On Leading a Bible Study

I just wrapped up my second summer of leading a little backyard Bible study. I am certainly far from being an expert, but I just wanted to share some of the things that I learned from my time leading.

Last summer, I led the study in partnership with Dayton Women in the Word. I have participated in some of their summer studies before, but because of 2020, they did not do any whole group sessions, and instead invited women from the community to lead their own small groups. I ended up getting a small group of ladies from our church and we worked through the book of 2 Timothy together, with the leadership and guidance of Dayton Women in the Word.

This summer, DWITW was taking a hiatus and did not lead a summer study, but I still wanted to participate in a study, so I gathered some of the women from last year and we formed another group. We picked the book of Micah and spent several weeks gathering together and studying it.

Here are some things that I have learned about leading a Bible Study:

• The more I put into it, the more I get out of it. If I slacked off and didn’t do much study or prep, it really showed – not necessarily in the group gathering, but in my heart before, during and after the study. I learned pretty quick that it does me no good to wait until the day of to do my study.
• Meeting weekly is preferable to meeting bi-weekly.
• I don’t have to be certified or overly knowledgeable about the Bible to lead a Bible study. While it is important to be grounded in the Word and know how to study the Bible, the beauty of the Bible is that it is self-sufficient! It is so wonderful to gather together with others and be able to open the Word of God and study it together, despite almost no prior knowledge of that particular topic.
• Let there be silence during Bible Study. It’s ok. Don’t rush to answer every question asked.
• Let others be more knowledgeable than me. Because they are!
• Prepare enough to be able to answer all of my own questions, but if someone else has already answered it, don’t share my answer each and every time. A good leader is able to let someone else answer the question, even if they prepared a really great answer.
• Don’t worry about what other people are thinking of me. It’s not about me.
• It doesn’t have to be pretty or public.

So, HOW does one go about leading a Bible study? I tried to keep it real simple, by texting and inviting 5-10 friends. I don’t usually like a group any bigger than 7, but it is actually very rare that everyone invited can make it. Next, we picked a book of the Bible to study. From there, we just got started using the inductive method of Bible Study. This method touches on several different ways to study the Bible

• Annotation- taking notes on what we are reading (Finding repeated words, phrases or ideas, looking for attributes of God, promises of God, lists or points in a row)
• Study the context of the book (Who was it written to, when was it written, are there other books of the Bible written around the same time that will give us some more insight into this book/passage?)
• Cross-Referencing- looking up any Biblical cross-references in the book/passage
• Comparing Translations- looking up the same passage in different translations of the Bible, seeing what words other translations use
• Outlining- writing an outline of the passage
• Paraphrasing- using your own words to explain what the passage is about
• Reading Commentaries- taking time to read what Biblical scholars say about the passage.

Here is just an example of how we went through Micah and each of these inductive study method:

Week 1: Repetitive Reading: Read through the entire book of Micah 3-5 times

Week 2: Micah 1 // Context

Week 3: Micah 2// Annotation

Week 4: Micah 3 // Cross-Referencing

Week 5: Micah 4 // Comparing Translations

Week 6: Micah 5 // Outlining and Paraphrasing

Week 7: Micah 6 // Reading Commentaries

Week 8: Micah 7 // Final thoughts/conclusions

Each week we are studying just one chapter and implementing just one new study tool in that specific chapter. This breaks it down and makes it so much less overwhelming. By the end of the study, we also find that we are using many of the previous tools and not just the one that we are learning that week. It’s really neat to be a part of!

As I mentioned above, I am not an expert on this, and in fact- there are many ways that I am subpar at leading a Bible study. But I absolutely love to be able to teach and host and I am already looking forward to leading a study next summer. If you have always wanted to lead a Bible study, but feel intimidated, I highly recommend that you go for it. Invite just a small group of people and start with a passage of the Bible.

Here are some more excellent resources (many of them free):

Women in the Word by Jen Wilken

Bible Study Tools by Dayton Women in the Word

At Home in the Word Videos by Dayton Women in the Word

Previous Summer Studies by Dayton Women in the Word