For 19 years, I worked in Argentina in a context where many university
students were unaccustomed to reading. Bible studies in that country (with its
strong Catholic influence and practices expressed in the current evangelical
style) were often an exercise in glancing at a text and then using ‘authorities’
to prove a point. For example, a youth group would typically read a passage of
Scripture, close their Bibles to discuss it, and then one student would then
say, “My pastor says ‘X’”. Then another would reply, “But my pastor says ‘Y’”.
The argument would then escalate as one and then the other would pull in higher
authorities from around the evangelical world to justify their points of view.
From rallies, television or radio programmes, they would cite evangelical
‘celebrities’ such as Yiye Avila, Carlos Annacondia, Luis Palau, and then, to
clinch the argument, Billy Graham. What they were doing was a Protestant version
of Catholicism: they appealed to a higher human authority to win an
argument.
While I respect and support the place of Bible teachers, I wanted to break
that dependence on human authority, and build confidence in sola
scriptura—Scripture alone. But how could I do that without haranguing the
students yet again on the sufficiency of Scripture, the importance of reading
the Bible and the power the Bible has to fulfil all their spiritual needs? I
wanted them to discover that God speaks his word, not be told that
truth by me. Furthermore, to them, I was an insignificant person, socially and
ecclesiastically, so my authority on the matter would not have counted for much! Keep reading
Richard Sweatman and Dave Moore pick up on Peter Blowes' article in their Maturity Podcast, in a three-part series, discuss how they’ve used the Swedish method and why they’ve found it helpful for teaching and training their small group members.
Listen to this discussion - Maturity Podcast: Swedish Method Part 3
Listen to Maturity Podcast: Swedish Method Part 1
Listen to Maturity Podcast: Swedish Method Part 2
Photo: Matthias Media
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