Deuteronomy 6:7—“And thou shalt teach them [God’s laws] diligently unto thy
children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” (KJV)
Memorization is not the answer.
It would be rare indeed for someone to memorize a passage of Shakespeare, a song lyric, or a Bible verse for no purpose whatsoever. Instead, people memorize so that they can use that information on demand. Learn Shakespeare to impress your scholarly friends or perform a play. Learn a song lyric to sing along when you hear it. Learn a Bible verse to learn better how to obey God.
So, memorization is not the answer, it is the beginning. When a student has mastered their memory work, it’s time to move on to the Empower Phase.
The Empower Phase in Bible Quest works with older students ready for the Dialectic (or Logic) Phase in their classical model education (read more about the classical model here). Each individual is different, but readiness for this kind of learning can be present as early as age 8 or 10 and extends through the teen years and into adulthood. An Empower Phase should typically consist of one Exploration and one Exercise (explained below) to help develop a depth of understanding; each is chosen from the list of options found in the Bible Quest curriculum books. Any Exercise and Exploration can be beneficial, but it is recommended as best practice to begin with easier options and allow mastery before moving on to more difficult ones. While the time that each type of Exploration or Exercise takes varies, allocating perhaps 20 to 30 minutes for each element is appropriate, meaning that the Empower Phase should generally take from forty minutes to an hour if done in a single day.
Exercises
Students do not automatically apply the information that they memorize, nor do they automatically connect their knowledge with other pieces of information that they’ve studied. For this sort of connective learning, they need practice through activities called Exercises.
Exercises help students develop aptitude (or engage in skills development) using the
information that they know. For example, to develop the mental ability to relate two verses together in context to answer a difficult theological question takes practice. In Hebrews 5:14, the author talks about the “mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” (NASB) Practice, so the saying goes, makes perfect. This modern proverb, while perhaps not theologically precise, shows forth some common sense and might be more accurately phrased: “Want to get better at something? Practice it.” Bible Quest gives parents and mentors guidance helping improve Scriptural aptitude through Exercises.
Exercises increase a student’s ability to use the Biblical information that they’ve memorized (and explored!) with speed, accuracy, and to maximum effect. Some Exercises are listed as “foundational” in their descriptions in the Bible Quest curriculum book. They should be modeled for the student and practiced before moving to other Exercises because they deal with skills that other Exercises require. All Exercises are helpful to increase understanding for students of the Bible, and should revisited from time to time, though at a more and more challenging level. Be sure to model each Exercise for students, and especially for beginners.
Especially important among the Exercises is Key-Wording and Sword Drills, as they help students better accomplish the other Exercises, and are thus recommended first.
There are four kinds of Exercises listed in Bible Quest, along with a fifth "bonus" type:
Exegetical Exercises help students study the root meaning of Bible passages as their authors intended them. Full exegesis (the process of studying a passage in every context so as to draw out its precise meaning and usage in context) requires even more facets than what are represented in the Bible Quest core program, but these exercises help form an excellent exegetical foundation for students.
Homiletic Exercises allow a student to practice sharing what is in a passage. Again, homiletics is a broader area of study than what is included in the core Bible Quest program, but homiletic exercises are helpful in providing a foundation for a student’s capacity to share the Word.
Devotional Exercises are reflective, and are helpful in helping a student learn discipline in their personal time with God and His Word.
Biblical Aptitude Exercises are somewhat exegetical in nature (part of exegesis is all of the historical contexts for the passage), but are specifically useful for helping to create general, contextual Biblical understanding and capacity in the student to consider the Biblical account in the context of geography and chronology.
Review Games Bonus. Exercises are inherently repetitious. As such, the Review Games that are listed in the Bible Quest curriculum books can also technically be used as simple Exercises for beginners.
First Model, Then Help, Then Let Them Do It
Run your chosen Exercise with your student. Begin by modeling how to accomplish the task. Then, have your student do the Exercise with your help. Finally, watch as they do it on their own, giving help whenever they ask for it. You cannot help too much in this process, because if a student no longer needs your assistance, they’ll say so. Once a student has shown their capability to do an Exercise on their own, they can practice on their own.
Explorations
People memorize for a purpose, so a discipleship plan needs to have a vision for what a student will do with all of their knowledge. Committing content to memory influences a person, but Scripture directs disciplers (specifically parents, see Deuteronomy 6:7) to go even further than drilling Bible verses—Scripture admonishes them to talk about these things. Bible Quest calls these Empower Phase question-asking activities Explorations. While Explorations can take many forms, at their core they are simply "reading and wrestling with Biblical issues, then talking about them." Bible Quest gives parents and mentors ideas and guidance on Explorations.
