The summary charts of the four Gospels below are unique in three ways. The first big difference from those in other guides to the Gospels is that you can see it ALL ON ONE TO-SCALE PAGE. The second and third big differences are that NUMERICAL DATA and COLOR CODING are included so that you can quickly see exactly where in the Gospels women are mentioned most. At the bottom of the page, there are a number of educational games that can be used with these charts.
These charts are focused on WOMEN in the Gospels. For instance, although Luke is well known for passages with women, the percentage of such in Luke is only slightly higher than in Mark who is not nearly as famous for such. The lowest percentage of verses concerning women is in John.
These worksheets are to be used in studies concerning WOMEN IN THE GOSPELS, along with the summary charts above.
Participants are divided up into teams and everyone is given one of the Gospel summary charts. In each round one member of the team is given a chapter in one of the Gospels that the other member or members of his or her team are to guess. As in golf, the winning team after several rounds will be the one with the smallest number of hints given and wrong guesses made. After each hint, at least one guess must be made.
For instance, the leader may give a team's hint giver Mark chapter 7. A good first hint for this chapter would be, "I'm about a Gentile woman who was helped by Jesus." A team member then might wrongly guess Matthew chapter 15. Next the hint giver probably would say, "I'm in Mark's Gospel." Then team members could easily guess that the right answer is Mark chapter seven. This round would resulted in four points, much like four golf strokes.
The game leaders should pick chapters about which he or she is prepared to speak after the right answer is given. Also, usually the chapters that are to be guessed should not be too easy. For instance, John chapter four is easy to guess since it is the only one that is in Samaria. It would be like a par two hole in golf.
Each hint is like a single stroke in golf and may not contain two pieces of information. For instance the following sentence --"This chapter is about divorce and the rich young ruler." -- contains two bits of information and would be like hitting the ball twice rather than just once.
Participants take turns choosing a chapter which others try to guess by asking questions that progressively narrow down the possibilities. One point is awarded to the person (or team) being questioned for each question asked. The answers will usually be "yes" or "no," though occasionally the answer must be "partly."
Each participant is given a copy of the women focus summary chart and the leaders shows that the feeding of the five thousand and the triumphal entry occurred in all four Gospels. Therefore all the events in the four Gospels either occurred before or after these key turning points. "Are you after the feeding of the five thousand?" and "Are you after the triumphal entry?" would be good starter questions. Alternatively the questioners may begin by asking, "Are you in one of the two longer Gospels?" or "Are you in one of the two shorter Gospels?"
Once the Gospel and the general portion thereof have been determined, more specific questions will be asked such as about the chapter length, the percentage of verses that involve miracles, or specific chapter people or events.
As much as possible, at the end of the round, the leader should speak about the chapter and any parallel chapters in the other Gospels. Reading and discussing a portion of the chapter may be helpful as well. The purpose of the game is not just to guess correctly or score points!
Each participant is given a copy of the summary chart and after the leader explains some basics about the Gospels the game might begin with the leader shouting out, "Jairus' daughter." The first member to stand and begin reading a fitting verse from Matthew chapter nine, Mark chapter five, or Luke chapter eight would earn three points.
Notice that Jairus is not mentioned by name in the Matthew passage, though he is in Mark and Luke. Thus finding the appropriate passage in Matthew is a bit more difficult. If there is a great diversity of Bible knowledge in the group, the leader can even things up with hints such as by saying, "She is in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but only named in two of the Gospels." So beginners would have a good chance of winning or coming in second or third and earning points.
CAUTION A wise leader will be careful to not spend more than five to ten minutes lecturing about the content of the Gospels before beginning the game. He or she should instead be prepared to teach about the Gospels while the game is being played, here a little, there a little. Also rules regarding the use of smart phones and tablets must be established before the game begins!