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3 Ingredients for a Satisfying Bible Study

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How would you like to eat a spoon of flour? Thought so. What about gulping down 1/4 cup of vegetable oil? No takers? How about eating a tablespoon of salt? No way? How about letting a couple of farm fresh eggs slide down your throat like Rocky Balboa? You’ll pass? But what if I mixed all of

those ingredients together and added some chocolate chips (and sugar) and baked them for for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees until golden brown? Any takers for some hot, out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies? Now we’re talking! Any of of the ingredients by themselves aren’t palatable, but when mixed together, something wonderful is created.

Likewise, every Bible study you teach has certain ingredients that go into it. When you learn to mix them together in just the right order and quantity, something great takes place.  Any one of the by itself is not nearly as good as when they are all mixed together to form a Bible study.

There are three key ingredients.

First, you need a strong opening.  Some educators call this the “hook,” while others use a term like the “motivation” stage. Whatever you call it, it’s the part of the lesson where the group leader captures everyone’s interest and directs the group members’ attention to the session title, the teaching aim, and a central truth that will be explored. Some group leaders will ask a great discussion question to open the study. Others will refer to a current event. Still others may show a video clip or read a quote from a book. No matter what the hook is, the goal is to redirect group members’ attention toward the lesson. Don’t make the assumption that people have arrived to your Bible study with an eagerness to learn and apply Scripture. You must get their attention first – this is the very first ingredient that must be present.

Second, you want to sprinkle in a variety of learning approaches. Appeal to your group members’ preferred learning styles and make sure to include a variety of learning approaches over time. Create smaller groups and use triads or quads to help group members open up and discuss their answers to a discussion question. Use visuals like a PowerPoint slideshow, a poster, a map, or something you’ve written on a marker board to appeal to visual learners. The list goes on, but the idea is to have enough variety over time that each of your group members feels you’ve crafted an activity just for them – one they really get into and appreciate – and learn from! An excellent resource to learn more about the various learning approaches is the book 7 Kinds of Smart.

Third, finish with a strong closing. If you’re going to create a masterpiece, you can’t fall short at the end! The application stage of Bible study is the time when you can help your group  members answer the question, “So what?” as they think about the Bible study. Give practical suggestions for applying the truths from the Bible study session. Make sure that the suggested applications are achievable and measurable. Take into account the spiritual maturity level of your group as you craft these. If you use an “ongoing” curriculum, the creators of those Bible studies have built this into each of the studies.

Creating a pleasing Bible study isn’t hard at all if you’ll base it on these 3 ingredients (strong opening, a variety of activities, and a strong closing). Think of your Bible study in 3 stages:  motivation, examination, and application. When you break a Bible study down into these three ingredients, you are well on your way to creating an experience your group members will love.

Ken Braddy manages LifeWay’s adult ongoing Bible studies, has written several books on Sunday School and group ministry, and blogs daily at kenbraddy.com
Church Leadership

Identifying Potential Leaders Within Your Small Group

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by Brian Phipps

Moses identified and developed Joshua. 

Elijah identified and developed Elisha. 

Jesus identified and developed Peter. 

Paul identified and developed Timothy. 

Who have you identified and developed to lead in your group?

Identifying and developing new leaders can be one of the most exciting and fulfilling practices for a small group leader. Yet based on my experience and the experience of many others I have spoken to, developing new leaders seems to be a lost art that only a few enjoy. Current leaders simply are not raising up new leaders. It does not need to be this way. 

The process of developing new leaders is simple: 

Identify your new leader.

Partner with your new leader.

Release your new leader.

This article’s focus is on identifying potential leaders. Many leaders falter at this step because they start by looking for a person’s group-leading competency. I often hear leaders say, “No one in this group is ready to lead.” While that statement may be true, it is partly true because they have never been given a chance to lead or they were asked to lead without adequate preparation. 

