Mary Willson has a very good article with 5 Questions for choosing Bible study material for women’s groups. Her questions:
- Will this material equip women by encouraging them to study and teach the Bible for themselves?
- Will this material equip women by demonstrating the centrality of Christ and his gospel?
- Will this material equip women by applying God’s Word to real life, showing the Scriptures’ relevance and power to transform hearts?
- Will this material equip women by supporting the overall discipleship strategy I’ve prayerfully developed for this group?
- Will this material equip women by coming under the teaching ministry of my pastor(s) and elders? Does it align with my church’s vision and doctrinal convictions?
Willson has very helpful things to say on each point, and I recommend you check out her article.
And I can’t help but ask a few questions: Why do we assume we must choose good Bible study material? Why can’t we just have good Bible studies? “This year’s women’s study will use Luke.” Would we not inspire people with deeper confidence to study God’s word, if we showed them how to do it? If every study uses another resource, another study guide, or another workbook, don’t we perpetually reinforce the idea that they need the experts to do the Bible study for them? Thus we might unintentionally undermine the first question Willson asks.
Imagine a women’s group (or men’s group, or co-ed group) that sat down with their Bibles, read their Bibles, and discussed what they read. Of course they’d want to reference supplemental materials from time to time to help with the thorniest parts. But what if they helped each other simply to open, read, and discuss? Soon enough, they’d each be able to do it on their own. Then they’d teach others who would teach others. And something truly amazing would take place in our churches and communities.
