Bible Study Feb 01, 2020 | By Ron Matsen

Small Groups Initiative

Author
Ron Matsen

Koinonia House is dedicated to assisting the serious Bible student in becoming an effective ambassador for Christ.1 Dr. Chuck Missler has often said that “the greatest place to grow in your Christian walk is in a small group where there is intimacy, accountability, and trust.” Chuck has also quoted the American writer Mark Twain, “The two most important events in your life is the day you were born and the day you found out why.” For Christians, the discovery of your calling should be an event that coincides with being Born Again. 
Put simply, it is expressed in Christ’s Great Commission.2

Share the Wealth

In August 2016, Koinonia Institute began a special offer allowing you to start an official KI Small Group using the “Learn the Bible in 24 Hours” (LTB24H) instructional material. This is available free-of-charge through the Koinonia Institute online school. 
The purpose of this initiative is to:

  • Enable KI members to host a small group in their home, church, or public place thus allowing them the opportunity to reach out to their “world with the Word of God”
  • Encourage the shared experience of learning together. We know that there is no better place to mature spiritually than in an environment of intimacy and trust where the participants “may grow up in all things into Him who is the head–Christ–from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”3
  • Equip others to take what they have learned about leading a KI Small Group so that they can host a small group of their own. KI is all about “equipping the saints for the work of the ministry”4 so let’s get going.

Here are a few options you can consider for organizing your KI Small Group Meeting:

  • Weekly Fellowship
    • This is a traditional type small group where you meet, enjoy some fellowship, watch the assigned LTB24H session, have a group discussion on the content and then take the session quiz together. This will generally take around two hours per week (plus set up and clean up time).
  • Flipped Classroom
    • A flipped classroom leverages time away from the meetings and has been increasingly incorporated in many public and private schools over the past twenty years or so. In this model, participants, at a time convenient for them, watch the next session between group meetings. This eliminates the need for the group to watch the LTB24H together, and for many, may be a better use of time. When the group gets together, the anticipation is that each member is ready to engage in discussion and the joint experience of taking the session quiz together. This type of home group takes about 1 ½ hours depending on the length of time that is spent in group discussion.
  • Bible Blitz
    • This option allows the participants to accelerate the classroom experience. Unlike the weekly model described above, a Blitz anticipates the participants doing several sessions in one sitting. For example, the group may decide to meet on the first and third Saturday mornings for six months. During these twelve sessions, two sessions would be watched with discussion following each one, (Or eight days with 3 sessions at each), etc.
  • Remote Tutoring
    • In this model, there is no regular meeting (although the group may still meet when it likes.) The KI Academic Advisory Board recommends at least an initial “Meet & Greet” and a culminating celebration. The leader serves as a tutor or facilitator as each participant watches weekly sessions and completes weekly assignments. This decreases the time in meetings for those whose schedules make it difficult to meet regularly.

Group Study Packages

Chuck Missler deeply believed that the Church in the end times would need to be “self-feeders.” In his teaching series on the Once and Future Church, Chuck emphasized that one of the best places to practically learn the Bible is within a small group of believers who are all dedicated to taking the Bible seriously.

To help facilitate this vision, Koinonia House has prepared a complete study group tool kit. Just add a group of people excited to explore the Bible and you have all you need to start your group NOW.

The LTB24 Group Study Package materials are all contained on a handsomely presented USB drive that is housed in an engraved wooden presentation box which includes:

  • LTB24 HD MP4 video files (All 24 High Definition Videos which are better quality than the DVDs)
  • LTB24 MP3 audio file (All 24 audio files)
  • LTB24 Handbook - PDF (Comprehensive Notes by Chuck Missler)
  • LTB24 Group Leader’s Guide – PDF (“How to lead a group” instructions, Session Questions Answer Key, Group Discussion Questions)
  • LTB24 Student Study Guide – PDF (Session Questions & Personal Notes)

Based on the early encouraging results of the LTB24 Group Study Package release in November 2019, Lord willing, we hope to have Chuck’s Revelation Commentary available for release June 2020 and Chuck’s Genesis Commentary available for release December 2020.

Notes:

1 2 Corinthians 5:20

2 Matthew 28:18-20

3 Ephesians 4:15, 16 NKJV

4 Ephesians 4:12