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Many people in small churches find themselves in leadership positions – sometimes accidentally and sometimes by default. Leading Bible studies is no exception. Whether you’re a seasoned leader or brand new, join me for some tips on how to facilitate a Bible study, and why knowing too might be a hindrance. Keep reading to learn:
- Why the best facilitators are sometimes the least expected.
- How knowing all the answers might be holding others back from deeper learning.
- A few tips on getting better engagement in a small group Bible study.
- Why the most important question you can ask is “Now what?”
Anyone Can Facilitate A Bible Study
Anyone can learn the skills to facilitate well. You can be extroverted or introverted. You could be scared out of your boots and still facilitate a great group study. In fact, if you think that you don’t have the best skills because you don’t know enough or aren’t great at public speaking, you may have the potential to be the best facilitator.
I believe you’ll be a better facilitator than the talkers and those who have degrees in theology. If you’re a talker, it’s hard not to talk, and I’ve learned that the best impact and transformation you’ll see is when you quiet down a little more, and lead others to share. It’s definitely a skill to learn, but it will be so beneficial.
The same is also true if you’re a teacher or you “know it all”. Have you heard the phrase that people don’t remember what you say, they remember what you do? That’s not just a quippy phrase, it’s actually proven to be true. It’s the way God designed us.
If you want to help people learn, discover, and apply knowledge, that is what facilitating is all about! The beauty of facilitating isn’t so much in what you have to say, but in leading people to learn and hear from God on their own, to be taught, not just by you, but by the Holy Spirit.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. I don’t think I know enough to facilitate a Bible study.
You don’t have to know more than someone else to facilitate a Bible study. We can still be learning as we facilitate a Bible study. In fact, I think showing up as the expert is actually a disservice to those in the study. Think about it. If you walk into a room, start unpacking the Hebrew in a piece of text, and show yourself to be incredibly knowledgeable, the focus becomes solely on you. If you become the source of knowledge, people will want you to answer their questions, creating a weird sense of dependency.
Studying the Bible, and developing a craving to study, comes when we start discovering this for ourselves, when the Holy Spirit illuminates something in our hearts. We are not drawn to love scripture by hearing what others have learned or experienced. That is why it’s so important to lead people to seek, read, discover, and ask God to teach us!
If you love Jesus Christ and you want to learn from God’s word, you are more than qualified to facilitate a Bible study.
2. What about truth? What do you do if you don’t know the answer?
Truth is extremely important. If you’re leading a study that was written for group facilitating, there is probably enough information in it to keep everyone on track. If you’re leading a study straight from the Bible, it’s always great to have some context. If you’re new to the Bible, I would recommend you lead from a study written for a group and approved by your pastor.
If you don’t know the answer to someone’s question, rather than telling them that you’ll look it up and get back to them, ask the people around the room if they know the answer. If not, try asking one of them to look it up instead. Encourage others to learn and search for answers.
5 Tips And Tricks To Facilitate A Bible Study
There are a lot of important pieces to a study in addition to the actual Bible study section. I like to think of it in blocks of time. Here’s a great way to break up the time for an hour-long Bible study:
- 10 minutes to connect.
- 10 minutes to read/focus/pray.
- 30 minutes to discuss.
- 5 minutes to focus on application.
- 5 minutes to share/pray/close.
If your time is longer or shorter, just adjust the time! There’s nothing magical or required about the time segments, that’s just usually where I land. I want to walk you through each time section and why they’re important.
1. Time To Connect
People often come in with stuff in their hands, they’re distracted and need to share things with their Bible study group. Just like kids need to get their wiggles out, adults need the same thing. Guide this time, and try to manage it. You could try group sharing and allow each person 1 minute to tell the group whatever they want/need or what happened during their day/week. If this doesn’t work because you have a lot of people who love to talk in your group, try splitting off into small groups next time.
2. Read/Focus/Pray
Transition into the study. You can do this by reading a scripture out loud. The public reading of scripture is so powerful. You could go around in a circle and have everyone read a small part of the passage, or you could have one person read the whole thing. You could even read it again and give everyone a chance to just close their eyes and let that passage sink into their hearts. After you read it, ask everyone what word or phrase stood out to them. This isn’t the time for an explanation or a story, just to express what stood out in the passage.
3. Discuss
If you’re leading from a written study, more often than not, there will be discussion questions that you and your group can work through. If you’re studying straight from Scripture, you’ll probably have to set up some questions. These open-ended questions could be:
- What stands out to you?
- Why does this matter?
- What would being in this story feel like?
- How can I apply this?
A good tip for participation in the Bible study discussion is to have everyone write down one word that stands out to them. Have each person share a phrase or word, and explain. You can call on people, go in a circle, or simply ask if anyone wants to share. Remember, this discussion time is voluntary. Not everyone has to talk if they don’t want to.
4. Application
Hopefully, you asked the question, “So what?” Use this time to ask people why this topic matters. It’s also important to get into what to do now, as a result of what you’ve learned and talked through. Ask people what they’ll apply and what will change in their lives. If there’s no application, there’s no point to any of it.
5. Share/Pray/Close
This is your time to bring the group back together in community. Remember, we are all in this together, and we have God in it with us! Use this time to share the responsibility within your group. Let others pray and maybe close it all out together.
You Can Do It!
If you’re nervous, your humility is quite a gift. If you’re a talker, the skill to learn is how to draw others out, help them learn and express themselves, and create a safe place where others feel free to share even if they don’t have the right answers every time. It’s not about how great of a speaker or teacher you are, the real skill is in drawing others into participation and building their confidence. It’s all about helping them see their value and worth, and that our amazing God is speaking to everyone, not just to those leading.
The people in your group don’t need someone in the middle, they need truth. They need to realize that God is speaking right to them too. This is the highest value when you facilitate a Bible study. Isn’t that worth learning to do well? Shouldn’t we strive to facilitate this type of transformation?
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