HOW TO START A BIBLE STUDY G L E N N D U K E R
A small-group Bible study is a great way for people to learn about the Word of God without committing to joining a church. Starting one does take a bit of work, though. Not only do you have to find people interested enough in a Bible study to commit to regular meetings, but you need to keep things organized and know exactly what you plan to study. Here are some tips that will help you with that process.
First of all, you should know exactly why you want to start a Bible study. What is your vision for the group? Do you want to introduce young people to the Bible and inspire them to learn more on their own? Do you want to run a group for people who already know the Bible and want to dissect certain passages? There's technically no "wrong" reason for starting a Bible study, but you have to have a reason and a vision. HAVE A VISION
Once you know what your vision for your Bible study will be, it's time to decide who will be there. Ideally, your Bible study should be open to anyone who wishes to partake, but some groups will be more accessible to you than others. If you're a student, your target group might be other students and other young people. If you're a little older, you might want to run a Bible study for parents who are seeking advice on how to raise their children. Maybe your group will be made up of members of your church's congregation who want to study Scripture in a more informal setting. This will largely depend on who you are and what you wish to accomplish, but it will affect how things will progress once you get started.
IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
Your next step will be to decide how you want to handle the logistics of running a Bible study. Decide how often you want to meet, how long your study sessions will be, and which passages you wish to cover. CHOOSE YOUR APPROACH
TRAIN FUTURE LEADERS
Finally, you can't expect to run a Bible study by yourself forever. Either it will get too big for you to handle on your own, or you'll have too much on your plate from everything else in your life. When that time comes, you'll want to have future leaders ready to take over for you. Find someone within your group who will want to take over or start their own Bible study. While it's fun to delve into Bible passages with friends, it's also important to train future leaders who can spread God's Word to others.
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