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One (Echoing) Story: An Intro to Exploring the Bible & Practicing the Way of Jesus

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Have you ever felt overwhelmed at helping your family follow Jesus and explore the Bible? This lesson is designed to act as an advance organizer for discipleship. An advance organizer is basically a framework that lays a foundation for growth. First, it makes sure students know the basics. Then, it helps them make meaningful connections to new concepts as they see where those concepts fit on that framework.

 

Whether you continue with OneStory’s resources or use resources from other ministries, we hope this two-part lesson will help your students see the big picture of what the Bible is teaching and how they can enter into this story. 

 

All of OneStory’s digital resources are available for free thanks to the financial partnership of generous donors. Your donations enable us to create more resources and help more families explore the Bible and practice the way of Jesus. Visit the Donate page to learn about our current projects, including the Echoes of Creation Story Bible. 

 

Description

*This lesson guides students through the StoryMap in the back window of our Bible Binder

with resources from BibleProject

An Introduction to Exploring the Bible and Practicing the Way of Jesus

Have you ever felt overwhelmed at helping your family follow Jesus? It’s not just that we are all navigating life in an increasingly complex world. It’s also that we have access to so many great resources on so many topics! We wonder how on earth we can cover the bases, much less help our kids make sense of it all. 

This lesson is designed to act as an advance organizer for discipleship. An advance organizer is basically a framework that lays a foundation for growth. First, it makes sure students know the basics. Then, it helps them make meaningful connections to new concepts as they see where those concepts fit on that framework. 

We call our advance organizer the StoryMap. The StoryMap is simply a continued visualization of the Bible’s own advance organizer: Genesis 1-11. As the introduction to the Bible, Genesis 1-11 lays out a storied pattern of how God and Humanity relate to one another. As a story, it has a plot, a crisis, and a goal. However, it also lays out a pattern. The story Genesis 1-5 repeats itself in Genesis 6-11. This pattern then echoes throughout the entire Bible. 

Mapping the pattern helps us:

  1. See and remember the overarching story of Bible
  2. Understand how and where each passage of the Bible fits within this story
  3. Recognize how Jesus meets us and teaches us in these same patterns today 
  4. Partner with God in what He is doing

Whether you continue with OneStory’s resources or use resources from other ministries, we hope this two-part lesson will help your students see the big picture of what the Bible is teaching and how they can enter into this story. 

One Echoing Adventure Story

The Bible tells a huge story about how God is partnering with people for His will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” It’s invitation to follow Jesus beckons us to frame our lives in a story of adventure, with life in God’s presence as the treasure at its center.

But adventures are journeys that take us through a wide variety of situations and terrains. In fact, the word adventure comes from Latin words which mean “to arrive” or “about to happen.” Yes, the Bible — and its invitation to follow Jesus — is taking us somewhere. However, the Bible also shows us that the route to that destination follows a repeated pattern.

What is the pattern that happens in every part of this adventure?

  • the story always starts in a Wild Place
  • Next, God brings a family of people through the waters
  • God blesses them and invites them to become His covenant partners. 
  • Together, they cultivate a Garden for the purpose of blessing the rest of the world. The Garden is a place where God meets with His partners and teaches them how to love one another.
  • The life of the Garden always comes with a choice on whether or not we will follow God’s good ways.
  • God’s partners give into temptation and do what seems best to us. This has a terrible impact on everyone in the garden.
  • God exiles them from the Garden for their protection, but He promises that He’ll bring their family back.
  • God meets the family in a Wild Place and begins the story all over again.

Lesson Schedule

One Echoing Story is a single foundational lesson broken up into 2 parts:

  • Part 1 introduces the StoryMap and uses it to teach the story of Genesis
  • Part 2 uses the StoryMap to teach the story of the rest of the Bible 

Depending on the age, attention span, and setting of your students, it can be taught in the following ways:

  • 2 separate sessions
  • 1 session with a short break between parts

This lesson is designed to be read aloud. It is possible to present this lesson as a one-hour workshop for mature students. However, the younger the student and the more relaxed the setting, the more they will benefit from a slower pace. 

Expect to spend approximately 20-25 minutes on each part of the lesson. Times will vary according to speaking speed and student dynamics.

After completing this lesson, we recommend moving on to the Giver of Rest curriculum.