A few years ago, I went through a series of Bible study worksheets. They were both in the form of lessons that took the form of lesson plans. The great thing about these lessons was that you could go back and re-do them as many times as you wanted and the instructors didn’t force you to finish the lesson before moving on to the next one. This made it quite fun, but also very easy to skip too quickly without having the necessary time to complete the lessons.
This has caused me to take a look at some of the larger course offerings to see if I can find a less-boring alternative to completing Bible study worksheets. There are many formats available for studying the bible. I think there are six main types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.
These Bible study courses offer you a structured series of lessons. Each lesson usually starts with an introduction to the topic at hand. The format allows you to review the material several times without having to spend time writing out lesson after lesson.
In addition to the introduction, they are usually written out in the presentation style and they often begin with a conclusion. Because the lessons are presented in this manner, they are not only simpler to complete, but are easier to understand as well.
In this format, students read lesson after lesson, mostly on paper and follow the structure of a traditional course teaching style. There is no need to spend time writing out a lesson because the teacher tells you what to do. The structure is also more relaxed as the students are trying to get things done rather than worrying about the content.
All students are expected to learn each lesson, or they will not move on to the next one. While it’s nice to get a lesson from each student, it can be frustrating to watch someone struggle with something that you could have easily figured out. Lesson outlines make this much easier.
As a person begins to see what they can do on their own, they may find that they have developed more study skills than they had before. In order to give them a better chance of learning all of the information, the instructor will have questions that they can answer. This takes some of the pressure off of the students and makes it easier to teach the material.
These lessons are the least structured of the bunch. They are the simplest to write out, especially if the instructor is going to want to keep the student focused on one lesson at a time. Because they do not have a clearly defined order, it is harder to write out the lessons, but you can get by just fine. In fact, this is probably the easiest to use for family members who may not be as well-versed in the subject matter.
