Author: Jon Wellman

I once wrote a weekly newsletter for small group leaders. In these Thoughts on Discipleship posts, I reprint those articles.

I read an interview recently by Dr. Aimee Callender, assistant professor of psychology at Auburn University. She was asked about how to make Bible studies more interesting and engaging. I encourage you to read the article here.

Dr. Callendar said that reading the Bible creates a “mental representation” of what the person is reading, and that representation is largely dependent upon that person’s prior knowledge. In other words, how much or how little a person knows about a topic they are reading about in the Bible will determine the accuracy of the representation of that information in their mind. She used the example of Philippians 4:13 from the NIV: “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Who is “him?” What is “this?” Not everyone knows that “him” is Jesus.

What does this mean for the group leader? Provide context. Do not assume that everyone in your group knows the context of a passage. They may not have studied the passage, at least to the extent you did before leading your group through it! This does not mean that you should teach down to your group members. But it can be useful to take the temperature of the group from time to time. After reading a passage, ask them to describe their understanding of what the passage says. This will give you insight into their mental representation and contextual understanding.

Have you ever provided context for a passage or a topic and it flipped on the light switch for someone?