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5 Things to Consider When Framing a Bible Study

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Rachel James (2006), Creative Commons

Rachel James (2006), Creative Commons

To lead our groups toward what God has said, we can reframe our Bible studies for different audiences, even when we cover the same text. But how do we go about framing the study for a particular audience? How do we construct a discussion plan for a specific group of people?

1. Don’t get ahead of yourself

The study’s framing is 4th on the list of 5 practices for preparing effective Bible studies. Don’t worry about getting the framing right until after you’ve taken care to 1) depend on the Lord, 2) understand the passage’s main point, and 3) apply the main point to your own life. Work on framing too soon, and you may lose clarity or credibility in your leadership.

2. Consider the group’s size

I’ll prepare a Bible study differently for a small group vs. a large group. With a larger audience, questions must be more direct to keep the discussion moving. If either the question is too open or the answer is too obvious, you’re most likely to suppress interaction. But for smaller groups, open questions like “What stood out to you in the passage?” may work just fine.

Thus in a larger group, I want the passage’s main point to take center stage. I’ll open with it and return to it often. In a smaller group, I prefer to help the group discover the main point through the discussion.

3. Be aware of your relationship with the group

For people he has never met, Paul—though warm—is somewhat formal (Rom 1:8-15) yet bold (Rom 15:15, 24). With close partners and key laborers, he gushes (1 Thess 2:17-20, 3:8, 2 Tim 2:1-8).

The truth itself will never change, but the way you pitch it may change depending on your relationship with your group. In studying 2 Timothy 3:10-17 with my church, I framed it as “What We Believe About the Bible”—personal, inclusive, familiar. I’d hesitate to use language like “what we believe” with a group of people I’ve never met; it might sound presumptuous. A better pitch for them would be “What the Bible Says About the Bible” or “What You Can Expect of the Bible.”

4. Know the group’s values and shared experiences

You’ll build more credibility as a teacher if you know your people. What do they want to get out of life? What brings them together? Why are they coming to your Bible study? What events have recently affected their community? What do they value? How do they talk? What do they do when they spend time together?

When you know your group well, you’ll craft a more personal and relevant Bible study, which produces  higher impact and memorability.

For example, with college students, I try to be hip, but in an awkward sort of way (making it clear that I know I’m not really hip). I do this not to get them to like me but to communicate how much I like them. It’s my jam to understand these students better. For realz.

With families at church, I spend more time sharing about my family and our interactions with other families.

When I’m a guest teacher in a new place, I use that church’s pew Bible, and I listen to informal conversation to find something to incorporate into the study. It’s not hard to uncover a local news event or a church happening or an individual’s hope for the future. Working such things into the discussion (or into the framing of the study) makes the topic more palatable and helps it to stick.

5. Try different things

The key is not to master a set of techniques but to learn to love your people. Paul models such flexible servant leadership as he preaches to different groups of people:

Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt… (Acts 13:17)

Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious… (Acts 17:22)

We don’t teach to feel better about ourselves, nor to earn brownie points for being truth-bearers. We do it to serve God’s people and win outsiders into the Kingdom. We lead by laying down our lives and seeking to enter theirs (Mark 10:42-45).

How I Prepare a Bible Study

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Here are 5 practices for preparing effective Bible studies, and here is a sample of the notes I develop when I lead a study. So much for the ideology and the fruit of my preparation, but what do I physically do? How do I employ this ideology to develop a discussion plan that will hit the target?

Dean Thorpe (2014), Creative Commons

Dean Thorpe (2014), Creative Commons

Depend on the Lord

  1. Pray often throughout the preparation process.

Figure out what God has said

  1. Read the passage. I use my quiet times to study books of the Bible I’m teaching. I’ll read the passage as many times as I can, at least once a day for a few days before a study takes place.
  2. Underline or circle repeated words. I always begin with this practice. It’s so easy, and it makes important ideas pop out. I have a copy of the Bible dedicated to underlining and writing in the margins.
  3. Comparison and contrast, characters, and connectors. I round out my initial study with the rest of these 4 key observation skills.
  4. Ask and answer interpretive questions and determine the author’s main point.
  5. Connect the main point to Jesus.

Allow the message to change me

  1. Apply the passage to my life and my world. I’m not ready to teach the passage until after I’ve seen how I should change.