If you want to see more potential leaders in your current group, don’t start by looking for their competency. Start by looking for the following four criteria: 

Character 

Is this person growing? Are they taking next steps in their faith? If so, they have character. They do not need to have “arrived” at a certain level to begin developing their leadership ability.

Consistency

Does this person regularly show up for group? Are they consistently prepared for the conversation? Do their actions correlate with their words? If so, they are consistent.

Chemistry 

Does this person get along with most everyone else? If so, they have favorable chemistry. I do not know anyone who gets along with everyone, but I do know some who do not get along with many. Good group leaders are generally those who get along with most people.

Charisma

Do you and other people in the group listen when this person speaks? Does this person have people hanging around them before and after the group? If so, this person has charisma.

The ICNU (I see in you) Conversation

If a person meets these four criteria, it is time to initiate an “I see in you” conversation with them. Invite this person to come 15 minutes early to a group meeting to share what you see in them. This is such an encouraging exercise! After sharing the specific ways you see character, consistency, chemistry, and charisma in them, tell them that these are the four most important qualities you look for in a new group leader. Before they have a chance to respond, let them know that you want to work with them over the next few weeks to prepare them to lead the group. It is during this process that you will measure their competency.

If a person meets three of the four criteria, you can have a similar conversation with them. Have the ICNU conversation and how the three criteria you see are three of the four you look for in a new leader. The only difference in this conversation is that you will encourage them to consider asking Jesus to develop the one criteria that is missing. 

For example, if consistency is missing encourage them to ask Jesus to give them a desire and commitment to be more consistent. If they are missing the chemistry element, you can encourage them to pray for Jesus to bear more spiritual fruit in them. Developing this fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control goes a long way in developing chemistry with more people. The most difficult of these criteria to develop is charisma. Even so, God can develop confidence and vision in them that can elevate their potential to lead. If they develop that forth criteria, they too are ready to begin the process that will help you measure their competency.

Four Progressive Steps to Measuring Competency

1.  I do. You watch. We talk.

2.  I do. You help. We talk.

3.  You do. I help. We talk.

4.  You do. I watch. We talk.

Much has been written about these four steps of leadership development.  The brilliance of this process is the ability to measure person’s competency incrementally, minimizing embarrassment and perceived failure by thrusting them into a leadership situation prematurely. If a person moves through all four phases of this process successfully, it is time to enter the second phase of developing a leader, partnering with a new leader. I will cover that exciting topic in a later blog.

A Simple Tool

Identifying a new leader is not difficult, but it does take intentionality. One helpful tip for keeping this a priority is to have a notepad that you keep with you while leading your group. List out the four criteria on that notebook with space between each of them. When you notice someone demonstrating a given criteria, put their initials under that heading. When they get their initials under three or four of them, it is time to have those conversations.

A Promise

Over and over I hear how awesome it is to be a grandparent.  Almost every grandparent I know says it is WAY better than being a parent! Currently, I have three kids but no grandchildren. If these people are correct, my wife and I have some awesome days ahead because being a parent has been awesome! 

While I am not a grandparent physically, I am a grandparent spiritually. I know the joys of watching those I have invested in turn and invest in others. Their spiritual growth went into in hyper-drive when they started leading just like mine did when I was first asked to lead a Sunday school group many years ago. Their joy went up and my delight in them went up. I believe God smiled too. His kingdom just made room for more people to join and grow.

Start identifying a new leader today!

