Matt is 20 and is a student in Leeds. He became a Christian on a summer camp when he was 13. He loves Christ, Chelsea, not doing much and his girlfriend (not all in that order!)
How old were you when you were one-to-oneed?
I was 14, and I was one-to-oned for about a year.
How did it work?
I would meet up with my youth worker every Monday evening for around an hour and a half. We would begin every week with a game of Pro Evo on the Playstation, which I found helpful, and not just because I improved at Playstation! It allowed us to build a relationship beyond the time looking at the Bible, meaning I was more inclined to trust him and allow myself to be open.
We would then look at the Bible passage together for about 45 minutes. And we'd end every week by discussing an Encouragement and a Challenge from the week just past and from the passage, and pray based on that.
Which Bible books did you look at?
We looked at Hebrews and James in the year I one-to-oneed. Both were incredibly useful in the face of trouble and uncertainty that I was facing as a young Christian, and allowed me to view my troubles in a new way and face them with the grace of God.
What was the best thing about doing one-to-ones as a teenager?
One-to-oneing gave me a far better idea of the message of the books we looked at than would ever have been possible in a larger talk or through individual study. And the Encouragement and Challenge at the end of the sessions is something that I still use five years later.
How did it help you in your faith and ability to read the Bible for yourself?
I learned that the Bible fits together as a whole book and that other parts are invaluable in informing you what is going in a specific passage. This has meant my own personal study also improved as I realised that more often than not answers can be found in the Bible: I began to look to other parts of God’s word for answers as opposed to Wikipedia!
My faith was strengthened massively by one-to-oneing. It meant I started reading the Bible on a regular basis and learnt more and more about God’s love and grace. This continually blew me away and I felt myself strengthened every week.
And the friendship I formed with my one-to-one partner continues and still builds me up in faith every time we talk and meet up.
How has being one-to-oned affected your own ministry?
One-to-oneing left me wanting to have a similar thing with someone else. So recently I joined my church’s youth team to forge these kind of relationships with young people, and to try and bring them to God in the way I was when I was given the opportunity to look at his word in depth.
For a short introduction to what one-to-oneing is, just click here.
If a friend, family member or colleague is interested in our faith, our instinct is usually to do one of four things:
• give them a book to read
• invite them to a guest service or event at church
• take them (or send them) to a course like Christianity Explored
• get overexcited and bombard them with so much information that they change the subject (maybe that’s just me).
But here’s an idea: you could ask them if they’d like to meet up with you fairly regularly (preferably weekly), have a bit of a chat, and look at God’s word with you to see for themselves what it’s all about.
That way, they’re investigating Christianity with someone they already know and trust. They’re doing it at a time convenient to them. They can ask any questions they like, and say what they think. They can go at their own pace.
If you’re a pastor, you could encourage each member of your church to think and pray about asking someone they know to do this in a one-to-one setting.
If you’re a church member, you could get on with doing it without waiting for your pastor to encourage you!
And here are a couple of great resources which can help. Christianity Explained works through Mark’s Gospel in six studies, and it’s highly recommended by experienced church leaders like Mark Dever, Senior Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC. The book includes lots of helpful advice on how to lead Bible studies with a non-Christian friend.
For someone who’s a new Christian, or isn’t quite sure whether they are or not, Just for Starters is an excellent seven-study booklet which works through the essentials of Christianity. It’s only £1.50, and this week it’s got another 20% off!
So now, next time someone asks you about Christianity, why not pause, pray, and then ask them if they’d like to one-to-one with you?
For a short introduction to what one-to-oneing is, just click here.
Fiona Johnson is a student at Nottingham University. She became a committed Christian nearly three years ago; she one-to-oned with an older Christian last year, and has just started to read the Bible with Jamie, a friend of hers who isn't a Christian. Other than knowing Christ, she likes family, friends and cooking.
How did one-to-oneing with an older Christian help you in your faith?
It encouraged me to ask questions and look for answers. I realized that the whole Bible all revolved around Jesus. Bible stories I'd known my whole life suddenly had relevance and the connections led me to understand who Jesus was/is, and what that means for my life.
How did it help you to read and understand the Bible?
The Bible went from being something that was for church and didn't really need to be read, to something that has become part of my everyday life. It made the Bible much more accessible and relevant to me.
How did you get into doing a one-to-one with someone who is interested in Christianity?
We met in Freshers' week at university and just started chatting about Christianity, within a few weeks my friend had a bible and it just went from there.
How did you find doing it with no prior experience?
It seemed pretty natural. I used some Bible study notes, and prayed and went through the studies beforehand. Knowing that God was behind me meant that I didn't have to worry about what she would ask or if I was confused by something. I could just ask someone else who knows a bit more than me, and come back to her.
What's good about one-to-oneing like this?
It's beyond exciting when you can see directly how God is working in somebody else's life.
How has doing it encouraged and helped your own faith?
Some of the questions that came up throughout the studies were challenging, as they made me think about the basics of Christianity and remember that they’re so much more important than the more complicated issues which periodically cloud my view of who Jesus is. Being able to stand up for God reminds me how much I believe who He is and what is really important to me.
For a short introduction to what one-to-oneing is, just click here.
