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OUTLINE to "The Expanded Christian Life"

183 pages. An in-depth look at the CHARACTERISTICS and VALUES of Christianity.  Especially designed for thought-provoking, written personal study and/or facilitation of exciting small-group discussion classes.

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“I tell you the truth, he that does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.  But he that enters by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep.        

The gatekeeper opens the door for him.  The sheep recognize his voice.  He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.  He brings his own sheep out, and walks before them.  They follow him because they know his voice.  They will not follow a stranger, but will run from him.  They do not recognize the voice of strangers.”        

Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they did not understand.  So Jesus said again to them: “Truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.        

Those that came before me were thieves and robbers.  But the true sheep did not listen to them nor obey them.        I am the door.  Anyone who enters through me will be saved.  He will come in and out, and find green pasture.        

The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.  I am come that the sheep may have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”        

John 10:1-10  (paraphrased)

Christians look to God for an existence beyond the constraints of this present physical world.  Life beyond death.  Immortality.  But Christianity is much more than just a hope of eternal life.  Christianity enriches, informs, and validates our day-to-day existence while here in the flesh.  Christians do not live miserable, impoverished, joyless lives.  Christians find that the denial of sin and embracing of true Christian Love will provide a fuller, richer, happier, and more abundant life than does the pursuit of transient worldly pleasures.  This is not easy, however.  It takes real dedication, continued study, continued application of Bible principles, and the willingness to ever learn deeper and wider.  It takes a powerful humility, admitting our own weakness and inability to cheat death---and readiness to come into the sheep fold of Jesus, and be part of His people in His Church.  Then we help each other to learn, to grow, to find true personal Significance.

The focus of this study is on applying Christ’s profound teachings to the problems, challenges, and possibilities of our everyday life, right now.        

This is the first of a series of in-depth study-guides on what it means to be a Christian.  This first book focuses on an overall DESCRIPTION of the Christian life, dealing specifically with CHARACTERISTICS of Christians and why the Christian life is of VALUE.        

This series of books is based on many years of my teaching small-group, facilitated discussion classes from my list of scriptures found in “The Christian Life,” the concluding chapter of  Basic Bible, Christ and His Church.        Much of the questions, examples, and discussion in this present book derive from thousands of hours of in-depth mutual discussion/exploration with numbers of other concerned, dedicated Christians in my classes.  I thank those good Brothers and Sisters for their thoughtfulness and input.        

The material in this book is greatly expanded from that presented in “The Christian Life.”  The references explored in detail here are complete sections from the Bible that surround and inform the isolated verses listed in “The Christian Life.”  Thus the context and meaning of the central verses is much strengthened and better illuminated.        

This study is presented in the spirit of true helpfulness.  If you deem it useful and good, that’s great.  If it’s not useful to you, discard it.  Nothing in this work has any authority other than that which you read for yourself in the pages of the Bible.  The intent of this study is not to persuade you, but rather to tweak your imagination, to provoke interesting discussion/thought on important questions, to stimulate deeper, wider, and higher exploration of Christ’s scintillating teachings.        

I hope you will find this study-aid to be an honest facilitation of your own deep search for answers to the challenging questions of life.  The Christian Life can be static, shallow, peripheral---or expanding, permeating, and at the center of everything.        

It’s our choice: a thin veneer of Christianity on top of all the other things, or making our entire life a productive, enjoyable sacrifice to God.  But it’s not easy.  It takes diligent study, introspection, input from others, testing, continual learning, refinement, re-learning, and application through service to others.        

The Expanded Christian Life is not acquired or mastered in isolation.  God is not the god of hermits.  Our planet has a sheepfold and a Shepherd.  Only by our reaching out to others, by humble learning from others, and by true submission to God can our Christian life grow beyond the shallow and mundane.

This book is an excellent guide for personal study, for giving lectures (sermons and/or lecture classes), for teaching large classes where occasional responses are permitted, and especially for exciting discussion in facilitated small groups.  Let us together expand our hearts and minds beyond the confines of our everyday boxes, to transcendental themes, to cosmic vistas, to Godly, supernatural planes of existence---all rooted in who and what we are, right now.

Where it Came From: 

This sequence of scriptures came about as a result of my own personal study into what it means to be a Christian.        

In the late 1960's I was studying at Merced college in California, and had an Easter break.  During those two weeks, I went through the entire New Testament, verse by verse, listing in a column down a pad of paper each reference or passage that explicitly dealt with living the Christian Life.  Beside each passage, I wrote a short summary of the key “take-home message.”         

