Living Word School
Relating with the author.
Training Overview
This is a different kind of Bible school. We start at the beginning of a book and go through it for as far as we get in twelve weeks. However, we have never finished a book in the four times we have done the school. That’s because the purpose of our study is not to complete a task, but to relate with the author.
Jim Stier, who leads the school, prepares questions beforehand to help the students slow down and really look at what is written. They will read the questions and meditate on the implications. Then they put the questions aside and ask the Lord what He wants to teach them, writing down the results. After they have spent about four hours on the text and questions we have class.
In Hebrews 4:12 we read that the word of God is living and active. In John 1: 1-14, Jesus is the Logos, the Word, and this identity creates all things. In 2 Corinthians 3: 2,3 we are described as a “letter of Christ, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God …”
Three verses later the Bible says, “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life . “In Hebrews 1: 3 we read that He is” upholding all things by the word of his power. “ The word of God, then, is much more than the scriptures. They came into being millions of years after the Logos, Jesus, created everything that exists (John 1). The word of God is Jesus, vivifying the scriptures by the Spirit and making them live for us. The word is relational, personal, alive and dynamic.
A few years ago I was wanting very much to come up to a new level in my spiritual life and was deeply desiring to help leaders get the spiritual resources they needed to lead with wisdom and to persevere in loving, joyful victory. As I sought the Lord about these themes, one way of pursuing them came to me and gradually defined itself as the School of the Living Word.
Here’s what happens. We get together over a book of the Bible and start at the beginning. Every day we spend extended alone time with God over a short passage, letting Him teach us. Then we come together and let the Word flow. Everyone has input and there are no set lectures. The Lord Himself leads us on a twelve-week adventure. The Holy Spirit is the teacher, though anyone might be His mouthpiece on any given day.
The results have been very strong. Nearly everyone who has done the precious five courses with us has been deeply changed. By the end of the course the students are well into lifestyle of dwelling in Jesus and His Word abiding in them. This way of life is accompanied by the powerful promises of John chapter fifteen.
Come spend some time with us and with the Lord and see your fruitfulness surge in every dimension of your life and leadership.
In Him,
JIM STIER
Founder of Ywam Brazil and School Leader of the LWS
Purpose of the Living Word School is…
- Discover the pleasure of meditating in God’s Word
- Find refreshment for personal areas and future ministries
- Experience what God wants to teach you through His Word
Lecture Phase
Fall more in love with God through his living word.
Class lasts three hours, but it’s not a lecturing format. The teacher is a catalyst for discussion who stimulates responses and encourages the students to understand what God is saying to each of them. By the end of class, we will have spent seven hours on a few verses of the Bible and many of the students have actively participated in the interaction.
In this process, our objective is to let the Holy Spirit be the main teacher. We want the Word of God live in the student, not just be a subject of study. Our desire is that the Spirit be the center of everything, because the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. I think you would agree that we want life to come from our interaction with scripture.
As far as I know, every student has been powerfully changed by listening so closely to the Lord in the context of the Word. They learn a dynamic, relational way of relating to the Word. It is meant to become a way of life that brings life.
The results have been very, very encouraging.
Beyond the Lectures
We believe in formal and informal learning. Stretch your understanding in the classroom. Live what you learn in the YWAM Lausanne community and beyond.
“The Living Word school made me stop carelessly studying the scriptures so that I could legitimately relate to the Person of the Word, Jesus.”
Simone Melo, Brazil
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