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Reading Mark in a Trio

Reading Mark

MARK is a brilliant way to meet the real Jesus. It’s as simple as you and a friend grabbing a copy of Mark’s story – or Gospel – about Jesus then reading and discussing it together. It’s an engaging, surprising, life-changing read, and it’s made even better by doing it with a friend.

So as to cover the basics without feeling rushed, we’ve suggested 7 short passages to read together. We’ve also come up with 5 great questions to use with each story. With these two simple tools reading Mark should be something that you and your friend both enjoy and benefit from immensely.

You can grab a special Credo-edition of Mark for just $5 – or 3 for $10 – at PLUS or Prime.

Tips with getting started

  • Make sure you’ve sent a brief and friendly reminder 12-24 hours before you plan to meet. If only one friend shows up then decide whether to chat and pray instead or to keep reading all the same.
  • Try to find a comfy spot and spend some time catching-up.
  • The first time around you might like to start by discussing your experiences of or your thoughts on God and Jesus. In subsequent weeks you might like to start by discussing any of the passages you read in between the recommended ones.

Using the 5R discussion questions

As you come to the recommended readings, divide each passage into a a few natural sections then take it in turns to read the story out aloud. After reading the first section try these discussion questions.

Try putting the first section in your own words, then check if your friend saw it the same way. Following this, invite your friend to re-tell the next section and continue this process till the story’s done.

Share your initial impressions – is there anything that stands out or that’s curious or unclear? The answer to most questions can be found in the passage, but if you feel unsure then do some research and share the results next time.

How do the different people respond to Jesus?
What do these events show us about God or Jesus?
Why do you think Mark included this story? What would we be missing without it?
How might we respond to this story? Are there any practical steps to take?

These 5 questions should help to foster comfortable, free-flowing conversation and a deeper understanding and appreciation of Jesus.

Some people like to commit these 5 questions to memory – of course there’s no need so long as you have your bookmark or credo.org.au/bookmark handy. But we’ve recorded them as reTell, reAct, reVeal, reaSOn and resPond to come up with TAV SOP, since a TAVern is a great place to read the Bible while nibbling on a SOP. Or – if you’re feeling jittery – how about Tall Ants Visit SOme Pants?!

Further training to read Mark

If you are a leading a Trio, it might be helpful for you to watch our training video and read our notes on each of the 7 studies.