Then I took a pair of scissors, and cut the pad up into hundreds of slips of paper, one reference and summary on each slip, which I jumbled into a big pile on the table in front of me.  Next, I plucked out a slip, read it, and placed it before me on the desk surface.  I kept plucking out more and more slips at random, and fitting them like a jigsaw puzzle one above or below the other, in what seemed like the most logical sequence.  Broad topics began to emerge.  These became the eleven main themes of this book.  Within each main theme, I rearranged the verses in what seemed like the most logical order.        

All-in-all, it was a very interesting and challenging exercise.  I highly recommend it as a way to figure out for yourself what the New Testament teaches on being a Christian.        

However, if you lack the time or interest in going through that elaborate process, I offer the fruits of my labor.        Thus was born the last section of "Basic Bible, Christ and His Church:" “The Christian Life,” from which has come “The Expanded Christian Life,” a very personal study into what it really means to be a Christian.

AS A PERSONAL STUDY:        

Blanks are left below each question or exercise so that, if you wish, you can write down your answers.   There’s a real magic to writing through your fingers the thoughts of your own brain.  It crystallizes and affirms your ideas, giving them additional substance and order.  I suggest that if  you work your way through each question and exercise from the first to the last in my series of books, you will end up with a very solid grasp of what it means to be a Christian.        

To help keep things straight, I’ve given each question or exercise a different number, from #1 on, in sequence across sections.  This emphasizes the fact that even though each section and each passage from the Bible stand on their own, it’s all one big study.  The challenge of Christianity is to understand the broad principles in detail, and then apply them all together to any particular situation.        

For your additional consideration, I’ve written my own summaries, which are located at the back of this book, keyed to specific questions/exercises.  I’d suggest your doing your own thinking on a section before turning to the back to see what I’ve put.  My “answers” are merely there for comparison to your own, and are not meant to be definitive.  You are welcome to disregard my ideas, or chose to believe what parts or pieces you deem good and useful.

AS A FACILITATED SMALL-GROUP STUDY:        

Although these sequences of Scriptures can make fine sermons or lecture plans, the greatest and most interesting use of them is as stimulants for small-group, facilitated discussion.  

The facilitator of a small-group class avoids giving his/her own thoughts/answers.  Instead, the facilitator focuses on stimulating and guiding productive discussion by the group (usually not more than twenty people, best around eight-twelve.)  Often, the facilitator will go around the circled group (around a kitchen table in a house, sitting around a living room, in a classroom at a church building sitting in chairs---circled so that the people can look each other in the face and speak normally, no one having to talk to the back of other people’s heads!!), giving each person a space within which to give his or her own ideas on the question (thus assuring that each person has a chance to respond, should they wish to.)          

The facilitator has gone through the section in advance and knows the overall direction the study should be moving in, and is looking to end the session with a final “punch” that wraps things up.  However, the experienced facilitator does not necessarily force the discussion to go according to a preset plan.          

The facilitator may elaborate on the questions in this book, may have “follow-on” additional questions (“how, why, what else, please elaborate” etc.), or may find entirely different directions to go in.  In addition, the facilitator may use all the sections of this book in sequence, some but not all, or add in other passages as best suits the needs of the group.  Within a particular study, the facilitator may use all of the questions/exercises, none, or some---whatever works best for the group.

In other words, this guide is completely flexible, to be used however best fits the needs of your group.        

But a basic sequence of interesting, thought-provoking, important questions on a logical-sequence of key passages which progressively build upon each other is all nicely laid out here and ready-made to go through, providing a powerful, ready-made framework to work from.        

The Questions are divided up into four categories:  1) Wide Exploration  [the most “open-ended,” where the Facilitator merely points out the overall topic and lets the group do almost all the talking];  2) General Experience  [which relate to the overall topic, but allows anyone no matter their prior knowledge of the Bible to join into the discussion];  3) Deep Exercise  [in which the group is prompted to lay out in a concise format the secondary elements of the passage which support and inform the central theme]; and   4) Specific Details  [for understanding and applying the details of the passage to our present-day life.]   Questions from each of the four types are clustered together and clearly marked as such.  The Facilitator is encouraged to use some or all of the above type of questions as appropriate to the group and situation.