Brian Phipps is the founder of Disciples Made, a Not For Profit 501c3 Ministry that provides turn-key and custom disciple-making tools that integrate online and in person experiences. Brian coined the “Outcome Focused, Habit Fueled, and Content Flavored” language of the intentional disciple-making environment which provides increased spiritual effectiveness in traditional small group systems. Brian’s vision is to leverage the small group strategy to catalyze 50 Disciple-Making Movements in 50 Cities by 2040. 
Brian served for nine years as the Next Steps pastor at Westside Family Church in Kansas City, KS. Brian is also experienced as a church planter and senior pastor. Brian received his BA in religion from the University of South Carolina, and a Masters of Divinity and M.A. in Counseling from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. Brian and Carol were married in 1994 and have three children, Hannah, Sam, and Caleb. 
Church Leadership

Tuesday Thoughts: The 4 D’s – The Debater

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Okay, we’re having a conversation about the EGRs in your group and that stands for extra grace required people. And Those are just simply people that may take a little bit more of your patience, a little bit more of your time than everybody else in the group. Also refer to these as the four D’s and the first week we talked about the dominator. That’s somebody who just dominates the conversation during the group time. Then you’ve got the dodger, which is the opposite of the dominator, and they’re somebody who doesn’t enter into the conversation. Then you have the debater and the drainer. And today for just a minute, I just want to talk about what do you do if you have a debater or debaters in your group time. So these are people who want to debate the study. They want to debate the conversation. Now, some debate is, okay, and if you’re studying the whole Bible, you’re going to have some controversial topics that are going to require some discussion, but at the end of the night, we want the truth of God’s word to the land. So what do you if you have somebody who always wants to debate it, there are four things that you can do that I think will help as you lead your discussion.

The first thing is to prepare. Be prepared before the group time. Read through the discussion guide, make sure you know where the finish line of the discussion needs to go, so when you have that debate, you can kind of move them towards God’s word.

Second thing that you want to do is study. So make sure that you study the whole passage, the whole scripture that it’s not just one or two verses, so as you studied together with the group, refer to other passages that kind of bring more light to the topic than just one or two verses refer.

Refer to a study Bible like the CSB Study Bible that will help shed a little bit more light on the topic that you’re studying.

And then finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help. If there’s a debate in the discussion and you don’t know the answer or you don’t know where to take it, be okay with saying, you know what? We’re going to stop it right here for tonight. I’m going to ask a pastor this week and then we’ll refer back to it in our group meeting next week, and that’s okay to do so. Make sure that you prepare you study, you refer, and then be okay to ask for help.

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Teams at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN., and Seacoast Church in Charleston, S.C., prior to becoming the Discipleship and Small Groups Specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is the author of  Small Groups for the Rest of Us: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes. You can follow his blog at www.chrissurratt.com.

Church Leadership, Group Leadership

Take Sunday out of Sunday School if you want a Healthier Ministry

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“Sunday” is quite the misnomer. My understanding of Sunday School is that the best Sunday School happens after noon on Sundays and continues through late Saturday night six days later. As I’ve told training conference attendees before, “There isn’t anything ‘Sunday’ about Sunday School done right.” Sunday School done right is a 24/7 ministry that should find group members engaging with one another and their communities weekly.

“School” also may not have quite the right connotation about what happens in many Bible study groups. School is a term that may conjure up images of boring times, uninteresting subject matter, and teachers who didn’t “get us.” In many Sunday School groups, the teaching is discussion-centered and learner-centric. It is a far cry from the mental image some people have about Sunday School.

The best thing many of our groups could do is to take Sunday out of Sunday School. We should see Sunday School as a 24/7 ministry and not something we only do for an hour on Sunday morning. A few ways to do this include:

  • Contacting every absentee each week.
  • Fellowshipping together as a group regularly
  • Engaging in ministry as a group
  • Contacting and praying for one another throughout the week
  • Challenging group members to remain in God’s Word daily as they continue to wrestle with the truths discussed in the group’s Bible study

If Sunday School is only about Sunday, I believe it will struggle to be attractive to current and new members of our churches. It can be so much more than an hour of Bible study before or after the morning worship service. If, however, we take the “Sunday” out of Sunday School, it will become a vital part of who we are as the body of Christ. If we make Sunday School a true 24/7 ministry, its best days are still ahead.

