the fundamental themes of the Scrip- tures and amazingly little interest in deepening their knowledge and application of biblical principles ....” There are several reasons for this, no doubt: the “empty-vessel” approach to teaching and learning that dominated education in congre- gations and schools for generations; the complexity (both real and felt) of the biblical language; perceptions of the Bible as “holy” or “other” or “above and beyond” us; etc. But the single greatest challenge (and opportunity) around biblical fluency lies in worship, a point to which we will return shortly.
Anecdote: Last Christmas in my ser- mon I made a passing comment about how Luke’s story differs from the other Gos-
pels. That two don’t mention a baby Jesus. Basic, right? Four “older” people came to me later and remarked on it. They looked it up to see if I was kidding. (Mary Albing, Minneapolis)
It started in Sunday school Barna Group’s review said: “The problem facing the Christian church is not that people lack a complete set of beliefs; the problem is that they have a full slate of beliefs in mind, which they think are consistent with biblical teachings, and they are nei- ther open to being proven wrong nor to learning new insights. “Our research suggests that this challenge initially emerges in the late adolescent or early teenage years. By the time most Americans reach the age of 13 or 14, they think they pretty much know everything of
value the Bible has to teach and they are no longer interested in learning more scriptural content.” If knowing enough were the
answer, then the model of Sunday school in which most of us were brought up would (probably) be suf- ficient. Get the basics, know the key characters, be able to flannel-graph the location of the 12 tribes of Israel and their tribal allotments (some- thing I actually had one of my early confirmation classes do, although for the life of me I couldn’t tell you why), and the heritage of the Chris- tian faith would be assured. But in many cases this model
hasn’t met the needs of an inquisi- tive and hopefully growing Christian faith, which in turn empowers the vocation of the Christian life, all in the face of the changing and chal- lenging world in which we live and move and have our being.
Anecdote: I think most people feel pretty “dumb” about the Bible and it makes sense that they do. When I was in Sunday
school the lessons weren’t really con- cerned about the story but about moral lessons or themes like “Jesus is love.” (Kari Sue Pancoast, Becker, Minn.)
Biblical fluency is about lifelong learning, about recognizing that we are players in God’s stories, that we are part of it. In other words, we are living God’s story, not just getting to know the old plot-points. The goal of biblical fluency, as opposed to simple biblical literacy, then, is to equip a nimble faith that is able to plumb the depths of the bibli- cal story, to navigate the word and
make sense of daily life and faith. This picture may seem grim, but this is every bit as much an opportu- nity as it is a problem.
In many churches, the Bible is
still cherished and revered. Many of us may say we don’t know the Old Testament, yet Psalm 23 remains among the most important biblical passages in the lives of Christians. Many view the Bible as a book of laws, as morals or lessons on how to live a proper life, and yet most still turn to it for comfort. There is ample room here for a rebirth of biblical fluency.
Anecdote: As we have added more possibilities to teach people how to get into the word regularly, we have run into quite
a bit of tension between two groups: those who are hungry for the word and want to learn more but don’t know where to start or need some guidance, and those who are happy with how their church has always been. The latter group isn’t happy with the
fact that we’re expecting them to “do” something, even though that something may be as simple as regularly encoun- tering the foundation of our faith. The former group is hungry for the word, and I think is feeling that something dif- ferent has to happen if worship, being part of a faith community, etc., is going to make any difference at all for them. (Joel Pancoast, Loveland, Colo.).
Are you up for the challenge? One thing, clearly, hasn’t changed
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