May Cell 2011

Introduction This month we will be looking at the Bible and what it means to us. We will be looking at how it all began, how the Bible works, and how we should use the Bible. The theme of the Bible follows on from what we will have been looking at this year at ROOTS. If your young people were not at this years ROOTS then please get in touch with ALOVE at alove@salvationarmy.org.uk so that we can send you out a copy of the Shelf-Life resource that we have created to encourage young people to take their Bible’s off the shelf and dig deeper into the word of God.

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MAY 2011

celloutlines | overview of theme

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MAY 2011

celloutlines | week one These Cell Outlines are written by ALOVE UK. They are available each week from our web site. For more information and other cell resources, visit www.salvationarmy.org.uk/alove/resources

How it all began..........

Kit List • Bibles

Welcome Game - Bible verse relay This game can be played outside or in a large room. Place two Bibles at the end of the room and divide the group into two teams. Line the players up in each team and then call out a Bible verse. One player from each team must race to the Bibles and see who finds it first. Award points to the team who finds the correct verse first. Keep on until all players have had a chance to play, and the team with the most points is the winner.

Word and Worship Discussion Questions Question: What’s so special about the Bible?

Discuss with the group: The Bible is central to the Christian faith because it is the definitive book about Jesus Christ. God’s Holy Spirit speaks to his people through the message of this book.

Question: Is the Bible relevant to you?

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Discuss with the group: Even though it was written thousands of years ago, the Bible is not an old, out of touch book, but a living message from God to you, for today. History tells that it’s the most accurate ancient book that has come down through the centuries. This is because of the enormous numbers of very early copies that have been found, which but for a few very minor differences (none of which threaten any major point in Christian belief) all say the same thing.

Question: How do you think the people who wrote the Bible and put it together received all the words from God? Discuss with the group: God has always delighted in the creativity and decision making ability of humanity. In the creation of his Word, God worked with and through each individual’s personality, perspective and context to get his message across.

Bible Bits Read: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Question: What do you think this Bible message means?

Discuss with the group: As amazing as it is, the Bible can also be a confusing book. Written over hundreds of years by loads of different people in different stages of history, cultures and moods; how can we still claim that the Bible, as a whole, is inspired by God? The word ‘inspired’ is used in some continued over >>>

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MAY 2011

celloutlines | week one (continued...) translations of the above Bible reading but a literal translation of the Greek is ‘God-breathed’. Bearing in mind that the word used for the Holy Spirit in the Bible is ‘breath’ this gives us a hint of how the Bible is connected to God. Read: 2 Peter 1:21 Question: What does this Bible reading tell us?

Discuss with the group: Towards the end of the Bible, the writer explains that it’s really important to learn what the Bible says because it is ‘God breathed’ and helps Christians to do the right things.

Read: Psalm 19 We get a clear message that God’s law is perfect. If we take what God gives us in the Bible to heart, our souls can be revived, we can understand things better, we can have a little more wisdom, we have light to see the right way to go (v 8).

So the Bible helps us, guides us, teaches us and makes us strong. That’s why it is described as being a treasure with a value more than gold and the most important thing we could ever read.

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As a group spend some time in prayer reflecting on what you have learnt today.

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MAY 2011

celloutlines | week two These Cell Outlines are written by ALOVE UK. They are available each week from our web site. For more information and other cell resources, visit www.salvationarmy.org.uk/alove/resources

How the Bible works........

Kit List • Bibles • 10 large pieces of paper

Welcome Explain to the group that this is a really interactive session and the main bulk of this session will be on your feet taking part in the Bible game as this will help the young people to really get to grips with the layout of the Bible (probably better than we know the layout of the Bible)!

Explain that the Bible is a whole library of books by a variety of authors, written between about 2,000 BC and AD 100.

The first 39 books, Genesis to Malachi, make up the Old Testament. It contains history, poetry and prophecy, telling the story of God’s relationship with the Jewish people and pointing forward to the coming of Jesus Christ.

The other 27 books in the New Testament were written after Jesus came. They contain four different biographies of Jesus, a history of the beginnings of the Christian church and correspondence from early Christian leaders about important issues of faith.

Despite this diversity, the Bible hangs together as one book – God’s Word.

Word Game - Bible Book Race The Bible can be divided into 10 parts, five in the Old Testament & five in the New Testament.

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OLD TESTAMENT 1. Law - Genesis, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy 2. History – Joshua, Joshua, Judges, Ruth,1 Samuel, 2 Samuel,1 Kings,2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther 3. Poetry - Job, Psalm, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon 4. Long prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel 5. Short prophets - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi NEW TESTAMENT 6. Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, John 7. History – Acts continued over >>>

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MAY 2011

celloutlines | week two (continued...)

8. Paul’s letters - Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon 9. Other letters - Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude 10. The Future - The Revelation Divide the room into ten sections by placing a large sheet of paper on the wall or floor in each section.

