David Spriggs: LYFE - but not as you know it!

'Reading the Bible' has become something that consenting adults do behind closed doors, or even worse, only when they are on their own! So it might well seem to a 'fly on the wall'. lyfe seeks to change all that and also make Bible reading both more fun and impactful at the same time. So what is lyfe?

|PIC1|lyfe stands for Life Your Faith Encounters. The idea is very simple but also profound. We want to take the Bible into public places like Starbucks, Costa's or Revive, but the work's canteen, your Leisure Centre, the coffee bar at the 'Parents' and Toddlers' group would be just as good, as would the local Pub, the Rugby Club or the WI. To be even sharper, we would like you to take the Bible into these public places and use it in an open and cringe free way. We don't mind how you take it, perhaps you would print a page from our web site, or you would have it on your laptop or Blackberry, you might even have the whole book! What does matter is that people can be seen reading the Bible and talking about it with as much enthusiasm as they might discuss the cricket, the recent football match or the latest fashion accessories or TV reality show. We think that if this could happen other people would not look at us with disapproving stares but would be intrigued and maybe, even fascinated. Even more importantly, perhaps, we could discover a new level of encounter with god through scripture. So how can we help this to happen?

Well, first it's important to understand that lyfe is not only about location. What we are even more concerned about is getting the Bible off the page and into our lives. Although reading it in a public place would certainly underline the fact that lyfe belongs in the real world, we certainly don't intend that lyfe becomes a replacement for Bible study or good teaching from your church.

What we have in mind is a group of three or four people meeting together and doing three main things:
Read, reflect respond

The core activity of a lyfe group is to read the Bible passage together, to reflect on it and then to respond to what God may be saying. Historically, this is a tried and tested approach to the Bible and means that we can read the Bible with our hearts as well as our minds.

Read

We bring with us what we know of the Bible and life

We relax and read the passage slowly, watching for key words

We re-read, 'listening with the heart' until drawn to something

Reflect

Our entire being - mind, emotions and will, reflects on what's being said

We share and ask questions

We search together for what God may be saying to each of us

Respond

We pray or 'rest' with what we've heard

We talk about how to respond

We agree 'practical action'.

Although we suggest the group avoids having a 'leader' it may be useful, the first few times the group meets, for someone to act as the facilitator.

What's lyfe like?

People are already benefiting from, indeed getting excited about lyfe; here are a few of their comments.

The lyfe material is excellent, easy to use and discussions open up the thinking of our group.

The discussions were excellent and the method got past the usual barriers of predictable responses ... We were able to discuss as equals.

The liveliness of the site is a great encouragement to me. May you be given many more such innovative visions.

The lyfe web site www.lyfe.org.uk provides sets of six Bible passages collected around themes such as justice, environment, work-life balance, the Gospel or encountering God. For each printer-friendly passage we provide three bullet points of really useful things to know about the passage to make best sense of it, and then, for light relief, something we don't need to know! We are trying to remove the 'expert' or the 'interpreter' from the mix. We would love for Christians to discover again how powerful reading scripture expectantly and humbly can be. When we read it together it can also become deeply transformative as we allow the Bible to read us.

We desire too, that lyfe groups should be places of grace and mercy not demand and control. We will need grace to help each other if a passage seems difficult as well as grace to see how it might apply to us in the here and now. There may be times when we're faced with a challenge from the Bible that knocks us over. Something personal we've never seen before; or a call to reach out to the lost and broken in our world that seems beyond us. As we surrender to the voice of God through the Bible, we'll find the accountability of the group is just what we need to help us to respond to God and to encourage us with his mercy when we struggle.

So what then, in a nutshell, is special about lyfe?

Meet and explore the Bible in a public place

Experience and discuss Scripture as a group of equals

Listen with the heart, meditate on the text

Use the online toolkit as an accompanying resource

Although we might only commit to a lyfe group for ten sessions, or six months, the experience of surrender and growth can last a lifetime. As we fold more and more of our lives into God, we discover the deepest riches of what it is to live a life given over to him.

Of course there's much more to lyfe than this - so why not find out more about this visionary new service that Bible Society is offering free of charge. The website, www.lyfe.org.uk., is a vital part of the lyfe experience. It's an online community that links the lyfe groups together. There is also a free introductory brochure available from contactus@biblesociety.org.uk. So why not get yourself a lyfe!

David Spriggs

|PIC2|David Spriggs has been a Local Baptist Minister for 20 years; Previously headed up the Evangelism Department of the Evangelical Alliance; Now working for Bible Society in various roles relating to the place of the Bible in the mission of the church in England and Wales, currently Bible and Church Consultant; Author of several books, and many articles mainly on church leadership and growth, prayer and spirituality, the Bible; Writes regularly for a number of daily Bible reading notes publishers, including, BRF, CWR, IBRA, SU and Living Light.

For more information about the Bible Society please click www.biblesociety.org.uk