Reel Luke

Leader's Guide

Preparation

Watch the BibleProject videos embedded on the main Reel Luke page. You can also watch some more specific Luke videos from BibleProject HERE.

Read the story several times before meeting with students. Practice engaging with some of the Reel Luke questions. This is a great time to determine which questions work best with that specific story. Then read around the story so you're familiar with the larger context. What happened before? What happens after? How do those things shape the story?

Engaging Reel Luke in Real Time

Reading the Story

There are several different ways you can read the story with your group.

Read the story through one time with people just listening, not following along. Then read the story through a second time with people following along in their own Bibles.

Ask one or two people to retell the story as it's written.

Ask two people to retell the story in the first person, as though they were actually there. One person can do the play-by-play (tell the details of what happened), and the other can offer color commentary (add details to the biblical account about how they felt, what surprised them, what confused them, what else they noticed, and more). This first-person retelling can make the story feel more real and highlights that the events happened to real people in real time.

Using Reel Questions

Choose a few Reel Questions to engage the story (in the drop-down). Pick them based on the narrative itself (what questions work best for that story) and on your group (what questions work best for your people). The Reel Questions are intended to help build interest and observation skills so that the story comes alive and make people curious about what they can learn from it. Be sure to include one or two questions from the Reel Faith.

Using Story Questions

After engaging with a few Reel Questions, pick from the story specific questions. You can combine these with the Reel Faith questions if relevant.

Reel Questions

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Reel Setting (place)

  • Where did this story happen? (Describe the setting — in a house, on a road, by a lake, in a city, etc.)
  • What do you think that place looked like? smelled like? sounded like?
  • Do you think it matters that this story happened in that specific place? Why?
  • What about the place in this story feels familiar? What feels strange?

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Reel People (characters)

  • Make a list of all the people in this story and give a one-word description of each (include “crowd” if there is one). Why did you choose that word?
  • What does Jesus say and do in this story? List all the things. Does anything surprise you? Why?
  • Which person (besides Jesus) is most interesting to you? Why?
  • What details about the characters do you wish were included or explained in the story? Why?
  • Why do you think [choose a specific character or the crowd] spoke or acted the way they did?
  • What are some different things that [the person from previous question] could have said or done? How would that have changed the story?
  • What do you think the onlookers were thinking and feeling as things were happening in this story? Why?
  • How do you think the main characters might have changed after this story? Why? (Sometimes it tells us, like with Zacchaeus, but other times it doesn’t.)
  • How do you think the crowd or onlookers might have changed after this story? Why?
  • If you’d been there, where would you have been standing or sitting? What would you have been thinking or feeling? Why?

 

Reel Events (plot)

  • List all the events in the story.
  • List some details that aren't included but are assumed in the story.
  • What do you think are the two or three most important moments in this story? Why?
  • If this story were a film, when would the music be scary or tense? When would it be joyful or upbeat? Why?
  • What do you think maybe happened right before this story? What do you think maybe happened right after this story?
  • Does the biblical story before or after this one matter to this story? How? Why do you think that?
  • What are some different ways things could have happened or ended in this story?
  • If this story were happening today in your school or town, what are ways Jesus might have acted or explained things for your context?
  • What would you call this story if it were a full-length book or movie? Why?

 

Real Faith

  • What’s a way people could misunderstand or misuse this story?
  • Why do you think this story is in the Bible? Why would God want us to read and learn from it?
  • What are you learning about Jesus (or his Father or the Spirit) from this story?
  • What are you learning about following Jesus (living for Jesus and living like Jesus) from this story?
  • After reading this story, what are some questions you have about Jesus and following him?