Decide how to lead the group toward what God has said

  1. Craft the main point into a single sentence. From this step on, I’m creating my leaders page for the discussion.
  2. Outline the passage. I want to identify the main point of each paragraph or stanza in a single sentence.
  3. Consider my group members and develop 3-5 observation and interpretation questions to stimulate discussion.
  4. Develop application questions for the individuals, the group, and our church. I’ve found it helpful to consider both what we should do/think/desire and why we don’t normally do/think/desire it.
  5. Consider what worldly ideas or practices might obstruct application.

Consider the beginning

  1. Craft a good launching question or story that will promote discussion and investigation. Often, I use the launching question to help people apply the main point of the passage (even before we’ve clarified what that main point might be).

Of course, your preparation doesn’t have to look exactly like mine. What have you found helpful in your preparation to lead Bible discussions?

Sample Bible Study Leader’s Notes

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Last Friday, I listed 5 practices for preparing effective Bible studies.

  1. Depend on the Lord
  2. Figure out what God has said
  3. Allow the message to change you
  4. Decide how to lead your group toward what God has said
  5. Consider the beginning
My notes for leading a discussion on Exodus 12:29-13:16

My notes for leading a discussion on Exodus 12:29-13:16

This week, I offer a sample fruit of this model. Here are the notes I created to help me lead a recent Bible study[1]. You may want to open these notes in another window to follow along as I walk through them.

Background

I led this study for my church small group that met in my home. Our group met weekly, though we held a Bible study at only 2 or 3 of those meetings each month. We began studying the book of Exodus in August, and this study on Exodus 12:29-13:16 was our next-to-last study before breaking for the summer. (We live in a university town, so our lives are ones of utter enslavement to the academic calendar.) We ended with a climactic study on the Red Sea crossing (Exodus 13:17-14:31).

Our group consisted of a few undergraduate students, a few young singles, a few young families, and a few divorcées. We have a good mix of genders, generations, and life situations represented.

My expectations for the study were that participants would read the passage before the meeting and spend some time thinking about the following questions:

  1. What happened that Passover night?
  2. How are the Israelites to remember that night?
  3. Why are they to remember that night?

They were also supposed to sign up to bring something for dinner, but you probably don’t need to know that.

The Bible study part of the meeting lasted 1 hour. We didn’t read the text, but dove right into the discussion.

Launching Question

The first 2 minutes of the study are the most important (see Practice #5 in last week’s post), so I set the tone with this question:

What is the most important thing you would like to be remembered for in the future?

Though this was my first question, it was the very last thing I prepared. Everything else on this page of notes came first, as I studied the passage and grappled with the structure, main point, and list of questions to stimulate discussion.

Once I knew where I wanted to go, I was ready to construct the beginning. I wanted a strong question that would get us thinking about applying the main point of the passage, but without giving the whole thing away too soon.

After 2 or 3 minutes of sharing about what we want to be remembered for, we were ready to hit the text.

Main Point

I keep this item at the top of my notes, because it’s the most important thing for us to get to. The discussion was pretty fluid as people would observe many details in the text and ask interpretive questions. But, though the discussion was fluid, I made sure to steer it in the right direction.

By putting the main point at the top, I’m more likely to make sure we get to it. Ideally, most of what comes up in the discussion will move us toward this point. And the study climaxes when we arrive here.

But sometimes, the group discovers a slightly different main point on its own. In those cases, I won’t require them to conclude what I wrote in my notes. I’ll be open and responsive to the text. I must hold my conclusions loosely if the evidence suggests a better alternative.

Supporting Truths

This section of the notes lays out the building blocks for the main point.

First, I list key themes in the passage (“This very day is special…”). Second, I outline the passage by discovering the main point of each paragraph. Third, I make sure to consider how the passage connects to the mission of Jesus Christ.

In the meeting, I don’t walk through these items. They’re in my notes to serve as reminders. When the discussion gets close to something in this section, I want to take advantage of the opportunity to lead the people there.

Observation/Interpretation Questions to help lead to main point

In this section of the notes I list the questions that I will use to stimulate discussion. In this case, I had emailed these questions to the group before the meeting, so I was able to work through them in order. Each question led to a treasure trove of observation and interpretation of the text. I won’t let people get away with an answer without mentioning a verse number or a specific observation that supports what they say.

