3friends
Join Arthur, Peta, and Chloe on their faith journey.
Arthur Squiz, Peta Song, and Chloe Street are 3 friends on an adventure! They can be found working together to explore what it means to be a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. As part of this, they engage the Bible in a style that uncovers it’s meaning for young people who are willing to say, “Yes!” to God in everyday ways.
There are a number of aspects to ‘3friends’ explored below. These are:
- A basic introduction to ‘3friends’ and to Arthur, Peta, and Chloe.
- Inspiration and theory for the 3 different character types and learning styles chosen.
- Guidelines for parents and leaders using ‘3friends’ in a variety of contexts.
- Resources for helping young people to start and keep following Jesus.
- A collection of program ideas suitable for a camp or Sunday morning program.
- A list of every Bible story the 3 friends have engaged and where to find them.
Introducing our 3 friends
Throughout the course of our adventure with Arthur, Peta, and Chloe, we discover that each has their own unique:
- personality and intelligence style,
- learning preference through words, visuals, or the dramatic,
- ways of applying what they leard to personal life, family/faith community life, or wider community life, and
- view of God’s perspective on the world, everyone, and everything in it.
Their approaches will deliver all sorts of combinations … all sorts of complexities … all sorts of responses … all sorts of new questions to explore for what it means to be a follower of The Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. You will quickly recognise their emphases on the following main idea.
We all matter to God. We are each welcomed by God. We are all loved by God.
Yes, this topic is complex. Faith and life are complex. The task of ‘3friends’ is to make the complex simple, while avoiding simplistic shortcuts or complicated side issues.
So let’s have fun with the 3 friends as we explore together.
Be ready to respond in your own unique way to God and God’s Word and to find ways to share that with others.
explore further …
Let’s get started!
Arthur, Peta and Chloe are wondering, “Who, out of the three of us, are you most like?”
My name is Arthur Squiz … that actually is my name. I don’t mind because it’s true, I love to take a close look at things … that’s what ‘to take a squiz’ at something means.
I love to take a squiz at what’s going on and check it out for myself. In fact, the first part of my email address is … a.squiz@
That’s what I’ll be doing here … having a look at the Bible stories and making sure we understand what’s going on. Even though the stories happened so long ago we can still find something to help us understand our life today.
Great to meet you! My name is Peta … I love doing all sorts of craft, drama, photography, music, songs and stuff. I hope you do too.
I love helping people to love and help each other (even though sometimes they don’t like each other … eek!) I love LOVE because it’s what God loves too!
My job is to also help you get to know a lot more about God … and how God’s way for living life makes sense for today. I get excited learning and sharing the ways that Jesus shows us what God is like.
Hi! My name is Chloe … I’m new to your country but everyone has made me feel so welcome.
So that’s what I’ll be doing in all our adventures together … making sure everyone knows and feels that they matter, are welcome and loved in everything we do, in every place we are in and with all the people we are with.
My job is also to help you get to why each individual person matters to God, and how welcomed and how loved by God we each are.
Oh, and how Jesus shows us all that!
Bible
Whether exploring an Old Testament story or a Psalm; a story about Jesus or the early Church; or one of life’s big puzzles … the sorts of questions the 3 friends tackle include:
- Why is this story in the Bible?
- How does this story help us to be more like Jesus to one another, our community and the world?
- What does it mean for each one of us to keep saying, “Yes!” to God in the way we live out our lives.
Inspiration and thinking behind ‘3friends’
Firstly, the work of Scripture Union workers over years to produce ‘Starting Out’ was groundbreaking in providing a simple, easy-to-read booklet to help young people think about beginning or continuing to follow Jesus.
Secondly, the investigations and challenges undertaken by the three friends depicted in this resource are a reflection of three different styles of investigation. These styles have been inspired by observations and a study by Dave Benson
His work suggests there is at least three typical teenage responses to the Bible. These being those of an antagonistic atheist, an untrusting sceptic and a confused seeker. Benson uses the work of Francis Schaeffer, Lee Strobel and Rob Bell respectively to challenge each of these common world views. According to Benson, these theologians offer distinct voices commending the Bible in the market place of ideas.
The challenge here is to appropriate something of this approach for households of faith and faith communities who meaningfully include those of a much younger age than teenagers.