After our worship service last night, I checked people's Reading Guide for John booklets and marked their progress. Three new people had started, which was encouraging. I was looking at some of the questions people had, and one man had asked, "Did John the Baptist complete the mission God sent him for?" I asked what he thought, and he said he would have to wait to finish the book to see. Then he said he was interested to see which of the disciples did the best. I told him I thought they all had different rolls or calls, but he says he's sure one of them did better than the rest. "Hmmmm," I said. "Interesting." I would definitely say that comment reveals some confusion he has about God, us, and where or how we get our value.

One thing I think I've learned from leading the Alpha Course is that people learn a lot better (here at least) through discovery than through instruction. If I let people figure things out for themselves instead of telling them the "right" answers, it sticks much more. I think also that there is so much in this culture (and ours, too) that runs contrary to the teaching of the Bible, that if I want to teach, I need to "pick my battles." There are only a few things that I consider important enough that I would directly disagree with someone about even if they weren't asking my opinion. For the rest, I'll hold my tongue until a more opportune moment. "Hmmmm, how interesting."

Besides, I'm not always right anyway (but don't tell Tim).

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