Witness in Christ

Guest Article: Icebreakers for Christian Bible Groups

Fri, 11 Dec 2009

Christian Bible groups are important to help Christians fellowship and learn to live more fully in God's Word. As in any small group, discussion can fall flat if members feel awkward and shy and don't contribute their thoughts. For this reason, it's a good idea for group leaders to open a Bible study session with an icebreaker question. This open-ended question allows group members to feel like experts on a topic, share their thoughts, and leads naturally to a discussion of the Bible verses being studied during the group session.

It is important to make sure to choose an appropriate question. Here are five guidelines to follow when choosing ice breaker questions for your Christian Bible Group.

1. Make sure to connect the question to Scripture. Questions such as "how was your week?" are fine for socializing, but do not serve the purpose of helping members get in the right frame of mind to study the Word. Follow Jesus' example when crafting your questions; note how He often began a teaching by asking a question that would be of interest to His audience but which naturally led to the spiritual principles He was trying to convey. For example, before beginning a discussion about the Prodigal Son, you might ask members how their relationships with their parents or siblings are doing this week.

2. Require every member of the group to answer the question. Ice breakers are useless if only those who are already comfortable in the group answer them. This leads to a situation where only a few members of the group are contributing to conversation, which will make the other members of the group even less comfortable participating.

3. Ask open-ended questions. Ideally, the question should require each member to share something about his or her life. Do not ask questions that can be responded with a simple Yes or No, as these questions do not contribute to a fruitful discussion.

4. Ask questions that allow group members to feel like experts. The questions should be challenging, but not so difficult that group members feel ill-equipped to answer them. Again, look at Jesus' example. He often began His teachings with ideas that were familiar to His audience (see Matthew 6:25-28 for a beautiful example of this.)

5. Participate in answering as well as asking the icebreaker question. It is important to be an example to the members of your group by sharing honestly and openly. In addition, you should be humble enough to realize that you need to learn as well as to teach rather than separating yourself so that the rest of the group learns while you merely teach.

This guest article was contributed by Christine Howell who frequently writes about online degrees and college related topics for Online College Guru, a directory of accredited online degrees.

Guest article: 5 Reasons Bible College is a Good Idea

Sat, 8 Aug 2009

Hey everyone, Emily here. Thanks for reading. Today I am posting a guest article that I was sent by Adrienne. It has some great advice in it, and even though I don't go to a Bible college, you should always consider it in your college choice. College is more of a necessity than a luxury today, so if your child has always shown an interest in the spiritual, perhaps he or she could consider Bible college; It may not be everyone’s first or even second choice, but there are several reasons why Bible college is a good idea, and they are:

· It teaches you discipline: When you’re a student at a Bible college, you learn to live a simple life and make do with what you have. You know that discipline and simplicity make for a serene life, one that brings you closer to God. The rules that you live by at this young age make you mature and able to deal with anything that life throws at you. You become a better person because of this experience, one that instills in you values for life.

· It brings you closer to God: There’s no doubting the fact that Bible college brings you closer to God. You feel his presence through all your activities because they involve the Bible and spirituality. You attend chapel and mass every day and take classes that teach you Christian values, all aspects that serve to bring you closer to God.

· You earn more than just a degree: A Bible college teaches what a regular college would and much more too. You learn regular subjects and also a lot about spirituality. They teach total faith in God, something that most people learn or realize very late in life.

· It teaches you to think: When you’re spiritually inclined, you learn to be more open and think things through before you act, in any aspect of life. Bible college teaches you to face challenges more effectively and efficiently.

· It prepares you for life: Unlike regular colleges that teach you subjects and prepare you for a career, a Bible college prepares you for life. You’re more mature than other graduates your age and are more responsible and able to lead a disciplined and organized life.

By-line:

This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of online bible college . Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: adrienne.carlson1@gmail.com

Answer to:"How can the bread and wine, transformed, still cause people with gluten allergy to react to the wheat's gluten?"

Tue, 23 Jun 2009

Hey everyone, thanks for reading ;D

I have been REALLY busy lately, so sorry for the lack of writings.

I received this as a comment a few weeks ago:

How can the bread and wine, transformed, still cause people with gluten allergy to react to the wheat's gluten? How does one explan that it's transformed but it's still got the qualities of the substance? If it's changed, then people allergic to gluten shouldn't react to the gluten, right? Same for those with allergies to the sulfites in wine (me). Yes, we can ask for special no sulfite wine or low gluten hosts, but it's not wine or host anymore after the consecration, it's Jesus!

