{"id":32503,"date":"2022-09-10T16:12:05","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/discipling-in-an-age-of-biblical-illiteracy\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:12:05","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:12:05","slug":"discipling-in-an-age-of-biblical-illiteracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/discipling-in-an-age-of-biblical-illiteracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Discipling in an Age of Biblical Illiteracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>What can you do to get people to dust off their Bibles?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em>By Ken Braddy<\/em><\/p>\n<p>America has a literacy problem. Almost 14 percent of the adult population cannot read. But illiteracy isn\u2019t just a problem in secular society. A far worse kind of illiteracy affects the church: Biblical illiteracy.<\/p>\n<p>Only 20 percent of Americans say they\u2019ve read the entire Bible at least once. And only 22 percent say they systematically read through a section of the Bible a little each day.<\/p>\n<p>A third of Americans never read the Bible on their own.<\/p>\n<p>This lack of Bible reading certainly has led to a lack of biblical doctrine. A recent Lifeway Research survey examines how Americans view Christian theology:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"has-normal-font-size\">\n<li class=\"p3\">Fewer than half (47 percent) say the Bible is 100 percent accurate in all it teaches.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p3\">Half (51 percent) say the Bible was written for each person to interpret as he or she chooses.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p3\">Three-quarters (74 percent) disagree with the idea that even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p3\">Three-quarters (77 percent) say people must contribute their own effort for personal salvation.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p3\">Half (52 percent) say good deeds help them earn a spot in heaven. And 45 percent believe there are many ways to get there.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If people who hold these views walk into your church and begin participating in your Bible study groups, are you confident they will receive the tools and information needed to correct these erroneous beliefs?<\/p>\n<div class='code-block code-block-1' style='margin: 8px 0;clear: both'> <\/div>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\">3 ways to improve biblical literacy in your church<\/h3>\n<p>Get into God\u2019s Word daily. In Brad Waggoner\u2019s The Shape of Faith to Come, a survey of 2,500 Protestants revealed predictors of year-over-year spiritual growth. The number one predictor: regularly reading the Bible. Waggoner writes, \u201cOur people need daily exposure to the life-transforming power of God through His revealed Word.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Study and apply God\u2019s Word together. Disciples are people who are becoming more and more like Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Disciples grow as they are near other disciples.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLiving in community with other believers, wrestling through real issues, embracing the gospel together, reminding one another of our identity in Christ \u2026 is God\u2019s transformative platform,\u201d write Ed Stetzer and Eric Geiger in Transformational Groups.<\/p>\n<p>According to a Lifeway Research study on the impact of groups on discipleship, Christians who regularly attend a small group of some type have greater discipleship practices than those who don\u2019t attend a group.<\/p>\n<p>Help people become familiar with all of God\u2019s Word. I teach a group of empty-nest adults. These men and women, who are in their early 50s, often say, \u201cI didn\u2019t know that was in the Bible!\u201d during or after one of our Bible study sessions.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:1em\">\n<div class=\"centered-text-area\">\n<div class=\"centered-text\" style=\"float: left\">\n<div class=\"u5b26f43f12c767362ab4ff67ebb536a4-content\">See also&nbsp; The Group Most Likely to Still Be Missing From Your Church<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ctaButton\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Somehow they have missed out on a balanced approach to studying Scripture. Partial knowledge can lead to partial understanding. Partial understanding can lead to partial obedience.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\">A new discipleship tool for the church<\/h3>\n<p>How will your church address biblical illiteracy? Why not provide each adult member and guest a personal discipleship tool that gives them a compelling way to explore God\u2019s Word daily, creates a better group Bible study experience, and has a wise plan for discipleship?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Daily Discipleship Guide,\u201d a new resource in the Explore the Bible family, is available this fall. It\u2019s designed to help churches increase biblical literacy. Here are three ways \u201cThe Daily Discipleship Guide\u201d will help your church dig deeper into God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n<p>Daily \u2014 The tool encourages people to explore the text more fully in the days following their group\u2019s Bible study. Five daily readings help people to more fully understand, explore, and apply the text, even if they don\u2019t attend the group Bible study.<\/p>\n<p>Robby Gallaty\u2019s book Growing Up relates how Willow Creek pastor Bill Hybels discovered a shortcoming in his church\u2019s plan for making disciples.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and became Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become \u2018self-feeders,\u2019\u201d Hybels acknowledged. \u201cWe should have \u2026 taught people how to read their Bible between services.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Discipleship \u2014 \u201cThe Daily Discipleship Guide\u201d supports groups of disciples as they explore the Bible together. It summarizes a section of Scripture, explains the context, and has compelling questions a group leader uses to guide the group\u2019s Bible study.<\/p>\n<p>People are discipled by a well-equipped leader, and they learn and grow from the comments and insights of their peers.<\/p>\n<p>Guide \u2014 The heart of&nbsp;Explore the Bible&nbsp;is for groups and individuals to be guided through a nine-year exploration of all 66 books of the Bible. The strength of this approach to studying Scripture is that balance is assured, and every genre of Scripture is studied.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t assume the people in your church are reading and understanding the Bible. Provide them with the tool they need so they can understand the Scripture and obey all that Christ commanded.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-profile-box square gb-has-avatar gb-font-size-18 gb-block-profile gb-profile-columns\">\n<div class=\"gb-profile-column gb-profile-avatar-wrap\">\n<div class=\"gb-profile-image-wrap\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gb-profile-column gb-profile-content-wrap\">\n<h2 class=\"gb-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Ken Braddy<\/h2>\n<p class=\"gb-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\">@KenBraddy<\/p>\n<div class=\"gb-profile-text\">\n<p>Ken is the\u00a0director of Sunday School\u00a0for Lifeway, a church groups practitioner, and author of several books, including <em>Breathing Life Into Sunday School<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<ul class=\"gb-social-links\"><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class='yarpp yarpp-related yarpp-related-website yarpp-template-thumbnails'>\n<h3>Related posts:<\/h3>\n<div class=\"yarpp-thumbnails-horizontal\">  5 Steps to Create a Discipleship Plan  Building Relationships Without Losing Discipleship  10 Goals for Your Small Groups This Year  5 Lessons COVID-19 is Teaching Us About Sunday School <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What can you do to get people to dust off their Bibles? By Ken Braddy America has a literacy problem. Almost 14 percent of the adult population cannot read. But illiteracy isn\u2019t just a problem in secular society. A far worse kind of illiteracy affects the church: Biblical illiteracy. Only 20 percent of Americans say &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/discipling-in-an-age-of-biblical-illiteracy\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Discipling in an Age of Biblical Illiteracy&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}