Not the whole OT, just the Pentateuch (Genesis – Deuteronomy) and the Deuteronomistic History (Deut/Josh – 2 Kings)…and even then just key sections I reckon.

What I imagine would be extremely useful is a 100 or so page reading guide to these two foundational sections of the OT. Something aimed at helping an interested reader discover the structure, themes, important issues and links to the NT.

Having studied them this year I feel like I have a good grasp now on the broad sweep of Israels foundational history and the theological reflection done upon it by the biblical writers.

I guess this idea may not seem overly inspiring to many at a first glance, perhaps even a bit boring? That’s exactly why I reckon a guide like this would be great. Understanding this part of God’s word (for me) has been far from boring. It’s great stuff! And I reckon others could find it to be so too.

Who knows, I might get to writing something myself. Want to help?

I’ve been enjoying ABC TV’s ‘Whatever! The Science of Teens’. If you haven’t seen it, check it out! (episodes online at the link) The Ep on risk got me thinking of an application to evangelism:

they replicated a much larger studies on a small scale…in this case the study had to do with physical vs social risks.

A girl was asked whether she would do something physically dangerous (like ride a bike down a steep hill) – for progressively increasing amounts. She said would do it for something like $200…then she was asked about a socially risky thing, like having her mobile taken away for 2 months. She said she’d do it for something like $2000. It was an order of magnitude bigger…

Here’s what I’m thinking:

I’m placing evangelism in the social risk category. In Australia it’s not really going to present a physical risk (usually)…And being in the social risk category to the teen mind it is perceived to be an incredibly costly activity.

Maybe knowing this helps with uni ministry. Assuming you want teens to actually take the risk of evangelising thier friends or others, you will have to deal with this perceived cost:

It seems in theory that you either need to decrease the cost or increase the value to get a teen on board for evangelism.

Decreasing the cost is a tough one. You can tell them that it won’t be as bad as they think but it’s hard to believe this could be true without testing it out. I can say with great confidence that it is not anywhere near as socially risky as many people think… but we’re not talking about true and false here as though you can argue someone into doing evangelism!

Increase the value would seem to me to be preferable. Jesus is the creator of and lord of every thing, plant, animal and person on the planet. They (mostly the people) need to recognise him as such. It’s what he deserves! And it is what is best for them…He’s a great master and a loving God.

The more a teen (or anyone else for that matter) knows this to be true and desires to act upon it, evangelism increases in value for them. It becomes more important than the potential loss of face and friendship.

Continuing the infrequent series – you may notice a theme!

I’ve been enjoying the rantings of Mark Earngey and Stephen Gardner – two mates from college – in their ‘pilgrim’s podcast’ lately…it’s a great format: there is banter, ideas, theology but the thing I like most are the guests. Each week they chat to someone from college or around Sydney about themselves and the church/ministries they are a part of.

This kind of thing could be put to great use on a campus by having a student,  someone from the area, or even a missio as the guest each week.

it would:

• (For a student guest) Provide a means to ‘meet’ the students in the group as they share their story, talk about their church, passions hopes and so on. They no doubt would hearten others as they talk about the struggles and joys of being a Christian as uni.
• (For a local guest) Profile people doing stuff in the area and hear about events/movements that are going to be of interest to students. Hear from grads, or people in the local bible college.
• (For a missio guest) Put the call to evangelise the nations before students in a different and interesting way. be encouraged at how God loves his world through missionary endeavour.

Is anyone doing this already? let me know if you do decide to…i’d love to tune in!

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I’m going to start posting occasionally about ideas for uni ministry. This first one relates to Bible reading.

My hunch is that for uni students actually picking up a physical Bible is becoming less common these days. The amount of time spent on computers by students has greatly increased. Much of life is spent online – switching between emails, im, checking facebook and reading blogs…and occasionally studying towards degrees.

I reckon that Bible reading could very easily be added to that list of online activities(/distractions).

All you’d need to do is set up a blog and post a chapter a day and encourge students to subscribe by rss or email. Over the course of an average degree (3 years) you’d cover the whole Bible!

Of course there are already blogs around which do this kind of thing. But I’m suggesting that you should run one just for your uni group. Why?

1. It would create the sense that the group is reading the Bible together. The same plan is used by everyone

2. Capable students could contribute their reflections and comments to be included in the post for each chapter.

3. Prayer suggestions will of course arise from the passage but could be focussed toward things of relevance and concern to the local group.

4. Comments and discussion come from the group and are answered by the group

5. Integration (stylisticly and logically) into the group’s website