Sorry about the late response, but here it goes:

So, this is a great question, thanks for asking it! Now, almost a year after writing this article(Answer to: So what is transubstantiation?), I have learned loads more and hopefully this will make sense. The bread and wine, the body and blood of Jesus Christ, IS a symbol, and ISN'T a symbol. Obviously, we are not eating human flesh and drinking blood. So in that respect it IS a symbol. But, it also ISN'T a symbol because we believe that it is the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This sounds super confusing, I am sure, but I do not know of a single person who fully understands transubstantiation. My other article on transubstantiation was somewhat of a brief overview, and this will hopefully help you out!

God bless you!

Your sister and witness in Christ,

Emily

A Life Lesson from God

Tue, 7 Apr 2009

Hey everyone. Thanks for reading : )

Today's subject is about a joke I received, but I do not really think of it as a joke.

It is more of a life lesson from God, and something to think about during this Holy Week.

So, as you read it, make sure you are listening... ; )

Mistaken Identity

A middle aged woman has a heart attack and is taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she has a near-death experience. During that experience she sees God and asks if this is it. God says no and explains that she has another 30-40 years to live.

Upon her recovery she decides to just stay in the hospital and have a face lift, liposuction, breast augmentation, and a tummy tuck. She even has someone come in and change her hair colour. She figures that since she's got another 30 or 40 years she might as well make the most of it.

She walks out the hospital after the last operation and is killed by an ambulance speeding up to the hospital.

She arrives in front of God again and asks, "I thought you said I had another 30-40 years?"

God replies, "Sorry, I didn't recognize you."

Would God recognize you?

Think about it.

God bless.

Your Witness in Christ,

Emily

Answer to: "Why is it so important to pray?"

Sun, 29 Mar 2009

Hello everyone. Thanks for reading

Today's topic is prayer.

Now, this comes to me at a somewhat challenging time for those in Northwestern Minnesota.

Lord, please heal all those who are hurting from the flooding that has occurred, and help them to find the grace and strength they need in you. Amen.

So, that was a prayer.

Anything can be a prayer, as long as you are not being offensive.

And that's the hard part, how do we pray when you can do it so many ways, and will it ever come true?

I heard a great talk from one of my friends this past week, about how prayers weren't coming true for her.

She was praying for this guy to like her, and to take her to prom, and it didn't work out.

Therefore, she turned to God in anger, and asked why He did this to her.

In doing this, she realized that God does not answer every prayer in the way she wants. She did not get the guy, yet she has moved on and grown a lot from that experience.

He does things on His own time, and only He knows what is right for us.

If He answered our every prayer the way we wanted, and our lives were perfect, would we continue to need Him?

No.

So, prayer is not always answered in the way we want. Then why should we even bother?

God loves us. He loves us so much, He gave His son for us. Read the quote at the top of this page.

That is so much love, and it doesn't even stop there!

I believe that prayer is important because, although God knows everything about us, even our thoughts, He wants us to show Him what we want.

Does that make sense?

We should make the effort to tell Him what we want in our lives, for we do not know what we need.

Only God knows what we need:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

-Proverbs 3:5-6

And if He chooses a different path for us, and does not answer our prayers the way we want them to be answered, who knows what will happen?

For we do not, and He does.

Here's some amazing scripture from the letter to James:

"Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective."

-James 5:13-16

God, bless the readers of this message with what they need, not what they desire.

Your witness in Christ,

Emily

Answer to: "What does it mean to be forgiven by God? (Are there still consequences for my sin?)"

Sat, 21 Mar 2009

Hello everyone. Thanks for reading :)

Sorry about my extended leave of absence. Who knew college life was so busy? I apparently was unaware.

Today's topic is forgiveness, not an easy thing for many people to talk about.

Let's break this question into two parts.

The first question: What does it mean to be forgiven by God?

Well, to answer literally, it means that God has forgiven you.

However, I am assuming the writer of this question was asking something along the lines of, How are we forgiven by God?

Well, that's a bit more complicated.

God forgives us through his son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins.

However, it isn't just that simple.

There is a forgiveness process.

The first step is Contrition, or being sorry for your sins. This is not just pretending, or faking, you are truly sorry for what you did.

The second step is Confession, or saying your sins and naming them out loud. This is actually saying you are sorry.

The third step is Penance, or acting differently. Once you are truly sorry and have said it out loud, you need to try to act differently.

The fourth step is Absolution, or forgiveness. This is when the complete and total forgiveness plays a part.

