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Read Aloud and Proud

Jodie McNeill  |  1 December 2005  
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by Jodie McNeill

The sight of Christmas decorations reminds us that it’s time to make our New Years’ Resolutions. What will you plan do differently in your youth ministry next year?

Let me offer a suggestion. Is your youth group devoted to the public reading of Scripture, as God commands us in 1 Timothy 4:13?

I suspect the lack of Bible reading in some of our youth groups may be due to the fear that reading out large sections of scripture will be boring. But this should instead lead us to work harder at doing it in a way that is appropriate to our youth audience.

Here are 10 tips to keep your youth devoted to the public reading of the scriptures.

  • Allocate one verse of the passage to each teenager and then when it’s their turn, they can read it aloud. This gets everybody involved, and keeps their attention.
  • For narrative sections of Scripture, ask for volunteers to read out the different character ‘parts’ as a dramatic reading. This can help sweep up the hearers into the action of the story.
  • Get the whole group to read out the passage at the same time. They hear it, see it, and speak it.
  • Get a few members to draw the action on a whiteboard. When I recently taught my youth group from Daniel 7, we got kids to draw the beasts and horns and the flaming throne during the Bible reading. During my talk I pointed to their illustrations.
  • Train up a few good readers within your group. Run a one-hour “how to read the Bible aloud course,” then pick these trained readers to read longer passages to your group.
  • Pick a book or section of a larger book to read out over a school term. For example, why not read highlights from Saul’s life, from 1 Samuel 9 to 31?
  • Make sure the teenagers bring their Bibles to youth group. If they don’t have one, offer to match them dollar for dollar, or give every member a Bible for Christmas. Also buy spares to hand out to the new or visiting kids.
  • Emphasise the significance of hearing the Bible read. Do a few talks explaining that God is actually present and vocal in our midst by his Spirit as his word is read…like reading out a text message from God.
  • Help the group treat the Scriptures with due reverence. I once attended a group where the readers took turns reading in a silly voice. In my opinion, it mocked God and undervalued his Word.
  • Make sure any creative reading happens in a way that acknowledges the gravity of the narrative.

    • Jodie McNeill is a Youth Ministry Trainer and Year 13 Director at Youthworks College. Contact him at jodie at youthworks.net

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