![]() There are many different places to go to get ideas for group Bible studies. Photo credit: ©Getty Images/dusanpetkovic In a world where the truth is under attack, this could be a great study to help people really know and understand what they believe. I was having a conversation with someone recently and he mentioned that his wife is in church every Sunday, taking notes on the sermons, but didn’t know many of the foundational doctrines she believed and where to find them in Scripture. This might not sound as glamorous as some of the others, but this would be a great study, especially if you have newer believers in the group or people who have never done it before. Now that you have a general idea of the different types of studies, I want to make a recommendation of one topical study to consider for your next group Bible study. A Suggestion for Groups to Strongly Consider Make sure you set strong ground rules and allow God’s word to be the deciding factor, not popular opinion. You can take those issues and do a study of how to address those from a Biblical standpoint.Ī word of caution if you are going to deal with social issues – these can be divisive, so be prepared. The other approach is to look at an issue that we are dealing with in society or life, for example being a witness at work, how to find your purpose, or some of the other challenges facing our society. You can find a topic within Scripture, for example prophecy, and examine what the Bible says about it. These are studies that are centered around themes or topics. Remember, God doesn’t leave the warts out, so there is a lot to learn that is applicable to our lives today. Here are some suggestions for group character studies – Joseph, Sarah, Elijah, Jonah, Peter, James, Saul, David, Jonathan, Martha, Lydia, Daniel…the list just goes on and on.Ī good way to narrow it down is to think about the makeup of the group and find people in Scripture who possibly fit the makeup or match some of the situations people in the group face. Now, a character like that won’t allow you to study him for weeks or months, but there are lots of these in the Bible which can create a wonderful and exciting group study. He is not one of the more well-known people in the Bible, but simply reading about him gave us insights and truth from a person who is not on the list of the usual people we study from the Bible. In my online Bible Study, as we were going through the book of Philippians, Paul mentions a man named Epaphroditus. This gives you so many options.įor example, you might want to do a study on the less popular characters in the Bible and see what you can learn from their lives. Some of them take up large portions of scripture, like David for example, while others may only be mentioned in one chapter and sometimes even in one verse. There are literally dozens of people you can spend time studying in the Bible. We get to see our heroes of the faith, warts and all. The beauty in this is God doesn’t hide the humanity of the people in the scriptures. Character studies are insightful because they draw you into the life of the person. These are studies of the various people who are part of the Bible. Judges – If you want to see the pattern of Israel, their sin and God’s faithfulnessĪs I said, there are sixty-six to choose from and you can’t go wrong with which one you choose. Proverbs – If you want to garner wisdom and apply it to everyday life James – If you want to understand how to live a practical Christian life The Gospels – If you want to look closer into the life of Jesus Romans - If you want to dive deeper into doctrine Another great byproduct of doing book studies, especially if you go through them verse by verse, is it forces you to encounter the truth that is in the text in front of you. You could choose certain Psalms to go through or you could have each person in the group choose their favorite Psalm, and those are the ones you study together as a group. However, if you are interested in studying a book like Psalms and you don’t have three years, here is a way of doing it. It could take you more than three years to go through the entire book of Psalms and that is if you did one chapter a week. For example, Psalms has one hundred and fifty chapters. For example, if your group meets once a week and you want a six week study, there are books of the Bible you simply can’t cover in that short of a period. ![]() ![]() Depending on the size of your group and how long you plan on doing the study, this can potentially lead you as to which book you will choose. These are simply studies of an individual book of the Bible, and you have sixty-six options to choose from. Let me identify and explain each one briefly and give you some ideas of ways to use them in your group. While there are a myriad of Bible study options, they primarily fall into three groups. ![]()
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