one Bible reading into the life of your church, start with your own example. Model for your church that the individual is worth your time. Perhaps, in time, they will begin to believe that the individual is worth their time too.
BEN RUHL - ONE ON ONE DISCIPLESHIP, PASTORAL MINISTRY, AND PREACHING
Ben grew up in Houston, TX and started following Christ at a young age. After graduating from high school, Ben studied the Bible at Torchbearers Bible Schools in England and Austria, Moody Bible Institute (BA) in Chicago, IL, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.Div) in South Hamilton, MA. Ben met his wife Olivia while studying at Moody. They married in 2015 and have two kids: 5-year-old Davie Henrietta and 1-year-old Cal McCheyne.
After graduating from Gordon-Conwell in 2017, Ben and Olivia moved to Alton, NH where Ben pastors BeFree Community Church Alton (EFCA) and is the Executive Director of Small Town Summits, a ministry that seeks to provide encouragement, connection, and equipping for small-town pastors, laypeople, and churches. When not parenting, pastoring, or spending time with Olivia, Ben likes to carve wood.