“I go for total commitment,” says Pastor Steve Rust, Macedonia Lutheran Church, Burlington, North Carolina. “I love to teach the two-year Crossways® course, and I tell people to not be afraid of it, that we will step-up-to-the-plate together, and we can all handle it. We delve into God’s Word full force! The people LOVE it and are really fired-up after each lesson. Plus, it is good discipline for me as a pastor to also be digging, digging, and digging even more into Scripture!
“I love to preach and teach. It’s exciting for me! People in my classes, committed to this two-year study, say they love it. One 65-year old lady, who has been going to church all of her life, said that this was the first Bible study she’d ever taken and it was fantastic.
“A few successful tips that I have learned through the more than 30 years that I’ve been teaching Crossways International resources?
- If a lay person is leading the class, it's important for the pastor to be very supportive and involved in the Bible study at least in some way.
- People’s own input about what they would like to study for a Bible class is very worthwhile considering. I often ask them to give me a list of what they would like, and I use those ideas for making my class topic decisions.
- I do not lecture to the class participants! I begin each session with prayer and then we go through the questions from the workbook. This works very well because prior to coming to each class, the people are expected to have read the Bible text for that day, read the lesson in the student manual, and answered the workbook questions. This leads to great discussions and a summary of each lesson’s information – and it is much more effective than if I had just lectured to them.
- I do not ask for volunteers to answer questions during class. I call on people, one at a time, row by row. A person is welcome to say ‘pass’ if he/she prefers not to answer, didn’t have time before class to find the answer to that question, or feels uncomfortable speaking. If two consecutive people say ‘pass’, then I myself give the question’s answer.”
Pastor Rust concludes, “When looking for Bible study material, I look for three main characteristics: integrity, content, and presentation. I always find it in the Crossways International resources. Thank you.”
Editor's Note: For those who still find a two-year Bible study commitment daunting, it might help to know that some congregations choose to tackle Section 5 of Crossways ("The Gospel and Acts") to test the waters before deciding to delve into the complete 60-unit study, while others choose to commit to only the first 10 units (Section 1: "From Creation to the Transjordan") and leave the decision to proceed to Section 2 to a vote taken after finishing Section 1. (Hint: In most cases, the vote is to continue on!)