Ken Braddy manages LifeWay’s ongoing adult Bible studies and is a 20+ year veteran in Sunday School ministry. His new book, Breathing Life Into Sunday School, releases in April 2019.
Church Leadership

Three Key Areas to Target in Group Studies

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by Deborah Spooner

Yesterday was the day.

While the first week of September means Labor Day plans for many, many overlook September 6th: National Read a Book Day.

Read a book day? Yes. If we want to lead, we need to read. If we want to grow, we need to read. If we want to bring others deeper into God’s Word, we have to digest words ourselves. After all, a key way God gave us His message was through the written Word itself.

What would reading specifically targeted studies do for you, your group leaders, and your groups? We often miss out as we chose and read studies, but we can make a change. Be intentional as you use studies to…

  1. Develop your group leaders.

You have your leaders leading studies; yet are you prioritizing developing them as not only group leaders, but also followers of Christ? With a little more intentionality, you can help prepare your leaders to maximize their time with the group. When they’re better at what they do, they can better guide others.

This developing is simple. Help develop their understanding of why groups and classes matter through studies such as Allan Taylor’s Sunday School Matters: 12 Matters that Matter to Your Church. Fuel their passion for their role as mentor through studies such as Chuck Lawless’s Mentor: How Along-the-Way- Discipleship Will Change Your Life.

  1. Equip others to engage with culture.

Culture. It’s a buzzword, but we often get caught in the buzz and don’t engage the world around us deeply through our words. We share opinions, but are we sharing strategies and tactics to both truthfully and lovingly engage real people in real places? If we are not intentional in equipping our groups to engage, they will turn elsewhere to learn how.

We can constructively discuss social and political issues through studies such as Russell Moore’s Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel. We can delve deeper into issues such as sexual immorality and abortion through David Platt’s Counter Culture.

  1. Catalyze groups to rethink the mundane.

What if ordinary was actually opportunity? People in our groups can become so disillusioned with life’s daily tasks that we miss what life could (and is) able to be. Daily can mean daily opportunities to make a difference, and each moment is a chance to not only serve but also to actually be happy. 

Start shifting perspectives through delving into how we can, regularly, make acts of service a part of life’s rhythms in Tony Merida’s Ordinary: How to Turn the World Upside Down. Uncover how, each day, God doesn’t even just want us to be happy but also commands it through Randy Alcorn’s Happiness: God’s Invitation to Delight, Celebration, and Joy. 

Reading matters. Not just on National Read a Book Day, but every day. Targeting specific, often underemphasized areas to read and study might just even bring more growth to your group than you think.

Deborah Spooner is a Minnesota-born analytical creative serving as a Marketing Strategist for LifeWay’s Groups Ministry. As a pastor’s daughter with a background in Digital Communications and Media and Biblical & Theological Studies, you can find her at her local church, in deep conversation, or with a book or pen in hand as she seeks to know Christ more and make Him known.

 

Group Leadership

Leadership Development is Like Coaching Baseball

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by Eddie Mosley

You may have completed your annual planning schedule for this year. You and your team have thought through the training, connecting, and celebrating needs for the year. Your hopes of success in each of these have you excitedly nervous. I have been where you are and know the planning and team preparation that it takes to bring each of these to fruition. But I want to challenge you on a development area that we often overlook in our training events: the needs of the individual.

After years of being involved in baseball, clearly a team sport but heavily dependent on the individual, I discovered the need for individual training. The team will practice several days a week working on plays, defensive positions, and hitting. The hours fly by and practice comes to an end, but the first baseman has not improved on scooping the bouncing throws from the shortstop. A couple of the pitchers fail to hit the strike zone. And of course, three of the hitters did not hit a single ball to the outfield. Some teams will end practice feeling that they have completed a “good practice.” However, the successful teams realize the value and necessity of individual workouts and lessons after the practice. Some players pay a lot of money to have experts train them individually on the areas of the game they need improvement.

