Matt is 20 and is a student in Leeds. He became a Christian on a summer camp when he was 13. He loves Christ, Chelsea, not doing much and his girlfriend (not all in that order!)
How old were you when you were one-to-oneed?
I was 14, and I was one-to-oned for about a year.
How did it work?
I would meet up with my youth worker every Monday evening for around an hour and a half. We would begin every week with a game of Pro Evo on the Playstation, which I found helpful, and not just because I improved at Playstation! It allowed us to build a relationship beyond the time looking at the Bible, meaning I was more inclined to trust him and allow myself to be open.
We would then look at the Bible passage together for about 45 minutes. And we'd end every week by discussing an Encouragement and a Challenge from the week just past and from the passage, and pray based on that.
Which Bible books did you look at?
We looked at Hebrews and James in the year I one-to-oneed. Both were incredibly useful in the face of trouble and uncertainty that I was facing as a young Christian, and allowed me to view my troubles in a new way and face them with the grace of God.
What was the best thing about doing one-to-ones as a teenager?
One-to-oneing gave me a far better idea of the message of the books we looked at than would ever have been possible in a larger talk or through individual study. And the Encouragement and Challenge at the end of the sessions is something that I still use five years later.
How did it help you in your faith and ability to read the Bible for yourself?
I learned that the Bible fits together as a whole book and that other parts are invaluable in informing you what is going in a specific passage. This has meant my own personal study also improved as I realised that more often than not answers can be found in the Bible: I began to look to other parts of God’s word for answers as opposed to Wikipedia!
My faith was strengthened massively by one-to-oneing. It meant I started reading the Bible on a regular basis and learnt more and more about God’s love and grace. This continually blew me away and I felt myself strengthened every week.
And the friendship I formed with my one-to-one partner continues and still builds me up in faith every time we talk and meet up.
How has being one-to-oned affected your own ministry?
One-to-oneing left me wanting to have a similar thing with someone else. So recently I joined my church’s youth team to forge these kind of relationships with young people, and to try and bring them to God in the way I was when I was given the opportunity to look at his word in depth.
For a short introduction to what one-to-oneing is, just click here.
Carl is Editorial Director at The Good Book Company and is a member of Grace Church Worcester Park, London. He is the best-selling author of The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross and God's Big Promises Bible Storybook, and also serves as series editor of the God's Word for You series. Before joining TGBC, he worked as a journalist and then as a teacher, and pastored a congregation in Hull. Carl is married to Lizzie, and they have two children. He studied history at Oxford University.