Also, at the last of this book there are summaries keyed to specific questions.  These summaries are my thoughts on the particular “take-home messages” I see in the passages.  The facilitator can use these tight, concentrated nuggets to highlight or conclude various discussions, or ignore my “answers”---whatever will help the group discussions the most.  My answers are not “the” answer.  Please take each with a grain of salt, using what is helpful and discarding that which is not.  They are only intended as a comparison and supplementation to your and your group’s initial exploration on each question.

I’d suggest not trying to cover a certain amount of material in one class or study-period session.  Go as fast or slow as is appropriate for your own or your group’s study.  You may only cover one question per week!  That’s ok!  The point of this guide is not to cover a certain amount of material in a certain length of time.  The point of this guide, and of facilitated small group studies in general, is to stimulate meaningful discussion and thought on applying the Bible’s teachings to the problems of our real life, right now.

It’s quite possible it may take a number of class sessions for the group to finish up the study of one Bible passage.  If that’s the case, make sure and have the group re-read out loud the entire passage at the first of the session each week.  It’s good to always have the specific passage fresh in mind each session, and use the Bible verses as the solid foundation for all discussions.  

Going through one passage could easily take several weeks.  Sometimes several months!  Don’t feel rushed to move on too quickly.  There’s nothing wrong with repeating readings of the same passage, once at the first of each session.  Typically having a week between classes, the mind has time to mull over what went before, and the passage once zipped-through with hardly a thought now takes on weightier and weightier significance.  Also, you might want to give a short summary of where you’ve been in the section before that week to bring everyone up to date.  Poster boards, flip-charts, or transparencies that make a permanent record are very nice to flip back to or pop back up, and help give a fast, general, visually-powerful summary.         

For a class consisting of one 30-45 minute discussion-period/week, from my experience it’s quite possible to spend ten years completing the entire “Expanded Christian Life” study.  There’s a lot of material here!

I strongly suggest making liberal use of poster boards, a white-marker board, a chalk-marker black board, projected transparencies, or flip-charts to jot down the main points from the group discussion, as the discussion proceeds.  This keeps the overall thrust, “take-home messages,” and progression of topics in the study constantly in front of the group.   It’s a powerful aid in understanding and learning.  Try to have several colors of markers to work with as well.        

As to translation of the Bible to use, I’d suggest using whatever accepted, solid translation that you or each member of your group are comfortable with.  Most of my questions are based on the New International Version, but other translations may offer additional insights.  It’s nice to hear the verses read from a variety of translations as you go around the circle, and used as the basis to answer my questions.  Keeps your thinking crisp.        

The Bible is just as important a visual aid as is are words put up on a black-board or poster board.  The Bible is tangible, in a person’s hands, and readily referred to.  I strongly recommend always reading the passage presently being explored at the first of the class or session, but never reading it yourself as the facilitator for the group (unless they don’t know how to read), and always spreading it as far as it will go through the group!  (i.e. go around a half-circle of people sitting in chairs, having each person read one verse, then the next person, the next, etc.---always stating that it’s voluntary and if anyone would care not to read they can just “pass” to the next person.)  Listening to a variety of people read a passage makes the passage 10 times more vivid than just listening to the discussion-leader read it, and it means another 10 times more to hear part of the passage from one’s own lips.  The point to making good use of visual aids in the study is not to show how clever and smart the Facilitator is, but to help maximize the great potential of small groups to help people better understand what it really means to be a Christian.

In Conclusion:        

This book is a fine tool to help people seriously dig deep into their own Christian lives:  what should they be, what would they themselves like to be, where are they now, and how do they go forward?  Studying completely on your own is fine, using other people’s material to guide your personal study is useful---but doing so in a friendly, loving group with a “teacher” devoted to facilitation rather than lecturing, is a great joy and a powerful learning method for all involved.  Indeed, the most rewarding and educational approach is when you yourself are the facilitator.          

It’s exciting and fun to guide the spontaneous discussion of a small group---a group small enough so that all who wish can take an active role, yet big enough such that there is a wealth of variety in personal knowledge and experience to share.  It’s not an easy job, though, to develop such a study from scratch, ergo my series of books.  There’s not a lot of credible, clear-yet-sophisticated facilitation textbooks on the Bible out there.  I hope that “The Expanded Christian Life” fills an important gap, and will be of great usefulness to you and your friends.

OUTLINE to "The Expanded Christian Life"          "The Expanded Christian Life" ART POSTERS

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