An Ice Crusher is more than an Ice Breaker. While still designed to get your group talking about something non-threatening, it is by design a step into the deeper concepts to be discussed. Often the discovery in a session is due to the thoughts expressed during the "crush" as participants engage in the conversational challenge of more directed questions.
We define "working" as accomplishing the mission of the church. While It is common for a church to have a Mission Statement as well as a list of core values, it is also common that maintaining the focus on these targets can be challenging. It is also common that these are simply statements the church possesses, rather than standards and guidelines for purposeful and effective ministry.
But the question here is not whether the mission is merely a statement or a target that is consistently in view and actively pursued; or if the values are simply a list, or are active, engaged principles that guide the church to accomplish the mission.
The question here is this: What is your picture of a Disciple? Is it merely someone who attends Bible study and prays, or is it someone whose life is changed by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit that empowers the change?
Educators will tell you that the rudimentary definition of "education" is "change". And the minimal illustration of that is "remembering something you've forgotten" or learning something you did not know. You've remembered or you've learned, therefore you are "changed". You have been educated.
That imagery does not align with the picture of a growing disciple in scripture.
So, is your Bible Study strategy working?
Sometimes, a necessary topic of conversation is so difficult, so painful, that the very prospect of having to look someone in the eye can be detrimental to positive progress. The one needing help wants to be known, but not necessarily "seen". Think Adam and Eve, after they sinned. They certainly wanted God to know them, but they did not want to be seen. God did not wait until they wanted to be seen to have the talk.
Think about that "talk" that parents should have with their children before puberty arrives. So much of the difficulty is the eye-to-eye conversation. One should not wait until the child wants to be seen to have the talk.
Parallel Posture can be very helpful for both parties in the conversation. The concept comes from conversations in a car while driving down the road. Both parties are facing forward, one is driving, the other is observing the traffic ahead. They are looking in the same direction but not looking at each other, due to their parallel posture. The very act of driving provides the necessary excuse to avoid the eye-to-eye contact, but allows deep and meaningful conversations to occur.