Compare a baseball team’s experience to your small group ministry. We brag on how many or what percentage of our leaders attending the annual (or even better, quarterly) small group leader training event. We walk proudly through the halls of the church having completed another “good” training event. But wait a minute, what about the leader who still feels inadequate to field the Bible study questions? Or the leader, who continually hits the same conclusion, but fails to develop a co-leader. Or the leader who gets through the material, but fails to hit the strike zone of application for the individuals in his or her group? What if we learned from baseball and adjusted our training to include the development of individual small group leaders?

Our small group team did just that. Just like the successful baseball teams, we do not leave the “success” of our small group ministry to a few mega-training events per year. We plan the institutional training events, and then add individual coaching and development for the leader’s needs. Here are a few coaching questions that have influenced our leader development:

  1. Tell me about your devotional/quiet time life.
  2. Where do you seem to connect with God more deeply: Worship, Solitude, Prayer, Bible study?
  3. What do you find most fulfilling or rewarding as a small group leader?
  4. How can I pray for you?

A few of the ways we implement the individual training is through breakfast or lunch meetings and/or individual meetings with the leaders. Just like the players who seek out individual instruction to hone their skills, leaders need to know they have the same opportunity in your ministry.

Eddie Mosley has served as Small Groups Pastor at LifePoint Church, a multi-site campus in Smyrna, TN, since 2005. His enthusiasm for seeing life change happen in the lives of individuals in his church, neighborhood and community is infectious. Eddie is author of Connecting in Communities, Understanding the Dynamics of Small Groups and various other articles on practical approaches to reaching people for Bible study. Eddie earned a M.Div at Southern Seminary and a D.Min at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a sought after speaker for small group ministry as well as neighborhood impact. His passion is to help pastors and leaders develop strategy to implement Small Groups in the local church which build community and impacts their communities. 

Group Leadership

Five Things to Do When There’s a Breakup in Your Group

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Dealing with the aftermath of a broken relationship within a small group can be extremely tricky for a leader. It would be easy for group members to choose sides and splinter the group. But the way the leader responds will set the direction of health and reconciliation for the couple—and the group.

Here are five things a leader should do when a breakup happens:

  1. Do not take sides.
    The leader’s and members’ roles are to love both people unconditionally. Taking sides will guarantee a split in the group.
  1. Guide the couple toward professional counseling.
    The leader or members should not take on the role of mediator between the couple. Talk to a pastor at the church about where to point the couple for biblical counseling.
  1. Help them find new groups.
    If it’s impossible for them to stay in the current group, work with the church leadership to find a group where they can begin to heal.
  1. Be honest and open with the group.
    Rumors and speculation will destroy the trust of the group. If there are members who are personally affected by the situation, meet with them individually outside of the normal group meeting time. It might be best to offer to meet with one of the church pastors at this point.
  1. Allow God to strengthen relationships in the group.
    Satan wants nothing more than to destroy marriages and relationships, and he will use this opportunity to plant seeds of distrust. Use this time to help couples in the group rededicate themselves to God and to each other. This is an ideal time to take the group through a good relationship study like this one.

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with over 23 years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Team at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN, and was on staff at Seacoast Church in Charleston, SC, for 15 years. He is also the Small Group Specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. Chris’s first book, Small Groups For The Rest Of Us: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes, was recently released by Thomas Nelson. You can follow his blog at chrissurratt.com or follow him on Twitter @chrissurratt.

Group Answers Podcast

Group Answers Episode 53: Todd Adkins on Building Your Leadership Pipeline

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:23 — 47.2MB) | Embed

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On this week’s episode, Brian and Chris join Todd Adkins, Director of Leadership at LifeWay Christian Resources.

Brian, Chris, and Todd answer the following questions:

  • How do you gauge the spiritual health of a church?
  • How can you re-contextualize the business world in the church setting?
  • As a small group leader, how do you play not to win, but to get better?
  • What is leadership development?
  • Why is it important to develop, or disciple, small group leaders?

Click here to get free small group leader training on Ministry Grid during the month of February.