Select your Exploration based on what option you think will work best with the content. There are eight different Explorations listed in Bible Quest, including the Hands-on Story Experience, Biblical Dig, Biblical Film Explorations, and Biblical Character Interaction, among others. Most Explorations are not week-specific and can be used in multiple contexts for discussion. However, the Biblical Dig Exploration is specific to each week’s material and is found on the second page of each week’s lesson content. An optional, printable file for Biblical Digs is included in the Bible Quest digital content. The Biblical Dig is often research-based or crafty in nature, but it is still an opportunity to ask students questions and move them toward greater understanding.
Classical-education-savvy readers may recognize that the above questions reflect a simple derivation of the Five Common Topics model from Aristotle: definition, comparison, circumstance, relationship, and testimony. This was absolutely intentional and will be the subject of a future blog post article.
An Exploration may require some set-up prior to class, especially in the case of Biblical Digs. Give the students any instruction necessary and work with them as much as needed during any tasks required for the Exploration.
Once the activity (if any) is complete, hold a conversation with the student. Each Exploration has specific questions that may be helpful in having the conversation, but parents and mentors should never feel limited by those questions. Likewise, not all questions for a given Exploration must be asked since not every question is appropriate to every circumstance.
As students show understanding, ask them to explain themselves further. When they show misunderstandings, ask questions to help them correct their understanding.
A Simple First Exploration
Each week, the printed Bible Quest curriculum books provide Deeper Questions that could be used for writing assignments for older students, but are actually present to help spur Exploration-worthy conversation about the week's subject matter. However, there is an even simpler option: for your first Empower Phase, consider having a conversation based on what your student has memorized in the Equip Phase. Ask these questions and discuss (bear in mind that some questions may not necessarily work well for every week's lesson, depending on content and student aptitude):
What do you think the Bible verse we memorized is talking about?
Why do you think that verse is important in the Bible?
Do you have any questions about the Bible verse? Do you know of any other Bible verses that talk about similar things?
What do you think is the most important or most interesting thing that we learned about the person/people in today's lesson? Why?
How are the people we learned about today similar to other people in the Bible? How are they different?
What happened before what we studied today in the Bible timeline? What do you think will happen afterwards in the Bible timeline? Why?
How are the map locations we learned about today similar to other locations in the Bible? Do you think any of today's map locations will show up again in the Bible later? Which ones? Why?
If students do not have a ready answer for each question, feel free to ask leading questions that include possible answers. For example, when asking an unsure student about other Bible verses that talk about forgiveness, you might say, "Think about 1 John 1:9, where it says, 'If we confess our sins He is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' What does that say about forgiveness?" Giving additional information allows the student to then make the comparison even if they cannot immediately recall precise Scripture to use in their response. If students struggle with individual questions or if you don't think a question pertains to the lesson, simply skip that question and move on.
Coaching Throughout the Week
Ideally, students would practice their Exercise a little each day on their own, with their parent or mentor checking and coaching their progress every once in awhile. Once an Exercise becomes ‘easy’ for them, a new one can be introduced. An Exercise becomes ‘easy’ when a student can do it without much help and is obviously benefitting by continuing to do the Exercise. Return to old Exercises from time to time to maintain a student’s proficiency.
Similarly, Explorations may be worked on over a period of time. Explorations do not necessarily build on one another in the same way that Exercises do, though some are simpler than others. Parents and mentors should consider working through many repetitions of the Introductory Explorations before moving on to the Intermediate Explorations, and many of those before moving on to the Advanced Explorations.
There are many, many types of potential Exercises and Explorations that could achieve an increase in Biblical understanding in the Dialectic Phase, and Bible Quest does not claim to contain a definitive list of all of the possibilities. The Bible Quest program emphasizes Biblical literacy, and as such provides a plan and the context for Biblical discipleship, but it is by no means a 100% complete discipleship solution that covers every conceivable activity that could help a believer grow in Christ. For more on discipleship, read the article, "The Real Solution for Discipleship" here.
Track student progress with the published Exercises and Explorations in the Empower Phase using the chart included with your Bible Quest digital materials. A reproducible chart in the Bible Quest curriculum books shows the recommended Exercise and Exploration pathways. Work on easier (farther on the left side of the page) Exercises and Explorations before tackling the options farther on the right.
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