How far off the subject???

[Salty]

Great comment - so we are starting a new thread:

A teenage son of one of my friends visited our weekly Bible Study a couple of months back. ......

and to continue.....
He didn't look weird, but he definitely had an axe to grind. He kept trying to get us off topic (Adam & Eve and the Serpent), so several of us tried to point him to understand the plan of salvation. In the end, we just felt like he had done nothing more than disrupt our study. Maybe something stuck with him, but we haven't seen him since that night.

So have you seen others try to purposely get off the subject...
How do you handle it?

 

[Reynolds]

Great comment - so we are starting a new thread:



and to continue.....
He didn't look weird, but he definitely had an axe to grind. He kept trying to get us off topic (Adam & Eve and the Serpent), so several of us tried to point him to understand the plan of salvation. In the end, we just felt like he had done nothing more than disrupt our study. Maybe something stuck with him, but we haven't seen him since that night.

So have you seen others try to purposely get off the subject...
How do you handle it?

We run so many rabbit trails, it would be hard to distinguish normal rabbit trails from intentional.

 

[Lodic]

The other leaders of the group and I had a meeting a few days later. We think the best thing is to try to steer the disrupter back to the topic. At the very least, we should invite him to some private time - say over a cup of coffee or buy him lunch. If he is agreeable, great. One of the guys likes to say "Before you talk to people about Jesus, you need to talk to Jesus about those people".

 

[Deacon]

Our Saturday morning men’s Bible study has the reputation of spending a year or two in any book of the Bible they study.
…I’m waiting for a quick study of Philemon during 2023-24.

Sometimes the problem occurs when someone in the group throws the study off topic,
It is the leader’s responsibility to redirect the talk toward a productive goal.

Then again sometimes it is the leader that is the problem.
There are those that have the gift of gab, a leader who can talk about any topic and appear to be saying something….
…but when it’s all over and done you leave the session realizing that nothing of substance has been said.

Rob

 

[Piper]

Great comment - so we are starting a new thread:



and to continue.....
He didn't look weird, but he definitely had an axe to grind. He kept trying to get us off topic (Adam & Eve and the Serpent), so several of us tried to point him to understand the plan of salvation. In the end, we just felt like he had done nothing more than disrupt our study. Maybe something stuck with him, but we haven't seen him since that night.

So have you seen others try to purposely get off the subject...
How do you handle it?

We had a meeting with the Lead Pastor of our church. We had worked for months on a list of questions. We had started with 20 and brought it down to 7. Our small group Bible Study leader had been emailing the pastor and letting him know what our central concern was. As we met, he had the list of questions in his hand with his answers typed in. He told us he had written out answers in detail. He answered the first one, then started talking in circles, albeit in an intelligent and organized way. Then he quietly, when someone else was speaking, put the list under his seat. He never returned to it. There was one very clear, simple question that he never answered.

However, eventually, one of the people said they wanted to really get back to the questions, especially the one about Mr K.H. and who invited him to speak to the church staff. He proceeded to avoid the question by continuing his previous train of thought and we never got answers to 6 of our questions. Every person in the group eventually left the church. And we found out, eventually, that he was misrepresenting his answers because he did not want to be pegged as woke.

 

[Bible Thumpin n Gun Totin]

We had 2 similar situations in our Church, which actually practices discipline. By similar I mean disrupting the learning of the saints:
-An unsaved man attended with his saved wife. The man would always try to sow a little discord for whatever reason. The elders told him to quit or he'd be disciplined. I.E not allowed in the building.

-Two women used to be friends and got into a spat. One of them was clearly in the wrong. After two weeks of this the women hadn't resolved their quarrel and the elders told them to drop it as they're not interested in having the Church divide into two groups that don't like each other.

In both situations the Elders intervened and restored order. I'd say that's the solution to the OP's question.