Bible Study Leaders—A Call for Questions
Here’s something I know: leading a Bible study is hard work. It’s rewarding work, yes. It carries the potential for community and depth and transformation — yes to all of those. But even when things are going well, leading a Bible study the right way requires effort and determination.
When things are not going well, leading a study can be downright exasperating.
GOT QUESTIONS?
If you are a Bible-study leader, those of us here at Threads salute you. We appreciate you. And we want to support you.
With that in mind, here’s your chance to get a few questions answered. Whether you lead a small group or a Sunday school class (or any other form of Bible study), it’s common for situations to pop up that make things more difficult than they need to be. And those situations rarely come with an easy solution.
Maybe you have someone in your group who talks way too much. Maybe a few people in your class never seem to participate and you wonder how to get them involved. Maybe there’s a personality clash or you are having trouble deciding which curriculum to use. These things (and more!) happen to all of us at one point or another, and it never hurts to get some outside help.
So fire away! You can post questions in the Comments section below, or send an email directly to me: sam dot oneal at lifeway.com. I’ll answer the questions in another post next week (and we’ll keep the identities of question-askers confidential, in case that’s a worry for you.)
In the meantime, have a great Thanksgiving and continue leading well!
Curious about who will be answering your questions? Sam O’Neal is a Content Editor with Threads by Lifeway. He is author of *The Field Guide for Small-Group Leaders* (available from InterVarsity Press in May) and an Editorial Advisor for SmallGroups.com.
There have been 3 replies so far
We have a young adult ministry and had a really good summer bible study, has anyone found a successful way to have a on-line study for students who are away? Is it something that can be interactive with students who remain local?
1 | Gina
Monday, November 21, 2011, at 9:38pm
I lead a Sunday school class in a small church of approximately 120 people. I have approximately 17 people who would “fit” in the young adult range within the church family. However, I am only averaging between 3 - 4 people per class (same ones each time).
We (the 3 or 4 who attend) love the class and all have been actively trying to get others to participate. Nothing seems to motivate the others to join in: not extra activities at different times, not different topics (we’ve done evanglistic topics, attributes of God, current events, currently on a study of prayer), nor a push from the elders of the church as helped.
So we are reaching out as well to the 987 others (according to the 2010 census data) of this age group in our city. However, if we can’t get those who are already attending our church to join in, how can we get others to join us?
Thoughts, suggestions, and comments…
2 | Ralton Emory
Tuesday, November 22, 2011, at 12:30pm
To Ralton:
Growth is hard, getting disinterested people to join a group is harder. My advice (humble and distant as it may be) is to keep your eyes first on the studies at hand. Focus what you can on building that prayer life in your current study, and being faithful to truly growing the character and spiritual walk of those 3-4 faithful ones. Never stop inviting the others, and be open and honest about their “lack of involvement” (Hey man, is there a reason that you never want to come to Bible study? Is there something someone did, or is it just a bad time? …) And kudos for reaching out to the other 987, try to bring coworkers, or just do a dinner at your house and invite people over (no hidden Bible study motive) and just get to talking about what God has been teaching you and showing you lately, maybe others will open up. But in the end, know that results (numbers) are up to the Lord, and your job is to be faithful to the Word, and to growing closer to Him.
Now, maybe you can help me:
I’ve been teaching a group of 20-somethings and been having a great time, we’ve been growing, things have gone well, great discussions, new people coming (albeit unfaithfully), but coming none-the-less, and while there is much growth that needs to happen individually (me included), things have been going great. The problem: the class that I am teaching is one that was divided from another group and theirs… isn’t doing so hot. There was a little bit of turmoil between us at first, (I was asked to teach, and the class was kind of broken up by the powers that be…), and now I don’t know how I can give advice, or even interact with him or people from his group without the “weirdness” — I’m scared that there will be animosity for any ways that I or “my group” (not to be possessive, no Apollo/Paul thing going on…) prospers.
Am I just imagining the whole thing? Could this be an issue of Apollo/Paul/”Jon?” Do I just need to mind my own work, or is it right to try to help and work in with his group as well?
Thanks!
3 | Jon
Monday, December 5, 2011, at 8:46am
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