Norms

In coming from the world of public education, establishing norms for meetings, professional learning communities, and collaborations is the thing to do.  Norms keep everyone focused on the task at hand, and help people know what is appropriate and inappropriate.

I felt like it was important to establish some norms for this blog.  The purpose of the blog is Bible study.  This is not just a blog to read for pleasure, although I cannot stop you from doing that.

Here are the norms I have come up with:

1.  Always start with prayer.  Ask God for clarity, wisdom, and discernment as you study His Word.

2. It is okay not to know! If you come up with questions or become confused as you read the Scripture, try these things:

• Write down your questions.
• Re-read the section.  The more you become familiar with the text, the more it will make sense to you.
• Continue reading. A lot of times you will get your answers, or gain clarity, as you read through the text.

3.  Be prepared to study.  You will need the following things:

• your Bible (of course) 
  
  
  
• a notebook to write in (I use cheap notebooks from Wal-Mart or Kroger.  They style doesn't matter.  It will be filled with questions, answers, thoughts, verses, and other things as you study your Bible.)
  
• some colored pencils (I recommend Crayola Twistables, but any kind will work.)
  

As we go through the Scripture together, we will be using the inductive Bible study method.  Do not be intimidated, we are walking through this together.  The steps of inductive Bible study are: OBSERVE the text in it's context, INTERPRET the text using the text itself, and APPLY the text to your life.

For more information on the inductive Bible study, read My Purpose blog post.  I will show you how to do the steps of inductive Bible study as we go along.  The colored pencils are used in the observation step.  My Bible is full of markings, and this has really helped me see the text in a whole new way.  If you do not want to mark in your Bible that way, you can print off a copy of the texts we are using (I will be including the text in the first post of each week), use an alternate Bible, or use an app that allows for marking the text (such as Logos by Faithlife).  Whatever you use is up to you.  If you choose to not mark the Scriptures in this way, I encourage you to continue to read the Bible and do the rest of the studies with me.  Even if you feel uncomfortable marking your Scriptures, you can still study along!

4. Respect everyone that reads this blog, comments on this blog, or comments on the private Facebook group made for this study.  Bible study is is a personal, intimate thing.  As we interpret the Scripture together, we may have differing opinions.  Let's not let that get in the way of our time together and with God.

5.  Have fun, encourage one another, learn, and grow in God!