Reading the word of God for a relationship with Jesus all starts with an experience.
Art, music, journaling and meditation help students understand the meaning of reading for encountering Christ and are helpful tools that Phil Collins, professor of Christian ministries and director of Taylor University Center for Scripture Engagement, has utilized in his teaching and understanding of Scripture.
Despite a doctorate in psychology from Purdue University, an master’s in Christian education from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a degree in Bible literature and Christian education from Taylor University, Collins had no answer when he was asked 10 years ago, “How do you teach somebody to read the Bible so that they grow spiritually?”
This was when he knew there was a deep need for rich interaction with the biblical text, and the work for the Taylor University Center for Scripture Engagement began.
“I'd been a (professor) here at Taylor for 10 years, and I'm a ministries professor,” Collins said. “We're all about spiritual formation. Reading the Bible has been the most important part of my own spiritual life, and I didn't have a good answer for how you teach somebody else to do it.”
This initiative started with the help of then President Eugene B. Habecker and Fergus MacDonald, president of the International Bible Agencies.
The program prepares students to teach Scripture and meditate on the teachings of the text with the goal of encountering Christ, eventually including the completion of the Abide Bible.
“Scripture engagement is about a relational reading of Scripture. (It is) reading to know somebody, to know Christ, to know God,” Collins said.
He pointed to passages in Scripture such as Psalm 1 that emphasize the importance of meditation on God’s word.
This practice is intended to transform lives.
“So that meditation is this focused, turning over in our mind, process of when we come to Scripture, it’s a gazing into or a dwelling, or a pondering of Scripture where you're turning it over in your heart,” Collins said. “You're not just reading for information or reading to say you got it done or ignoring it, but it's … looking intently at Scripture.”
Rather than reading for content, Scripture engagement aims to employ various methods such as art, music, journaling or dramatization to illuminate the rich depths of Scripture.
Scripture engagement has been featured on Bible Gateway, where there are more than 50 different resources to help the reader engage with the text. The Scripture engagement minor was crafted to help bridge the gap between academic and relational study of the Bible, something Collins believes should not be mutually exclusive.
“It's something deeper than (application),” Collins said. “It's kind of this mysterious place where the Holy Spirit says, ‘That's what we're saying here. Now think this through. How does this work out in your life? What are the ramifications that Jesus is calling me (to), right? And what do you need to let go?’”
Reading for content and memorization is an easy task, Collins noted, akin to cramming content for a test or analyzing the contents of a textbook.
Scripture engagement is harder, because it is transformative. It demands change.
“I think it's easier to study than to reflect on the study,” he said. “I can look at it and kind of control it, and that knowledge can puff me up, but when I slow down and let it sink into my life, I have to change, and I don't want to change … But the reality is the change is all good. I resist the change, but change is moving me towards God, my father, who loves me and he wants the best for me.”
Although the minor is intended for students entering a career in ministry or missions, anyone can benefit from the reflective, relational approach of Bible study that Scripture engagement provides.
Sharing Jesus Christ is something all believers are called to, and the goal of the minor is to teach students how to read the Bible in light of the living relationship with Christ all believers are called into.