Ironically, those four steps are also the steps of the sacrament of Reconciliation (here).

Neat, huh?

So, once this process is completed, you are forgiven.

Try using this process also when forgiving someone else, which God calls us to do no matter what:

Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times." Matthew 18:21-22

Now, Jesus does not mean that you should count how many times you have forgiven people, and when you get to 77 to stop. He means that you should ALWAYS forgive others.

Sometimes this is really hard, and sometimes not so hard.

But strive to forgive others in your life.

Well, that's all for now.

Hopefully, I will write again soon.

In the meantime, if you are bored, read through the book of Acts. It's great stuff, I just read it recently.

Your Witness in Christ,

Emily

Thanks!

Sun, 18 Jan 2009

This post is somewhat boring, sorry!

It's just a large THANKS for reading and sending me emails and commenting and all those great things.

See, once I get sent questions, I can write more!

So send me more questions, and comment, and do all those wonderful things!

I have been super busy, so sorry about not writing lately, but I will try to soon!

In fact, I will write as soon as I get a topic.

So thanks so much for walking your faith journey with me.

You all (y'all) rock!

Keep it real.

Your sister and witness in Christ,

Emily

Proverbs 11: Something to think about this Christmas

Thu, 25 Dec 2008

Hello everyone! Thanks for reading : )

Today's post is a special post that I decided to write in spirit of the Christmas season. Merry Christmas everyone!

Have you ever read part of the Proverbs section in the Bible? It is super hard to read straight through, trust me, I have tried. But if you read it in small spurts, it is amazing!

The other day, I did a form of Bible reading that I love: Opening the Bible to a random page and reading it.

And I came upon Proverbs 11. I will type it out for you here, so you can read it in the version I did. I will space out the verses as well.

1 A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is his delight.

When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble.

The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

5 The righteousness of the blameless keeps their ways straight, but the wicked fall by their own wickedness.

The righteousness of the upright saves them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their schemes.

Whenthe wicked die, their hope perishes, and the expectation of the godless comes to nothing.

The righteous are delivered from trouble, and the wicked get into it instead.

With their mouths the godless would destroy their neighbors, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.

10 When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices; and when the wicked perish, there is jubilation.

By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

Whoever belittles another lacks sense, but an intelligent person remains silent.

A gossip who goes about telling secrets, but one who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a confidence.

Where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance o counselors there is safety.

15 To guarantee loans for a stranger brings trouble, but there is safety in refusing to do so.

A gracious woman gets honor, but she who hates virtue is covered with shame. The timid become destitute, but the aggressive gain riches.

Those who are kind reward themselves, but the cruel do themselves harm.

The wicked earn no real gain, but those who sow righteousness get a true reward.

Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but whoever pursues evil will die.

20 Crooked minds are an abomination to the LORD, but those of blameless ways are his delight.

Be assured, the wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will escape.

Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without good sense.

The desire of the righteous ends only in good; the expectation of the wicked in wrath.

Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want.

25 A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water.

The people curse those who hold back grain, but a blessing is on the head of those who sell it.

Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to the one who searches for it.

Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves.

Those who trouble their households will inherit wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.

30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but violence takes lives away.

If the righteous are repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!

END

This says a whole lot.

Do not be prideful or have a large excess of money.

The righteous are those who will be saved.

Do not put down others or gossip.

Be trustworthy and kind.

Pursue righteousness, not wickedness.

Give to others.

Let's all learn a lot from this passage this Christmas season, and live our lives as Christ desires us to.

Your sister and witness in Christ,

Emily

My Faith Story

Fri, 5 Dec 2008

Hello everyone! Thanks for reading :)

As you can see there's a slightly new layout, due to a request that I put up more Bible verses.

The ones shown are some of my favorites, and I will add to the list as I find more favorites!

Ok, so to my faith story.

I have been asked by some why I have decided to write this blog in the first place.

A short, abridged version of why this blog exists is written on one of my first blogs here.

However, I was asked for a full version of it, so here it is:

My spiritual journey has taken many different twists and turns. I was raised Roman Catholic as a child, but when I got into late elementary school, things started changing. My parents did not want to go to Mass anymore, so we just didn’t go. We were “Christmas and Easter” Catholics for a while. It really made me not like church, so I usually brought a book to read during Mass. I still went to faith formation classes, but I did not like going. I thought that church was boring and not worth my time. I was definitely wrong.