Applications

This section of the notes lists a range of possible application questions I could ask the group. I rarely have time to ask all of them, but I want to be prepared to lead the group in many different directions.

We want to make both inward and outward application. We should consider head, heart, and hands. And we can consider both individual and corporate application. I try to hit every one of these areas over time, since we’re rarely able to hit every area in every study.

Conclusion

So you can see I don’t use these notes as a script, but as a prompter. I plan the launching question and the first observation question, and then I hope for the best and do what I can to keep us moving toward the main point and application. And I pray, of course. Always pray!

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[1]This model for preparing and leading a Bible study is heavily influenced by Colin Marshall’s terrific book, Growth Groups.

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5 Practices for Preparing Effective Bible Studies

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There’s an incredible market in today’s Christian world for Bible study workbooks and leaders guides. Apparently, many people want to discuss the things of the Lord. And God has gifted some writers to unveil the riches of God’s word for broad audiences. These are good things, but the unfortunate side effects are legion:

  • We train people to believe the Bible on its own is not sufficient for life and godliness.
  • We learn to trust the experts more than we learn to trust the text.
  • We never learn how to get lost and find our way through a passage.
  • We promote a priestly layer of materials mediation between people and God.
  • We communicate that others should not try this at home. Leading a Bible study is too difficult and dangerous for those with fewer than two graduate degrees.

So I’m not surprised when people tell me they’re scared to lead a Bible study. They should be scared if their idea of Bible study is limited to what can be published in a workbook. Not just anyone can take big truths and package them up for such wide consumption.

Generation Bass, Creative Commons

Generation Bass, Creative Commons

But a Bible study doesn’t need to be packaged for wide consumption. No publisher knows your friends as well as you do. Nobody is as well-equipped to bring God’s truth to that small group of people as you are. So why not be his mouthpiece to them?

Here’s how I do it.

1. Depend on the Lord

Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. We’ll bear no fruit unless we stay connected to the vine. For me, this usually means I have to pray before I begin preparing, but prayer isn’t the only way to express dependence. Often, I’ll feel short on time, and I’ll try to rush my preparation and get on to the next thing on my to-do list. But when I get lost in the text, I remember I can’t do it on my own, and I ask for the help of the Holy Spirit.

2. Figure out what God has said

Sometimes we make too much of the difference between studying to grow and studying to lead, as though we’d study the text differently for each purpose. Or as though we should block out devotional time and teaching prep time in different sections of the calendar. But both should look the same: Observe and interpret. Figure out the author’s main point. Once you’re clear on what God has spoken in the passage, you’ll be ready to lead others into that truth.

And don’t read study notes or commentaries until after you’ve wrestled with the text yourself. Take a guess at the main point of the passage before you read what others have said about it. That way your reading will correct your mistakes and connect you to the Christian community without replacing your own walk with Christ.

3. Allow the message to change you

Again, studying to teach is not much different from studying to grow. Your teaching should flow out of your growth. If you’d like to see the text change people, you’ll have to show them how it’s changed you. Invulnerable leaders produce invulnerable followers. But the beginning of wisdom is a soft heart toward the Lord.

4. Decide how to lead your group toward what God has said

Now that you’ve humbled yourself before the text, understanding it and applying it to your own life, you’ll be able to show others the way. Only at this point does teaching prep begin to look any different from devotional study. Consider the main point of the passage and how to frame it in a way that will make sense to your group. Think of what’s going on in their lives that might hinder or promote the truth of Christ in the passage. Consider what lies they believe and what encouragement they need to honor the Lord. Make a list of observation questions that will get them into the text. Anticipate some interpretive questions they might have. Develop some applications for the individuals, the group, your church, and their interactions with the world.

5. Consider the beginning

The most important part of the Bible study will be the first 2 minutes. You’ll want to hook them and give them a reason to engage with the rest of the discussion. So think of a specific story to tell, or a specific question to ask, or a specific application to share. Your first words will set the tone for the rest of the study, so nail that part down.

For most of the study, you’ll have a list of possible questions to stimulate discussion, but you’ll want to keep it flexible to allow the discussion to flow freely. But the flexibility works best when you frame the discussion well from the beginning.

The details of preparation will differ from person to person. But always trust the Spirit to equip you through the text to speak the very oracles of God to your people, so God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs all glory and dominion forever and ever. (1 Peter 4:10-11).