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Lesson OneThe Bible Tells God’s Story8 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TwoThe Power of God’s Story7 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson ThreeThe Message of God’s Story7 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FourThe Reader of God’s Story7 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FiveThe Context of God’s Story7 Activities1 Assessment
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Completion2 Activities
Participants 9
Welcome to Strategies for Bible Engagement
Before you can study the Bible effectively, you must learn to read it effectively. In this course you will learn strategies for becoming an effective reader of the Bible by understanding and connecting with God’s overarching story of redemption.
Learning outcomes
By completing this course, you will be able to:
- Articulate the overarching story of the Bible.
- Practice reading strategies that will help you to discern the original meaning and intention of Scripture.
- Read the Bible with the purpose of understanding God’s message and allowing it to transform your life.
Course Introduction
We encourage you to watch this interview with Dr. Lynn Cohick in which she discusses the purpose of this course. In this conversation, Dr. Cohick mentions the Immerse Bible, which facilitates reading the Bible as a narrative story by removing chapters and verses. Based on the New Living Translation, the Immerse Bible was created to remove some of the obstacles to reading God’s story from Genesis to Revelation. Some readers might find this useful for their Bible engagement. Use this link to purchase the Immerse Bible at a special discounted price.
This course is focused on five reading strategies for Bible engagement. These strategies are different from Bible study techniques that you may have learned. This course will invite you to imaginatively inhabit Scripture, rather than just observing it from a safe distance. The following table summarizes the key ideas, strategies, and practices you will learn in each lesson and the questions you should be asking yourself about your own Bible reading habits. It illustrates how you are meant to locate your own story within God’s story.
| God’s Story | My Story | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lesson | Big Idea | Strategy | Practice | Application |
| Lesson One: The Bible Tells God’s Story | God wants us to know Him, to experience His love for us, and receive our love. | Read the whole Bible as one story of God’s love for His people. | Read the Bible as a drama in four acts: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation. | Do I read the Bible as one book or as 66 separate books? Do I see how the Old Testament and New Testament are connected? |
| Lesson Two: The Power of God’s Story | God invites us to live in His story. | Read to inhabit God’s story rather than just observing it. | Read the Bible in larger sections and ask, “What is God’s purpose here?” | Do I see myself in God’s story? |
| Lesson Three: The Message of God’s Story | God speaks through Scripture and His words do things (command, warn, promise, etc.). | Read to understand God’s meaning and intent. | Consider the communication cycle to identify what a passage says and its intended impact on the listener/reader. | Do I hear God’s voice when I read the Bible? |
| Lesson Four: The Reader of God’s Story | God wants us to understand His redemptive plan and be transformed by it. | Read to discern what God’s words invite us to do. | Discern the assumptions, implications, and context of the original text. | What is my response to God’s word? |
| Lesson Five: The Context of God’s Story | The Bible was written to a particular community, but it was also written for us. | Read to understand cultural differences and universal truths. | Enter the text imaginatively to understand the original context and how it connects to God’s grand narrative. | How can I apply the life-giving wisdom of Scripture in a way that is consistent with God’s whole story and plan for Creation? |
You will revisit this table in the Summative Activity at the end of the course in order to complete your action plan.
Lesson Overviews
Select the headings of each lesson to read about the specific learning outcomes that you will achieve by working through the content of each lesson.
In this lesson you will learn the importance of reading the whole Bible as God’s story told in a four-act drama of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation.
When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:
- Explain the overarching story of the Bible and why it is important to read it this way.
- Recognize the importance of connecting individual Bible stories to the larger metanarrative of Scripture and to your own story.
- Examine your own Bible reading practices.
In this lesson you will recognize the power of living in God’s story and learn how to read the Bible to unlock that power.
When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:
- Articulate the importance of Genesis 1–3 for the entire story of the Bible.
- Practice strategies for reading the Bible as story.
- Reflect on how you can live into God’s story.
In this lesson you will learn how to discern God’s true message when you read the Bible.
When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:
- Recognize how God communicates throughout Scripture—both the original meaning and what it means for you.
- Explain the three stages of the communication circle and its usefulness in reading the Bible.
- Reflect on how you can hear God’s voice when you read the Bible.
In this lesson you will learn the important role the listener or reader plays in fulfilling God’s message in the Bible.
When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:
- Explain the listener/reader’s role in completing the communication circle.
- Practice strategies for understanding and responding to God’s message in Scripture.
- Reflect on ways that you can discern and act on what God intended in a Bible passage.
In this lesson you will learn how to read the Bible to differentiate cultural differences from universal truths.
When you complete this lesson, you should be able to:
- Discern the truths in Scripture that transcend culture or context.
- Identify strategies for understanding the original context and intention of a passage.
- Reflect on how you can read the Bible with the goal of allowing God to speak into your life.
All Scripture quotations in this class, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
How to Maximize Your Learning from This Course
In order to maximize your learning through this online course, you are encouraged to make use of all the learning opportunities presented to you. To take full advantage of the wealth of knowledge presented in the course content, we recommend that you:
- Watch, listen to, or read all the lectures.
- Reflect on the content and questions in your journal.
- Complete all learning activities.
- Share your ideas with your fellow learners in the discussion.
- Implement what you have learned in your action plan.
