How To Get Your Teens To Dig Into Their Bibles

This is one of the best ways we've found to get our youth group to really dig into their Bible. Once they know the basics of the activity, they can use the same techniques and applications in their personal Bible study.

While there is a solid argument against letting teens use their phones in church, most of ours have Bible programs on their phones. Instead of telling them they can't use this powerful learning tool, we're showing them that there is a time and a place for it.

It comes down to this - their phone is a study tool that allows them to carry a Bible with them everywhere they go. Let's teach them how to use it!

Start by choosing a few words that can be found in numerous places throughout the Bible. We used a mixture of well-known words and some that would be a little more challenging, and we wrote them on different colored index cards.

Each teen gets a card and their instructions:
1. Do a search in your Bible program for each of your words.

2. Choose one of the verses and click on it to see the whole chapter.

3. Read the verse in context of the surrounding verses, and in the entire chapter.

4. Write down why you chose that verse from the list.

5. Write down what you thought it meant when you first read it.

6. Write down what it means in context in the chapter.

7. Be prepared to explain all three of these steps to the group.

As the youth group leaders, we loved being able to listen to their responses and learn how their minds are working. We didn't leave it there, though. We also forced them to dig even deeper on every verse. Sometimes they had the basic idea of the meaning behind the words, but didn't quite grasp the application. That gave us the opportunity to praise them for their reasoning, correct any wrong assumptions and encourage them to look beyond what they think they already know.