What Has Happened to Bible Class

Guy N. Woods' wrote a book about how to study the New Testament, published in 1992). The issue of bible classes has been a problem, unaddressed successfully, for forty years or more.

Mr. Woods writes:

A typical survey showed that nearly two thirds of members of the churches of Christ have never read the Bible through; well over half of them have no regular plan for daily study; nearly one fourth do not know when the church was established, or where to find the account of its origin; one third of them do not know what books of the of the New Testament contain the biography of Jesus, and more than half were unable to list in proper order the conditions of salvation. A questionnaire submitted to freshman entering one of our Christian Universities revealed that more than half of them did not know who wrote the books of First and Second Timothy, the relationship of the book of Jude to other books of the New Testament, or the author of the book of Acts!

These students, with rare exception, came from Christian homes and were raised as regular attendants in churches of Christ . Is it any wonder that we are witnessing an abandonment of the things once "most believed" among us? Do not these shocking figures reveal a deplorable lack of effective Bible study in the average "Christian" home today? And, do we not have in these developments the explanation why many among us are rejecting the scriptures as the only rule of faith and practice, and are finding more and more compatibility with denominational teaching and teachers.

End of Woods' comments.

A freshman in 1992 would be mid-thirties today, probably becoming a deacon and congregation leader and it might explain what is happening within the Churches of Christ. I imagine the parents of the children in the survey were good people and may even have been "good" Christians but apparently they were missing that there children were not increasing in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. Sometimes they may have suspected but did not know what to do.

Research on the subject has been identifying similar problems in "christian" churches for years but Guy N. Woods is of the Churches of Christ. Instead of finger-crossing and hoping maybe the church should try to know how its children are growing spiritually. Sometimes 18 years of Sunday schools and various Bible Classes are not enough.

Think back on your experiences and the children you have seen grow-up in "church." Of the ones you know about, how many are active Christians today? Now is the time to act to help the church of 2028 (our grandchildren's time).