- Enrich your learning by reading the bonus material.
Online learning is an excellent way to bring large numbers of participants together to learn and share about God’s Word. Although this course is asynchronous and therefore other participants may not complete the course at the same time as you, there are interactive opportunities to share your learning and to gain valuable, unique insights from individuals with a diverse range of backgrounds and life experiences.
What online course engagement means
Full engagement in this course further means:
- Working through the lessons in the suggested order—they’ve been arranged for a reason and each course has been designed with a logical sequence. Jumping ahead without completing the previous lesson may give you a disjointed learning experience.
- Reading and listening across a variety of learning activities—some of which are text-based, some with video. (Transcripts are provided with audio-visual resources for those learners who require or prefer the written format.)
- Sharing your learnings with other course participants in discussion opportunities.
When engaging in social learning activities, such as sharing ideas or commenting on other learners’ ideas in discussions, be mindful of how you express yourself in writing. In written communication, we do not have the advantages of interpersonal cues (e.g., facial expressions, voice tone, and gestures), so it can be difficult to express intended meaning. Remember that other course participants may have different perspectives, opinions, and life experiences than you. Therefore, when communicating online, it’s important to assume the best intentions of others and use polite and respectful language.
Technology requirements
Engaging with the materials in this course requires minimal technological skills or equipment:
- An electronic device such as a computer, tablet, or smartphone capable of running a web browser and playing video and audio.
- Internet access capable of streaming videos, loading webpages, and downloading files.
- A PDF reader (optional) for working with downloadable PDF files. Though most browsers allow PDFs to be viewed within the browser, we recommend downloading and saving them to your device so that you can save your work.
For premium subscribers, the ODBU app is available in Google Play and the App Store. In addition to providing full functionality of all course features, the app also allows you to download courses for offline study.
Have a question?
We have made every effort to make this course accessible for all learning styles and abilities. If you have a question or need assistance, please contact us.
What Activities to Expect
Each lesson will guide you through a series of activities. Select the headings below to read a brief description and instructions for completing each activity. Activities with a “lock” symbol 🔒 are available to premium subscribers only.
This activity offers a brief introduction to the lesson and informs you of the lesson’s objectives.
Viewing this activity is required for course completion.
This activity provides the main teaching content for the lesson. You may choose to watch the video, listen to the audio, or read the transcript. Closed captioning is also provided for any video segments. In each case the content is the same.
This activity is required for course completion.
This quiz activity checks your understanding of the concepts learned so far. It is not a timed activity, and the quiz can be attempted as many times as needed.
Earning a quiz score of 70% or better is required for course completion.
This activity allows you to spend time in Scripture and connect it to the topic of each lesson. Spend some time carefully reading the passage provided in the activity, utilizing the simple three-step method of Receive, Reflect, and Respond.
- Receive simply involves reading the text and asking, “What does the text say?”
- Reflect challenges you to ask, “What does the text mean?”
- Respond invites you to apply the meaning of the text to your life.
Instructions for reflection
- Get and use a hard copy journal or an e-note-taking tool such as Notion, OneNote, or Apple Notes. You can also complete these activities in the course workbook, which can be downloaded in lesson one.
- Spend time reflecting on the questions provided in the activity. Make it a time of prayer by sharing your thoughts and reflections with God.
- Write down your answers, thoughts, and other revelatory ideas in your journal that God reveals during your time of prayerful reflection.
For reflective journaling activities such as this one, find a quiet place in which you will not be disturbed by other people, noises, or other distractions. Silence e-devices and quiet your mind by reading Bible passages or praying before attempting the activity.
This discussion activity is designed to help you articulate what you have learned in each lesson. It may also help you collect ideas from other course participants about their understanding of Scripture. Since this course is asynchronous (i.e., other learners complete the course at different times), you may not see many discussion submissions or receive replies to your posts. Therefore, consider your submissions to this discussion forum as a way to share your insights about what you have learned to inspire or challenge others in their learning journey, and to enable others to do the same for you.
While other learners may not see or respond to your comments in the short term, encouraging others and engaging with others enhances your learning experience.
This activity is required for course completion.
These application activities are designed to help you consider how to put your learning to use in your own context. When you finish this course you will have an action plan that will help you deepen and improve your Bible engagement!
Complete these activities digitally in the downloadable workbook, or write them in your own journal. Find the link to download the digital workbook in lesson one.
At the end of each lesson there are links to additional Our Daily Bread Ministries resources you can watch, listen to, or read that will enhance your understanding of the course content. This material is optional and not required for course completion.
This section also includes suggested readings from David deSilva’s book Honor, Patronage, Kinship, and Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture, which provides the background for this course. These readings are not required for course completion, though you may choose to purchase the book to extend your learning (and support the instructor of this course!).
This activity sums up the concepts learned in each lesson and looks ahead to what comes next.
This activity appears in the course wrap-up section at the end of the course. It allows you to review what you have learned in the course and identify actions you will commit to in order to implement the course concepts.
Course Completion Requirements
To successfully earn a Completion Award for this course you will need to engage with all of the pages in every lesson, view all of the lectures, earn 70% or higher on each quiz activity, contribute towards the discussion boards, and complete the Course Evaluation. All other activities are recommended but not required for course completion.