Each sheet of paper should have one of the titles of a section of the Bible written on it. You should have each of the ten sections of the Bible written up on a sheet somewhere around the room.

To start with, call out the name of a section. The group race to the poster which has that Bible section on it. Play this until you’ve called out each section at least twice.

Next divide the group into teams. Give them each a list of all the books in the Old Testament and get them to decide which Old Testament section they fall into. Once they’ve decided, discuss this altogether and get them to write the Bible books into the correct sections on the posters that you have put up around the room.

Next get the group back into their teams and give them the list of all the books in the New Testament.

Again get them to discuss which section you think the books fall into. Once they’ve decided, discuss this altogether and write the books in the correct sections.

Now you could really try to make things tricky!! Now that all of the correct books have been put into the correct sections of the Bible on the 10 pieces of paper, try reading out different books of the Bible and get the group to see who is the first to either shout out or race to the correct piece of paper.

Worship Read: Hebrews 4:12 Discuss with the group: What could this mean? This means that God’s Word although made up of lots of different parts, written at different times is still alive and working, it can still apply and direct our lives.

Sharper than a double edge sword means that it is powerful and it is able to reach and touch our soul.

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Witness Ask your group to spend some time every day over the next week studying what they have learnt in today’s cell group. You could even try a little quiz at the beginning of the next session to see who has remembered the most!

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MAY 2011

celloutlines | week three These Cell Outlines are written by ALOVE UK. They are available each week from our web site. For more information and other cell resources, visit www.salvationarmy.org.uk/alove/resources

How to do the Bible...

Kit List • A piece of paper with a different Bible character written on it for every member of the group • A copy of this document for everyone in the group http://www.ststephenschurch.net/e100/ readingmethod.pdf • Bibles • Pens • Paper

Welcome Game - guess the name Each player in this game has the name of a well known person from the Bible pinned on their back. No one is to know whose name they have attached to them. When the game starts, all the players mingle together and ask questions with a yes or no answer of each-other until they figure out who they are. The first person to figure out who they are is the winner.

Word Why is it important to read the Bible?

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Discuss with the group: As the Bible is such a special book, we can’t pick and choose which bits we’re going to accept and which to ignore. All of it is God’s message, and it is just waiting for us to pick it up and read it. However, we will understand it even better when we know the culture of a given period and the purpose of the writing. The Bible was written to speak to Jewish people at the time and so this is important to remember.

Give each young person ten minutes to look up the following passages and make notes about what these verses are saying to them. Once the time is up, come back and discuss as a group.

Mark 4:16-17 Matthew 4:4 Matthew 24:35 Luke 11:28 Matthew 7:24

Worship The Scripture Union Bible Reading Method You can download a copy of the above method at http://www.ststephenschurch.net/e100/ readingmethod.pdf continued over >>>

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Give each of the young people a copy of this method. For the rest of the session, play some music and give each member of your group an opportunity to find some space and practice this method.

Encourage them to write the verse out which has grabbed their attention and why it helped them.

Remind them to keep reviewing what they have written, as they may be surprised at how much God is saying to them.

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MAY 2011

celloutlines | week three (continued...)

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MAY 2011

celloutlines | week four These Cell Outlines are written by ALOVE UK. They are available each week from our web site. For more information and other cell resources, visit www.salvationarmy.org.uk/alove/resources

The Bible and me....................

Kit List • Magazines and Newspapers • Large sheets of paper • Scissors • ALOVE UK 30 day Bible study resources

Welcome Provide a whole load of magazines and newspapers. Ask the group to make a collage about themselves - what makes them who they are. Ask each young person to quickly present their collage to the group.

How am I? Ask the young people to draw a clock on the back of their collage and divide up how much time they spend on each of their daily activities. Discuss how each of the young people spend their days, the differences and similarities.

Word We have spent some time focusing on what makes us who we are and how we spend our time each day.

Question: who spends less than five minutes in Bible study each day?

Question: is the time you spend in Bible study enough for you or would you like to spend more time each day?

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Question: what stops you from spending time studying the Bible?

Question: would there be any difference in your life do you think if you committed to Bible study every day?

Worship Bible study resources Have a selection of Bible study resources available for the group. Make sure you have the ALOVE 30 day Bible study resource available (check out the resources section of the ALOVE UK website) and a range of websites etc. Allow the young people to spend some time investigating these resources. https://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/89157.id?gclid=CI2NnpKjgagCFUFC4QodUUTfpw www.kore.co.uk www.salvationarmy.org/alove continued over >>>

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Witness Discuss how we don’t want Bible study to be a chore for us, but that making time in our diaries is important. Bible study should be useful in helping us delve deeper into the character of God and what this teaches us about our lives. Encourage each young person to start a journal in which they can keep a record of Bible verses that have helped or meant something special to them.

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MAY 2011

celloutlines | week four (continued...)

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