Student Bible study groups have long been a vibrant element of campus life. This year for the first time, the small groups are each using the same curriculum, written and published for them by Concordia University Irvine faculty members and staff.
The curriculum program, called Common Ground, was designed initially for the campus’s small groups, says Chief Mission Officer Steve Mueller ’86, who edited the book.
“Spiritual formation of our students is really important to us,” says Mueller. “We want to provide accessible ways for people to get into the Word, have a strong devotional life, or join a Bible study with a new group of people.”
Nine Concordia leaders helped develop and write the eight- week curriculum, each taking charge of a section. The manuscript underwent thorough group review.
“It was very collaborative,” says Mueller. “We read and responded to each others’ work.”
Material was then road-tested with students and staff to find what resonated and what needed improvement. After incorporating revisions, the book was designed on campus and published this summer. Presently, around 225 students have completed the curriculum.
Ruth Pearson, a music major from Alaska, coordinates the campus women’s ministry, Beloved, and says the women’s group and the campus men’s ministry, Battalion, used Common Ground last semester in their small group meetings.
“It went really well,” Pearson says. “I really liked how it connected with the topics we discuss in our classes at Concordia. You can hear the professors’ voices when you read the curriculum.”
Pearson co-created a facilitator guide and says the daily devotions component of Common Ground “helped engage students in a deeper way, especially freshmen. They really enjoyed it. It helps connect with the classes and provides better understanding when we’re able to go deeper on the biblical side.”
Mueller says college-aged students “are often appropriating the faith for themselves and developing new routines, so we want to help them to pray, worship, read the Bible, reflect, and serve.”
Common Ground’s central idea is that people from all backgrounds have much in common – including life challenges and the need for lasting solutions found in the Bible. Each week of readings focuses on a particular aspect of the human experience and a spiritual discipline taught in the Bible, plus questions to spur dialogue among participants. The goal is to help students build stronger, deeper relationships with God and with each other.
“We really want them to see that a theology class is not the same as Bible study,” says Mueller. “It’s a different experience. There is no pressure or grades, but ample opportunity to grow in God’s Word.”
Noks Shabalala ’16, director of small groups and connection for campus ministry, leads the team of student coordinators who are producing weekly facilitators’ guides for Common Ground.
“The feedback I’m getting is that people are enjoying the curriculum,” she says. “Our hope is that people take this with them to their workplaces, homes, or churches, that they would be emboldened to start a small group and gather people around the Word of God, prayer, and encouragement. We want people to have a relationship with Jesus and through that to have relationships with one another.”
Mueller says Common Ground is being well received both on campus and in churches. Additional Common Ground materials are being developed on other topics that will become a library of resources, Bible studies, and other types of books created at Concordia for the campus community and beyond.
“We see this potentially becoming significantly bigger,” he says.