In 9^th grade, everyone who is to be confirmed performs in “Passion Play”. The play was like 3 hours long and performed during Lent. I was not looking forward to that either. I received a small part and was glad. During the middle of that experience, my friend asked if I would like to go on a youth group retreat with her. I didn’t really want to go, but she convinced me. That was the start of my newfound faith life.

I was so moved by what I learned on that trip. I met some good role models who helped me learn more about my faith. I learned that church can be fun and full of intense emotions. I was hooked on youth group after that. I went to every single event they had planned, and made a lot of new friends. I was glad to be in the “Passion Play”, and it was a great experience for me. It felt great to be part of a group that shares my faith stance, and I made lots of great friends that year.

Getting back into the swing of going to church was really hard. First of all, I didn’t know what to say at certain times during Mass, or why things happened the way they did. It was really difficult to follow others and try to understand what they were saying. Fortunately, there was a teaching Mass one night that I went to where I figured out what was going on.

After that, I experienced Confirmation. It was so awesome to take part in such a cool Sacrament. That same year, my youth group traveled to Missouri to take part in a youth conference with 3,000 other teens. That weekend was filled with intense moments for me. We had Eucharistic Adoration, Mass, and lots of praise and worship singing. It made me feel so empowered. I also experienced the Sacrament of Reconciliation after more than 5 years of not having received it. I felt so free and relieved after it was over.

I went on a bunch of other events, and still had a great faith life. One of those events was a mission trip. My church traveled down to Miacatlan, Mexico, a small town outside Cuernavaca, to help at an orphanage. We were not doing any hard labor, which was nice. Our job was to love the kids and teach them about God through bible school. We sang songs with the kids and did crafts. We also read them a Bible story every day. Even though we didn’t understand the words that were coming out of their mouths, we could just look in their eyes and see the love they were trying to express. At the end of that week, it was really hard to say goodbye to them.

That same summer, our church switched from being a Benedictine parish to an Archdiocesan parish. It was really sad to say goodbye to the Benedictines after having them around for 150 years. However, I was hoping that I would be able to go here for college and be blessed with the Benedictine spirit again.

This last summer, we went to Missouri again, and my faith life grew even more intense (this is where that first blog comes in). There were so many great speakers there that I just fell in love with the faith again. I felt like I was renewing my faith. Everyone at the conference was called to be a witness in Christ, to explain His love to other people. I have been doing that ever since. People love to ask me questions about Catholicism and question my beliefs through email. I love researching more into my faith and explaining it to them. This has helped me strengthen my faith because I am finding out more about other faiths at the same time and seeing how mine differs.

My family has not really been involved in my faith life recently. Sure, they used to drive me to church for faith formation, but that is pretty much all they have done lately. They are still “Christmas and Easter” Catholics, but a lot of people are at our church. It sort of makes me feel sad because there is so much to do at our church and with the faith, but they don’t like to talk about it. I have been told many times not to push anyone into the faith, so I usually just go with my sister to church.

I believe that my value system supports my faith stance, but also flows from it. Whenever I encounter a moral decision/viewpoint that I must make, I consider my faith as one of the key parts to my decision. It also works out that everything I believe coincides with the Catholic Church’s teaching. There are still times when I’m not sure what I believe, and in those moments I rely on the Catholic Church’s views to help support my decision.

However, my journey has just begun. I still feel like I am fairly new to the faith and all it has to offer. In my future, I plan on being a youth minister and helping others with their faith lives. I also hope to have a blog to answer people’s questions about faith because explaining it to someone really helps. However, that is in the future. Right now, I just need to live out my faith day by day.

Sidenote: This was written for my theology class, so the last couple sentences might not make the most sense.

I hope that you guys understand what I have been through now and see where I am coming from. If you have any questions/comments/concerns, feel free to post a comment on this blog or go here and I will get back to you.

Take some time to praise God today, amid this chaotic season of joy.

Your Sister and Witness in Christ,

Emily

Guest Writer Brian's Faith Story

Fri, 7 Nov 2008

Hello everyone! Thanks for reading and being in God's presence : D

Today I am trying something new, let me know how you like it. I am working on posting my own faith story on here, but in the meantime, I received one from one of my best friends, Brian. So, to not delay any longer, here it is:

"While often times when you hear of someone’s faith story, you think of some profound event that occurred in someone’s life, or some great role model that had a large impact on his or her life. My faith story on the other hand resembles something more along the lines of a rollercoaster. I am not talking about how amazingly fun my faith story has been, but more that there are several twists, turns, dips, and dives. At times, I have been rushing down the twisting winding hills full force pursuing a seemingly never-ending relationship with God, but then the track begins to go upward again at seemingly painfully slow non-fun vertical rates causing my relationship with God to practically cease to exist.