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Small Groups For The Rest Of Us.

GUEST: Todd is the Director of Leadership at LifeWay Christian Resources. Lifeway Leadership is responsible for ministrygrid.com, the Leadership Pipeline conferences, and the New Churches Podcast. Todd participates in Leadership Pipeline coaching, where he has facilitated in the coaching of over 2,600 church leaders. Todd is also the co-host of the 5 Leadership Questions Podcast, along with Eric Geiger and Daniel Im. Todd has a Master of Divinity at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Master of Arts in Leadership.

Group Leadership, Uncategorized

Links We Love

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Here are some of the top articles LifeWay Groups Ministry has been reading and sharing:

Michael Kelley: Christian, Discipline Yourself to Forgive

http://michaelkelley.co/2017/11/christian-discipline-yourself-to-forgive/

LifeWay Women: Learning From Leaders – Four Essentials When Bringing People on the Team

https://www.lifeway.com/womensministry/2017/11/20/learning-from-leaders-four-essentials-when-bringing-people-on-the-team/

LifeWay Men: How to Respond to Distractions to Your Productivity

http://blog.lifeway.com/leadingmen/2017/10/24/how-to-respond-to-distractions-to-your-productivity/

Eric Geiger: 4 Ways Leaders Can Express Gratitude to Those They Manage

https://ericgeiger.com/2017/11/4-ways-leaders-can-express-gratitude-to-those-they-manage/

LifeWay Leadership: Seven Costs to Being an Evangelistic Leader

https://www.lifeway.com/leadership/2017/11/10/seven-costs-evangelistic-leader/

What links have you been reading and sharing? Share your favorites in the comments below!

Group Leadership

A Letter to Small Group Pastors: Why It’s Important to Count Your Numbers

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by Boyd Pelley

Pastors are generally not numbers people. Small group pastors, especially, are more oriented to shepherding than accounting. If this is you, then measuring seems tedious, time-consuming, and not something you are wired for. You are more interested in reaching, discipling, and serving people. Yet I challenge you to think about measuring your groups through another lens. Here are three reasons to measure the size of your group:

1. You want to reach lost groups.

Lost groups are groups that don’t meet anymore or, when they do meet, less than half of them bother to show up. These are groups that are wandering around the open country separated from the vision, values, and strategies you are providing as their shepherd. Like the shepherd in Luke 15, you need to count to identify which groups have lost their way.

2. You want to build groups where disciples are made.

When you go to lost or struggling groups, you have an unbelievable chance to pick them up and carry them back to the vision and goal of Christian life together. Group members usually wander off course because of conflict, poor leadership, disagreements, or other relational problems. When these things happen, people stop coming; groups stop meeting. But if you measure and spot these trends in your small groups early on, then you have the chance to go to them, learn what’s going on, and help them grow in their walk with Jesus.

3. You need to steward your time to serve people most effectively.

You can’t do everything and be everywhere at the same time. As a small group pastor, it’s easy to only hang out with your healthy groups. In fact, if you measure these groups, you will quickly realize that 80 percent or more attend every time those groups meet. This tells you something is happening in this group that people love. They don’t want to miss—they will even plan their vacation around when their group gets together. These are the groups where new leaders are being formed; you want to stay close to them. But you also need to invest time in the groups that are in critical growth seasons.

It has been said that the best times for coaching in small group ministry are when a group: 1. begins; 2. goes through a stormy season; or 3. needs to reproduce to stay healthy. By developing a system to measure when a group is in any of these three seasons, you can focus your time and energy where it will count the most.

If your primary reason for measuring group life is to brag about your numbers, then you’ve missed the whole point of measuring. Good shepherds measure not to brag, but to reach lost groups, make disciples, and be found faithful stewards.

Boyd Pelley is co-founder and CEO of Churchteams.com. This software for groups and church management was developed during the last half of his 18 years on church staff as a discipleship and family pastor.