How to Help Small Group Read the Bible
Small groups are great. What really makes a small group special is everyone has their own faith journey going on. When we get together and get to participate in each other’s faith journeys, that’s when things really get special and the fellowship is on another level. People are more encouraging, they have greater empathy and compassion. People listen better because their less selfish and more outward focused on their attitudes. Small group members contribute more and share transparently the challenges they are having.
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Other small groups lack this connection. They lack something that solidifies these qualities of a great small group together.
It was a long time before I noticed this quality difference between small groups and started to questions what causes this. What was at the root of superficial small groups, and super-solidified small groups? The secret ingredient, as it turns out, is that in the solidified small groups each member was reading the Bible as a part of their personal faith. In the superficial small groups, people were depending on Sunday service, or worse yet, the small group to carry their faith journey.
If you stopped right now and asked yourself which category your small group is in, what would you say? Do you know if everyone in your small group is reading the Bible? What if not everyone is reading the Bible on their own? How different would your small group be if everyone were reading!?
Here are five ways to help your small group members start reading the Bible.
1. Emphasis the Importance of Reading
The first and most important thing you can do to help your small group read the Bible is to talk about the importance of reading the bible. Emphasis the importance of each person depending on God, and His word for our personal growth and transformation. Make sure in include that Bible is the sole source of truth, and that we need to know that truth. This trust helps us evaluate all the other material we consume. It helps us understand God’ heart so that we better understanding what actions are pleasing or offensive to Him.
Without seeking God’s truth on our own we run the risk of becoming a lost sheep. We don’t hear the shepherds voice. Instead of me covering all the reasons of why it’s important to be reading the Bible, let start our step by reading for ourselves what the Bible says.
Considering passing out these verses in the small group and going around and having each person look it up in the Bible and read it out loud for everyone to hear.
“This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.”
Joshua 1:8
“So faith comes from
Romans 10:17hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
Hebrews 4:12two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
“And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.”
Nehemiah 8:3
2. Review what members have read
Another great way to encourage and keep small group members accountable to reading the Bible is to include time at the beginning of the small group to review what people have read in their Bible’s since you last met. This can be lead out after announcements and either in an open invitation format like, “Is anyone willing to share something you’ve read in the Bible since we last met?” Or you can move to a more direct method like, “Let’s go around the room and each of us takes one to two minutes to share something you read and the Bible and journaled about.”
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Both of these approaches set the stage of the importance of staying in the Word and reading regularity. They communicate to the small group that reading the Bible outside small group is an expectation. The first approach is a soft accountability method. People know it’s going to be there, but they are not pressured to share. The hope is they learn to implement reading the Bible into their personal schedules. Maybe it’s through the accountability, or better yet it’s an opportunity for them to witness the power of the living word in other peoples lives and gives them an authentic, not dutiful, desire to want that same thing in their life.
3. Add it to Small Group Covenant
We’ve talked a lot about the purpose of a small group covenant in other articles. A small group covenant clarifies all the expectations and standards about being in a small group and puts them in a document so that everyone can read, understand, and agree to them. Essentially it’s a formalized document that the standards for the small group.
If you want to learn more how to build a covenant for your small group, read our article Guide to Creating a Small Group Covenant
Adding expectations to this covenant will document this and provide a platform and standards that everyone knows about and has agreed upon.
Have a Q&A time about the reading assignment
4. Q&A Time
Taking the theme of number two a step further you can actually host part of your small group dedicated to the review of what you’ve read in the Bible. I’ve found for this to be successful it’s beneficial for everyone to be reading the same material. So choose a book of the Bible, or books (sometimes it’s good to mix some Old Testament with New Testament and maybe even through in some Psalms or Proverbs) and set the reading schedule. For example, maybe you agree to read through Romans, and you’re going to review one chapter per meeting together. You’ll take twenty to thirty minutes at the beginning of the small group. Let everyone know you’ll be bringing some questions to spur conversations, but they’re welcome to bring any thoughts or observations they have.
Another great way to complement your small group with some Bible Q&A is to pair up with your Pastor and learn what scripture they will be basing their sermon on. Often this will be a whole series and will walk through a whole book of the Bible. Not only will you honor your pastor, but you will be encouraging your small group members to stay in the word.
5. Mini Bible Study
One way to help train your small group to read the Bible without sacrificing the planned small group material is to take a few weeks and do a mini Bible Study. Now instead of just using the first twenty minutes of the small group time, and then moving onto the other material, you are going to commit the whole small group to the Bible for a few weeks or more.
One approach might be to take six weeks to walk through Ephesians together at one chapter per week. Or you can take less time, like three meetings and do two chapters per week. Or you can choose a smaller book of the Bible like Philippians.
For someone who isn’t reading the Bible, having a group set a cadence and hold them accountable to read is very helpful. It’s also nice for someone newer to reading to have an outlet to share their perspective and have a group they can ask questions to that might not make sense.
6. Have the Small Group Material be the Bible
Because reading the Bible is so important, do everything you can to support your small group members in building this habit in their life.
Here is a hard question: If someone in your small group isn’t reading the Bible, should they be reading another book or study guide for a small group?
I say not. If you agree, the final idea you might want to consider is laying your small group plans on the sacrificial altar as your offering to love God by loving his sheep. Let go of your plans and trade them out for using the Bible as your small group study material.
If you do decide to use the Bible as the small group study material we’ve written a whole guide we invite you to read and review.
Small Group Bible Studies:
Here is an excerpt of that article on how to use the Bible in small groups.
What, what, and what system.
When reading God’s word pick a chapter to read. For now, just read it through from beginning to end at a nice cadence so you can start to comprehend it. It’s also a great idea to pray before you read the Bible. Ask the Lord to open up your heart and prompt you at anything God might want to speak to you about. Now read it again, a second time, line by line. Think about what each line and sentence say. When you find a verse that prompts you, stop and study it. Here is what you’re going to do.
1. What does it say?
This is as simple as it gets, and really means just read it out loud. That’s what it says. Do you understand the words? What does it say?
2. What does it mean?
Does it mean something more than what was simply said? Is it a parable? Is it a hidden insult directed at somebody? Can it have two meanings? Ask what it means.
3. What does it mean to me?
Finally, ask what it means to you. If God made you a character in this book, who would you be, and what would He be speaking to you? What does the parable mean to you? Do you own something, are you doing something, are you behaving a certain way that this could personally apply to you?
4. How can you apply this?
This is a very personal question. And there is an infinite way to possibly answer this. The point is, what action or change can you make so that if God were speaking this directly to you He would be glorified by the way you respond?
System 2 – Off Week / On Week
This system works great to give small group members permission to only take what their Bible reading offers them. Does that make sense? Often times we feel a pressure to perform. This happens in church, just like it does in so many other areas of our lives. The assignment works like this;
The first time read the Bible chapter do it without using any external resources or study guides. Just read it for what it is. Just you and God’s word. You can read it over and over as many times as you like, but don’t look at commentary or anyone else’s interpretation of it. Encourage them to read and pick out one or two things that spoke to them, or stood out. Come to the small group ready to share with the group on your takeaways and thoughts.
Conclusion
Reading the Bible is essential and critical to having personal growth in faith and a continual relationship with God. The scriptures confirm this. If you have members in your small group that are not reading the Bible you should encourage them to start reading. If encouragement isn’t enough for them to build this habit in their life, then you should help hold their hand by having some kind of time during small group when reading the Bible can be talked about. This will add accountability and continue to show how important this.
