At Countess Free Church we don’t believe in simply ‘passing on’ our faith to our young people. No – we would rather they come to faith in Jesus for themselves, discovering they can know and follow Jesus directly!
So rather than just giving instruction on Christian belief (such as what certain passages in the Bible mean and so on), we would rather give them the tools so that they can start working it through for themselves. This means encouraging them to have a go in aspects of leadership, and to form their own peer led Bible studies. Such occasions are not about one person having all the answers to give out to the others, but each person wrestling and working it through with each other in a group context.
Of course some input from the older and wiser is added into the mix, and the group as a whole are called to be accountable to the wider church. Yet the peer led approach leads to a richer process of discovery, laying the groundwork for deeper discipleship habits hopefully for years to come.
Our young people’s peer led Bible study group sessions are part of our overall youth portfolio: the youth work aspect of Countess Free Church.