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African Method of Scripture Study: Encountering the Word

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As with the other two methods, the African study method meets the inquirer where they are at, not where the church wants them to be. In other words, the focus is not on discursive, propositional study of the Scriptures. It is not the downloading of all the catechetical and doctrinal knowledge that we believe the catechumen needs to have. With these methods we … have to let the Spirit lead through the Word in this encounter. But that doesn’t mean this approach isn’t catechetical. The catechesis arises from and out of the encounter with the Word.

Quote from last week’s post by Kent Burreson

Kent’s words are a challenge to our readers. Embracing the role of the Spirit in these methods of Scripture study can be difficult for church leaders trained in traditional forms of pedagogy that focus on delivering content about a subject. The lack of biblical literacy among inquirers also drives those of us who teach to address that lack with lesson plans about content. But, as Kent points out, the goal is not mastery of content but an “encounter” that comes “through the Word.” The Spirit not only leads “through the Word” (Scripture) but also leads to “the Word”—that is, to an encounter with the “Word made flesh,” Jesus Christ, full of grace and truth.

As a former skeptic of these methods of Scripture study, I offer this testimony from a woman who was part of the faith formation process at St. Mary’s Lutheran Church, one of our research congregations.[1] Betty, who was eager to start the process because she “had so many questions,” was surprised that rather than asking questions, the members of the group were directed to answer questions! At one point in our conversation, she said, “I don’t think I found St. Mary’s; I think St. Mary’s found me.” With these words, she is implicitly acknowledging the work of the Spirit in the congregation’s faith formation process; one that, by posing questions for reflection, drew her more deeply into a relationship with Christ.

As the sample questions provided by Kent in last week’s post show, the African study method meets the inquirers where they are at, asking what “word, phrase, or image” captured their attention; how “God is speaking to you in this story”; and, if possible, a question based on the particular text, such as “What burdens are you carrying now?” in response to Jesus’s words about his “yoke” that is “easy” and “burden is light” (Matt 11:25-30). The goal is to lead the participants to “ponder in their hearts” the words of Scripture; to hear God speaking to them through Scripture; and to see Jesus in light of their daily concerns and needs. As Martin Luther wrote in his Preface to the Old Testament (1523),

… think of the Scriptures as the loftiest and noblest of holy things, as the richest of mines which can never be sufficiently explored, in order that you may find that divine wisdom which God here lays before in such simple guise as to quench all pride. Here you will find the swaddling cloths and the manger in which Christ lies, and to which the angel points the shepherds [Luke 2:12]. Simple and lowly are these swaddling cloths, but dear is the treasure, Christ, who lies in them. (Luther’s Works, vol. 35, p. 236).

Luther’s words are a warning to those teachers of the faith (like me!) who are tempted to impart a plethora of knowledge about a given text and its context. The African study method sees Scripture as the swaddling cloths and manger that hold what is “dear … the treasure, Christ,” and aims to lead participants to encounter that most priceless treasure, Jesus.

[1] Both the person’s and congregation’s names are pseudonyms.

Danny and Rhoda blue

“Just doing” Small Group Bible Study

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As promised in last week’s blog, we’re hearing again from Pastor Eggold about the catechetical gatherings of those in adult formation at Grace Lutheran Church; in today’s video he describes the African or Lambeth method of Scripture study in detail.

I confess that after my first exposure to the African/Lambeth method, I was not 100% on board with it; my own preference for Bible study leans academic, toward biblical exegesis that informs my understanding for today by shedding light on a text’s meaning in its original historical context. There seemed to be little room for this more “scholarly” approach to Scripture study in the African/Lambeth practice. But if you listen carefully, you’ll hear the many ways which Pastor Eggold lays an exegetical foundation for the Gospel text before the small group study begins.

This video is six minutes. You must be logged into Google drive to access it.

In case you missed some, let me summarize the ways Dan Eggold lays a firm, Lutheran exegetical foundation:

  • Exposure to the Gospel text before the Washed and Welcomed gatherings
    • On Fridays the church sends out homework that catechumens are expected to do. This single sheet includes space for the catechumens to record questions they had as they read the text, to engage the text with their imagination, reflecting on what they “would … have seen, or heard, or felt?” And to write down “For this week: I want to remember … I want to put my faith into action by …”
    • On Sundays Participants attend worship, hearing the Gospel text read and the Word broken open in Pastor Eggold’s sermon.
    • After worship some also attend the Sunday Bible Class, which deliberately is a lectionary-based study during this part of the church year, taught by Pastor Eggold.
  • During the Washed and Welcomed gatherings, which follows worship and Bible study
    • As the fellowship meal is wrapping up, Pastor Eggold draws on the sermon he preached that morning to “help them make the transition to the small groups.” They hear again what a theologically trained Lutheran pastor has gleaned from the Gospel text.
    • Pastor Eggold writes the questions to which the people respond after the third reading of the text, a question that “is linked to the life of the church,” that calls for a real-life application of the text.

The catechists, as facilitators, keep the participants on track and draw them out in the discussion that follows the readings, silence, and responses. But the primary “teacher” of the faith is Pastor Eggold, whose careful work lays a foundation that is centered in the life, ministry, and saving activity of Jesus Christ.

Danny and Rhoda cyan

The Role of the Catechist: Facilitating Bible Study and Prayer

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I recently had a conversation with Pastor Daniel Eggold about his experience introducing an adult catechumenate at his current parish, Grace Lutheran Church in Lafayette, Indiana. Key to his vision was doing—not talking about—Christian practices. As he said, “Instead of talking about Bible study and the importance of it, we just do it; instead of talking about prayer and the importance prayer, we just do it.”  

Here’s Pastor Eggold describing the catechist as facilitator of the “doing” in the weekly gatherings while he also unfolds the sequence of catechumenal gatherings from early January through Pentecost. This video is under three minutes. You must be logged into Google drive to access it.

In this second video (one and half minutes), Pastor Eggold describes how the catechist prepares the candidates and catechumens to pray for one another.

“It’s incredibly simple,” he says, but not quick. Pastor Eggold reported on the 18-month incubation process:

  • First, he said, he spent about six months reading widely about the topic, both current publications and classic texts.
  • Only after immersing himself in the theology and practice of an adult catechumenate, was he ready to introduce the topic to a small group of members from the congregation.
  • Their enthusiastic response was immediate, but it was another year of working together, training them for various roles, and integrating the catechumenal process with the parish calendar before the adult catechumenate started.

In next week’s blog, Pastor Eggold will explain how the catechists facilitate “just doing” Bible study in their small group.