​Discuss for Understanding
One of the best ways to foster Biblical understanding in students is by engaging with them in intentional conversation about God's Word. Deuteronomy 6:4-7 says, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." Conversation about the Bible and Biblical concepts allows parents and caring mentors to lovingly cultivate connections between things that students commit to memory.
Young children will not often benefit much from this conversation process, but preteens will exhibit a marked increase in understanding how things work together and teenagers (and adults) will respond well to this learning method.
Any dialogue about what God's Word says is beneficial, but there is a tool that can help to make conversations even more effective: the Five Common Topics. These topics are definition, comparison, circumstance, relationship, and testimony. Developed by Aristotle millennia ago, this particular list of topics allows for the leading of engaging, relevant discussions about whatever students read or memorize by asking questions pertaining to each topic. For example, if a teacher or parent is leading a conversation on the creation account found in Genesis that is focused on definition, they could ask, "What is the definition of creation?" If conversation dries up in a given topic, simply move on to the next one.
Definition
Try asking students to define what a major theme in the text is and what that thing is not. Not all Biblical texts have an easy-to-identify theme. In such a situation, simply choose one of the most important words in the text to focus on for definition. It's best to provide a theme for younger or less experienced students, but older students may actually be asked to suggest a theme for discussion based on the content of the passage being discussed.
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Comparison
Ask students to compare or contrast the theme you've defined to something else. It's best to think of similarities first, then assess how the similarities are different between the concepts. If you do not have a predetermined concept to compare the theme to, simply ask the students to provide the concept to compare or contrast: "What is it like? What is it not like?"
Circumstance
Ask the students to identify what is happening historically at the same time as the events in a Biblical narrative or at the time that a Biblical passage was written. It's okay to speculate about what is possible and what is probable in the conversation, and there is no need for the discussion leader to determine a thesis for this sort of conversation. If students discuss something that is clearly not Biblical, the leader can simply ask questions to help them see that reality.
Relationship
Ask students what caused the events of a Biblical narrative to occur, or what caused the circumstances under which a non-narrative Biblical passage was written. What were the effects of the situation being discussed? This is also a worthy time to consider the context of a passage; what does the Bible say before and after a given passage?
Testimony
Ask the students to share what else the Bible says about the ideas being discussed. Ask them if there are any statements that they think are particularly important or trustworthy, and how they believe they ought to apply those statements in their own lives?
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The Empower Phase in Bible Quest
Bible Quest calls this understanding-focused phase of learning the Empower Phase. To help build Biblical understanding, Bible Quest provides parents and caring mentors with a host of conversational contexts called Explorations to use to spark intentional, Biblical dialogue with students, including a weekly Bible Dig that pertains specifically to the memory content for each week's Equip Phase. Additionally, Bible Quest recommends Bible study skills called Exercises that students can practice to help them build confidence and capability in their own study of God's Word.
For more about intentional Biblical conversation in the Empower Phase, feel free to explore these articles: