Facilitate a Small Group Study

You may want to establish personal learning goals for your group's journey through the Bible using these 30 key themes and corresponding study lessons. These weekly Lessons include home-study questions which are the basis for your small-group discussion.
At home, before attending your group, each member should individually pray, read and complete the Lesson questions (based on the English Standard Version). Encourage each member to complete some are all of the questions before your meeting, in order to be better prepared for sharing and learning together. When you meet weekly or regularly, open up a discussion of sharing individual answers to learn and grow together.
At home, before attending your group, each member should individually pray, read and complete the Lesson questions (based on the English Standard Version). Encourage each member to complete some are all of the questions before your meeting, in order to be better prepared for sharing and learning together. When you meet weekly or regularly, open up a discussion of sharing individual answers to learn and grow together.
Open and Lead the DiscussionEncourage each member individually to share and learn. As facilitator--your goal will be to let each person briefly share from the answer they prepared from scripture, listening to several people until the question is fully answered. Let the participants answer--reflecting specific Bible words, verses and phrases.
Then move the discussion on to the next question and encourage those who have not yet shared, to offer their answers next--staying on the text and prepared questions. Make sure each person has the opportunity to actively contribute, and allow listening for and confirmation of answers that are grounded in Scripture. Affirm those answers based on Scripture, and continue on the current question until Scripture-based answers are heard. |
Conclude a LessonFollowing the Lesson discussion, a summary is provided that ties together the Lesson’s key themes for that book or group of books. Together these themes, lessons and summaries demonstrate the overall point of what God is doing in that part of His Word. You as a leader can encourage your group individually read and apply what they have learned in ways they can verbalize in future meetings.
Praying together before and after study discussion will calm emotions and enable participation. Pray for understanding and growth for each participant particularly in the Word's context and meaning. Pray for personal and corporate growth for your members and group. Pray for the overarching context of the Bible narrative to be learned and remembered as a core outcome of the group's study together. |
Thorough and Effective! I used this book to lead a year-long small group study. It is well-researched and insightful. The questions provided enough latitude so that the members of our group (who were from several different cultures and religious backgrounds) could easily participate in the discussion. At the same time, the guide is theologically very strong so that no matter the Biblical knowledge of group members, everyone receives a thorough grounding in the Bible's main concepts. Another unique aspect to this guide which I appreciated was that it covered the most relevant themes of the Bible in only 30 weeks whereas other courses often take two years or more. I highly recommend this book for a small group study, or for a youth or adult Sunday school class! --Amy, 2018