How to Choose a Group Bible Study: What You Need to Know
Are you leading a small group Bible study but aren’t sure how to pick the right material for your group? Consider these five things to help guide your search for the right Bible study content.
Pray!
For any study, remember to pray that God will lead you and your group to the right content. Pray also that He will use the content to meet each group member’s needs and to help everyone grow spiritually.
Who Will Choose the Study?
Sometimes, leaders choose the Bible study for the group, but you may want to seek input from your group members. If you want it to be a group decision, come up with several options and have the group select from those. You can select options that will fit your group’s needs, and the group members can still feel ownership of the content.
What Is the Group’s Spiritual Background?
Think about your group’s spiritual background, age, ethnicity, marital status, career and any other factors that might be specific to your group. Is your group exploring the Bible for the first time, or do they all have experience studying God’s Word? If it’s a mixed group, what will be beneficial for everyone?
High school students will have a different understanding than professionals who meet before work. Some topics work better for an all-male or an all-female study than one with mixed genders.
What Are the Group Members’ Needs?
Think about the personal and spiritual needs of the group. If you have group members going through hard times, choose a study that will give hope and perspective. If members have only recently become Christians, a study going through basic foundations of Christianity will be beneficial.
What Is the Group’s Meeting Structure?
How many times will you meet? You don’t want to select a Bible study with 12 discussion guides if your group will only meet for nine weeks.
How long will you meet each time? If you have a talkative group or only meet for a short time, some studies may have more content than you can cover weekly. You can adapt those studies to your group’s needs. Decide ahead of time what you will discuss and what you won’t have time for that day. You can also spread one lesson out over two meetings.