Thankfully, for my sake, my life started off by going in full force down a seemingly endless hill on this life rollercoaster. When I was younger I was privileged enough to have parents that brought me to be baptized shortly after I was born. It all started at a Lutheran Church in Minnesota. Those that I did not know, but who loved me deeply, surrounded me. When I was younger, it seems like all I could remember was going to Church on Sundays. Although I did not quite understand God, or who He is, I always enjoyed all of the arts and crafts projects that we did and I even enjoyed the few times when I was lucky enough to get to go to Church with the big people. It was almost as if I was hurling down a roller coaster track way too fast, having way too much fun in pursuing my relationship with God.

And hurling down the track too fast I was, for I soon reached the bottom of this hill; things started leveling off. No longer did we go to Church every Sunday. It was not as fun to go to Church anymore, and I found it boring. Even a lot of my friend’s at Church started not being there most of the time. Not too long after, my family stopped going altogether. Being four or five at the time, I was perfectly OK with this. It simply meant more time for me to spend playing and doing things I wanted to do. And so, the slow painful boring trip up a hill began, and my relationship with God practically ceased.

Years of this seemingly non-existent relationship with God seemed to go on. Once again though, when I was in third grade, some family friends invited us to go to Church with them at a different Lutheran Church. After simply a couple Sundays, I was hurling downward screaming with glee at my newfound excitement in church. Every week I was always eager to memorize the verse of the weak and recite it to my parents as soon as church was over. I was always learning so much, and loved it.

These wonderful times, however, were short lived. By the time I was in fourth grade I was already finding Church boring again. Every week it seemed like I would beg my parents so that we would stay home and not go to church. Things really became even worse when the timing of Sunday school and the services no longer lined up. I mean, come on, it was boring enough as it was, now they were making me stay for twice as long? When this started happening, my family no longer attended church. It seemed as if I would be on this painfully slow upward rollercoaster ride forever. Which at the time, this seemed like the best thing in the world because no longer did I have to sit through the painfully long boring church services every Sunday.

My life continued on this trend. Everything seemed well to me. Then, just before going into 6th grade, one of my friends invited me to go a Methodist church with him. I wanted nothing to do with it. I still remember how nervous I was that first Sunday. I did not understand a lot of what was going on. Communion seemed a lot different and more important than it did at my old churches. Maybe it was just because the way it was done was different, or maybe it was simply because I was older. But, to be honest, that freaked me out. Also, there was all this talk about Jesus, and needing Jesus in your life. This was all new to me. I continued going to Church, but I never really thought too much about it.

But then the same friend that invited me to go to the Church with him to begin with, invited me to go on a retreat with the youth group. Again, I did not want to have anything to do with any retreat. Despite all of my protesting, I went on the retreat and I absolutely loved it. Because of it, I became excited in attending other events, going on other retreats, and even mission trips. So once again, I was slowly starting to head downhill, on the fun part of my faith rollercoaster.

Ninth grade is where it all really started. Confirmation started, it was the summer after my first mission trip, and something amazing happened. Part way through my ninth grade year I decided to go to a mega rally at a local Christian college. I did not know any of the other teens from my church that were going, but my youth director convinced me that it would be a lot of fun. I must say, the Christian rap music there was, well, different to say the least. Although I may not have enjoyed the music to its fullest, it was at this rally that I asked Jesus to be in my life, and my life was changed. My faith rollercoaster was hitting G-forces that I had never even dreamed of before.

While I may have only gone through a few of the twists, turns, breakdowns, and bumps in my faith rollercoaster, there are a few things I have learned along the way. I have learned that God is always there, he does not promise smooth sailing, but no matter what you are going through, he is always there. I have learned that God always forgives. Repeatedly I have pushed him away, be it by sinning, by ignoring him, or by not even acknowledging his existence; but yet he always lets me get my rollercoaster headed back down those fun twisty-turny hills once again. God does this for everyone. No matter what has happened on your rollercoaster in the past, even if it has not even started yet, what lies ahead is up to you. God is always there just waiting to help you get your rollercoaster rolling."

So, I thought the roller coaster idea was a GREAT analogy for your faith story, Brian, and thanks for letting me share this!

I encourage you all to write up your faith stories, and post them, but write one up even if you don't want to post...It's a great way to reflect on your faith life.

And, I will post mine next, hopefully that will be soon!

Keep your faith alive!

Your sister and witness in Christ,

Emily