Ben Shaw is an evangelist working for the Co-Mission Initiative in London.
For a short introduction to what one-to-oneing is, just click here.
To mark the King James Version's 400th anniversary, Eastbourne-based evangelist Glenn Scrivener is blogging on various phrases that come from the KJV.
Glenn's posts are clear, insightful, and full of memorable phrases (a great combination!): for instance, take a look at this one on Abraham, about how ultimately the only answer to enduring a life of fear is enjoying a life of faith.
Dave Berkeley is 29 and lives in south-west London. He’s part of The Good Book Company’s sales team. Other than Christ, he loves rugby, reading, and using sporting analogies in general conversation.
When did you first do one-to-ones?
I read the Bible during my first year at university with one of the apprentices at church. Those meetings kept me going week after week in a challenging first year at uni: if it hadn’t been for those times I wouldn’t have stayed.
I can still remember those times of reading through Colossians, and the encouragement it gave me to keep going day by day with the Lord.
How did “being one-to-oned” like that affect your own ministry?
That experience made me keen to be there for others in the same way. So, I have recently been meeting up with a teenager from church.
It’s proved a bit of a challenge! We’ve struggled a bit to find a time when we can meet up: but it’s been a joy to see him understand new truths, and I’m praying that he would apply them fully in his heart. I know he’s appreciated the time (and doughnuts!).
What would you say to someone who’s been invited to one-to-one with an older Christian, as you were at uni?
I’d highly recommend it! I found reading the Bible with someone really has been one of the highlights of my life. Whatever stage you are at in your walk with Jesus, I’d encourage you to look for someone to read the Bible with regularly, an older Christian who has plenty of knowledge and wisdom.
And what about getting stuck in with being that “older Christian” in a one-to-one?
Again, do it! You don’t have to be a brilliant handler of the Bible (I’m not!), and you’ll learn as much as the person you’re leading through a Bible passage: that’s the real blessing of meeting up like this.
I’d say, don’t worry if you don’t know all the answers. The really important thing is to be there, to listen and encourage a Christian who’s younger in their faith than you. There’ll be a younger Christian around who needs to be encouraged and nurtured, and there’s probably no reason why it can’t be you who does that.
For a short introduction to what one-to-oneing is, just click here.
Nathan Buttery is one of the associate vicars at St Andrew the Great Church, Cambridge.
For a short introduction to what one-to-oneing is, just click here.
More than 60 homes and 4,000 acres of land in western Australia have been destroyed by bushfires.
You can read the full story here—what’s notable is what caused such widespread devastation:
“The fire … started when sparks from a power tool accidentally ignited grass in a back garden.” (Not sure they needed to include the word “accidentally” in that sentence!)
It’s that kind of experience James must have been thinking of when he used it as an illustration for something equally dangerous:
“Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue is also a fire … it corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell” (James 3 v 5-6).
Scott is a 38-year-old truck driver who lives in Hull. He became a Christian a couple of years ago. He loves his family, his tattoos and his Lord.
Who did you one-to-one with, and when? What did you do?
I met up with the curate at our church, Steve, every Sunday evening for an hour. We started about six months after I became a Christian.
We did it for about a year, and we still meet up from time to time but a bit less regularly now. We looked at lots of different parts of the Bible—the ones I really remember are 1 Corinthians and Leviticus.
How did one-to-oneing help you?
It was just really useful to read the Bible with someone who knew more than me. I was able to make sure I’d got it, and get an explanation of difficult passages.
Meeting up like that really gave me more confidence in my own Bible reading. I found I was able to understand it better. Now I’ve got it on my mobile phone, and I can read it during breaks on long truck trips.
How did you feel when you were first asked if you’d like to one-to-one?
I was really excited. I wanted to do it, because I wanted to get into the Bible and I thought it would help me do that.
Has one-to-oneing affected your own role in church?
Yes—I’ve just started doing Sunday School, teaching the older lads’ group. One-to-oneing has given me the confidence to do that.
And what would you say to someone who’s got the chance to one-to-one with a more experienced Christian, and isn’t sure whether they want to or whether they’ve got time?
I would say to them: Do it! Do it, because it will open their eyes. If you’re new to Christianity, like I was, it can be really hard to get what the Bible’s saying, and if you have someone to lead you through, and explain the bits you’re lost on, you can understand it so much more, and that’s exciting. So do it!
The BBC is running a fascinating analysis of wealth on its website (go here), and log in to do it.
It shows you how you're doing compared to everyone else in the UK. We did it as a family: cue predictable howls about how much richer our children's friends are, how we never go anywhere "special" on holiday, etc etc… And even I thought I didn't feel particularly wealthy. Wouldn't it be nice to have that bit more, like those other people. If only, if only…
But actually, we were well over half way up the lucre ladder. And of course, when we think in world terms—as you can here—that green-eyed perception-distorting monster lurking within us, the one which only ever compares us with those who seem to have so much more, goes a little quiet.
It reminded me of some free downloadable resources on our site, which look at the whole question of contentment.
Because actually, I need to remember that it's not about looking up or looking down: it's about looking at Christ, and seeing how far short I fall of deserving anything at all, and yet still seeing that in him, we will enjoy all the riches of God's grace for all eternity.
