Small Groups | Knowable Word

5 Things to Consider When Framing a Bible Study

August 22, 2014 By Peter Krol

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).

What Do You Expect of Your Bible Study Group?

May 30, 2014 By Peter Krol

The first Bible study I attended in college let me down terribly. I arrived armed with my new NIV Study Bible—a graduation present from my gram—and fresh out of Christian summer camp counseling mode, ready to get busy. At the meeting, nobody else had a Bible. We never spoke of the Bible. I don’t think Jesus came up much either, except as an alternative lifestyle option. After the study, I wept as I walked back to my dorm room, fearing I had missed the Rapture, for surely I was the only Christian left on earth.

Expectations sure are funny things.

Dani Sarda i Lizaran (2009), Creative Commons

We all have them, but often we don’t realize it until they’re not met. Sometimes we set them disappointingly low to avoid disappointment. Sometimes we set them frustratingly high to push through frustration. We wield our expectations like hot pokers to get people moving in our preferred direction. And we retreat into our expectations to find comfort when life goes awry.

Though expectations can be abused, they are not always a bad thing. God has expectations. God often tells his people what to expect. Jesus called his disciples with expectations (Mark 1:17), and he took care to shepherd them through their expectations preceding his death and resurrection (John 13-16).

As you study the word with others, you may find it beneficial to set and communicate clear expectations. Otherwise, you increase the danger of frustrating or disappointing yourself or others, and you may limit your return on the Lord’s investment.

What expectations should you consider?

Content – what will you study? Will your group be a Bible study or a book discussion group?
Meetings – how often will you meet? What time will the meeting begin and end?
Attendance – do you expect group members to commit to attending, or are you open to sporadic involvement?
Preparation – should attendees do anything to prepare? Do you want them to read the passage once? Five times? Spend an hour or five hours studying it before the meeting?
Participation – is your group more of a cooking class or a cafeteria? Both have their places.
Proficiency – will you aim the discussion at a certain skill level? Should group members have any experience with OIA Bible study before joining this group?

Through the spring, I led a pretty low-commitment, low-expectation Bible study, though I did ask members to read the passage once and consider a few questions before each meeting. The expectations were just right for the group of people we had, though by the end many of them were ready for something more.

This summer, I’ll be leading a Bible study with a higher octane rating. It consists of 13 hand-picked people who are learning to minister to others. I’ll expect them to commit to weekly 90-minute meetings and 3-5 hours of preparation. I’ll communicate up front that, by the time they arrive at the meeting, they should know the text well enough that they won’t need a Bible in front of them to discuss it.

There’s a time and a place for different sets of expectations. But if you’re not clear on them, the law of entropy will drag you down to a slow crawl every time. And disappointment may drown discovery. Don’t wait for circumstances to decide outcomes; life is too short, and Christ’s mission is too important.

But if the Lord has different expectations than you have, go with his. It’s much easier that way.

Growth Groups: Colin Marshall

May 21, 2014 By Peter Krol

Colin Marshall has been training people in small groups ministry for over 25 years, and he’s given the rest of us a superb manual in his Growth Groups: A Training Course in How to Lead Small Groups. Over the last year, I worked through this material with the co-leader of my small group. Few books have influenced me as deeply as this book has.

Marshall covers everything from small group strategy to Bible study preparation to leadership development. He explains how to ask good questions. He demonstrates how to respond to difficult people. His manual is short and to the point. His writing is clear. His use of Scripture is remarkably careful and inspiring.

Here are some of my favorite nuggets:

Christian groups are not primarily about helping people with their problems…The focus of Christian groups is growth, not problems.

As well as communicating the meaning of the Bible, the studies we prepare should teach good habits for interpreting the Bible.

We tend to give commentaries more authority than they deserve.

To apply the Bible to our group we need to be studying and understanding our group members and the context in which they are living as Christians.

These are sure-fire conversation stoppers: saying an answer is wrong, refusing to discuss an issue, or saying ‘It’s different in the Hebrew text.’

Even though he is teaching through discussion, the leader must be able to guide the group to right conclusions.

We don’t want to become spiritual guides for people and make them dependent on us rather than God.

If you’d like a decent resource to help you learn to lead a small group (or train others to lead them), I couldn’t recommend this book any more highly.

A few warnings:

Forget about buying this one from Amazon. I’m not sure why Amazon has weird editions (perhaps it has something to do with the book’s being published in Australia). Just go with Westminster Bookstore.
Be careful not to end up with the Trainers Notes (basically, the leader’s manual) unless you get it in addition to the regular/student manual.
Watch out! Marshall will challenge your assumptions about the purpose of small groups, how to handle needy people, and what to do if your group loses steam.

Check it out!

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