This request arrived in the YAR inbox last week. I hope YAR readers can help.
I’m a member of a young women’s (mid to late 20s) bible study group. We are sick of the “regular” bible studies and I’m writing to see if you can recommend anything a little more non-traditional, thought provoking and discussion encouraging….we are looking for something that would involve questions being asked in order to encourage/help focus discussion.
What we are looking for is something with a short text section that could be read by the leader for the week, based on something in the bible, or even just an issue in Christian culture, current events – we’re pretty open. We then would like to have questions which would help facilitate discussion on the topic presented in the text. Most of us don’t have lots of time to do readings/prepare ahead of time, so we appreciate sessions that allow us to focus on one topic the night we meet and then move onto a new/related topic the next week.
Post your suggestion of books or on-line resources to this comment thread or email them to admin@young.anabaptistradicals.org
There is one book you might enjoy called “Transforming Bible Study” by Walter Wink. It looks at entering scripture more deeply, psychologically, & emotionally than many typical bible studies do, and offers a variety of example sessions with questions that I have found more moving than many traditional studies.
Or – what about something by Ched Myers, like “Say to this Mountain: Mark’s Story of Discipleship“? If I recall, this is presented in bible-study format for use with small groups, and walks through Mark’s perspectives on empire, discipleship, and Jesus’ vision of the Way. There’s one idea! Good luck!
“Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism” (http://www.betterworldbooks.com/rescuing-the-bible-from-fundamentalism-id-0060675187.aspx) by John Shelby Spong is an interesting Bible study resource I’ve used before. “Dangerous Wonder: the adventure of childlike faith” (http://www.betterworldbooks.com/dangerous-wonder-id-1576834816.aspx) by Michael Yaconelli is fun, and includes a discussion guide.
I wrote a longer post about a week ago, but not sure why it didn’t go through:
http://bikemovement.org/documentary/
A documentary about young adults grappling with what it means to part of the church. The abbreviated version is available online. There is a study guide that goes along with it.
A Mile in Her Shoes by Sheron C Patterson.
I know this post is a month old, but it’s still before Lent of 2012. My congregation (United Church of Christ) used A Clearing Season by Sarah Parsons as a really interesting Lent study this past year. http://www.amazon.com/Clearing-Season-Reflections-Lent/dp/0835898172/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305490972&sr=1-1