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Can you use the Bible as study material for your small group? Absolutely! 

One of the ways a small group can study and learn to apply Biblical wisdom is by studying the Bible itself. Before you pick your Bible and start studying let’s discuss how a Bible study can be different than a small group. Next, we’ll look at how to use a Bible study in In small group. We’ll also look at some different systems for studying. And finally, we will look at some great books of the Bible that make for great study material for your small group.

What the Difference?

As we covered in our article “How to Choose Small Group Material”, a Bible study is focused on understanding what the Bible says and means. 

A small group is focused on how to apply what the Bible says and means to our lives. 

The difference is the application. 

So a traditional Bible study can be quickly turned into a small group by focusing the discussion on how to apply it to our lives. 

I’m often confronted by the older generation in our church questioning, “Why are we not doing a Bible study”, or ‘Why aren’t you using the Bible for your small group material.” I seem to always hesitate because the answer is ‘we are’, and ‘we do’, but it can be a little more complicated than that and the answer still won’t make sense to them. I love the older generation. I’d never want to disrespect them with my short answer. So instead and just let them know we always depend on the Bible. 

That’s a great segway for our next section. 

Study System

There are different ways to approach a bible study. The goal is to get the application out of so that we can change the way we live so that we honor God more. It can often be difficult for someone that doesn’t have a lot of practice to read the Bible and figure out how to apply it to their life. One of the best systems, that I was taught, on how to do this is the ‘What, what, and what’ system. Let me explain. 

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. 

Disclaimer: The words ‘spoke to them‘ can be a Chistianize term that might not be understood by everybody. It really just means that there was some kind of emotional or spiritual response inside of you when you read it. Something in your soul took notice. 

Now the next time you meet, prepare by reading the exact same chapter of the Bible you’ve chosen to study and look at commentaries, resources, study guides, sermons, and whatever you can find. The goal here is to open our minds to how other people have interpreted and applied that same chapter. It’s to increase our awareness of meaning and knowledge and then overlay that new understanding on our previous takeaways. Then ask ourselves these questions:

Did it change my interpretation?

Did it confirm any of my thoughts?

Did it provide any new thoughts or ideas?

Now that we have some ways and systems to use the Bible in a small group as the study material, let’s look at some books that are great to use. (I know we can argue that every book is great to use, and I agree, but some are easier for small groups new to these methods on applying what God says to our lives by using the study systems reviewed above.)

Books of the Bible for Study Material

Hebrews

“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.” – Hebrews 2:12-14

What’s it about?

Here is what insight.org says (http://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-general-epistles/hebrews)

“Throughout its pages, Hebrews makes clear that Jesus Christ exceeds all other people, pursuits, objects, or hopes to which human beings offer allegiance. Hebrews pictures Jesus as better than the angels, as bringing better lives to humanity through salvation, as offering a better hope than the Mosaic Law could promise, as a better sacrifice for our sins than a bull or a goat, and as providing a better inheritance in heaven for those who place their faith in Him (Hebrews 1:4; 6:9; 7:19; 9:23; 10:34). Jesus is indeed superior to all others.”

How to Study

You can use one or both of the systems I described above, or you can complement your reading with a study/application guide. 

Hebrews has thirteen chapters so it can be broken out across a small group schedule easily. If you meet every week and decide to use system 2 above, you can read the chapter alone and review one week, and then study the chapter deeper and review the next week. Meeting every week works very well with this system as it stays fresh on everyone’s mind. 

When It’s Difficult

Chapter 7 can be harder to pull from than the other chapters, but some don’t have a problem. What I recommend when you run into a hard chapter to pull some application nuggets out of, instead write down something you don’t understand. Questions can be great discussions and you can really see some people in the small group shine. The danger here is to have one person start answering all the questions and be a know it all. Even worse is if the person answering starts to pivot and talks about other things and lessons that should have been learned. When it turns from conversations to preaching, you need to change gears. 

Another thing you can do if you run into a chapter of the Bible you don’t get much out of, and struggling to get a nugget out of, is read a different version of the Bible. Use a tool like Biblegateway to switch. If you’re reading the NIV switch to the Message Bible and try reading that. It will often help. 

If you decide you want to compliment the book of Hebrews with an application guide, here are two resources I’ve used. They are both written to be focused for small groups and application. If you use it, please let us all know what you think about it. 

Life Lessons from Hebrews – Max Lucado

This is a great compliment to your study and I really appreciate all the different angles, questions, and additional resources this book offers. Each chapter has a reading assignment. That assignment is to read the chapter of Hebrews in the NIV version. Then read it again in the King James version. The book has all of this in it so you don’t need both versions of the Bible. Then is presents ‘Exploration’ questions to help you dig into the scripture. Many of these questions I did not initially know the answer to and really had to go back and read. It then offers ‘Inspiration’ where he’ll offer an analogy, personal story, or some other story that really helps us understand the text. That’s followed up by ‘Reaction’ questions. These are perfect small questions because they are open-ended and the answers will be different across the members. That’s followed by a ‘Life Lessons’, ‘Devotion’, ‘Journaling’, and then finally other recommended reading you can look up in the Bible and see how other areas support and compliment this chapter of Hebrews. That’s a lot of good stuff. 

The only disappointment I had with this book is that when I went to use it to help me with Hebrews 7, there wasn’t anything. It skips Hebrews 7. I was also a little happy about it because it confirmed I wasn’t doing anything wrong and it must really be hard to get much out of. 

Book: Hebrews (Life Application Bible Studies:NLT)

Campus Crusade for Christ

CRU.org offers not one, but three free studies built specifically for groups. These are all available on their website cru.org and just follow the wizard. 

Their currently available studies include:

• All You Need Is Love: Our Need for Community 
• Called to Kingdom Living (3 Study Series)
• The Father Who Disciplines (9 Study Series)

These are all beautifully done studies that can be downloaded, read online, or printed out and include graphics and professional layout. The only problem here is they are ‘subject’ studies. That means they are not specific to Hebrews, but more specific to the topics in the titles like ‘Love’ and ‘Kingdom living’ and will take you to different books of the Bible. 

Philippians

The book of Philippians is especially fun to read through as a small group because it really has a small group theme to it itself. It talks about fellowship and how important it is. It even talks about a group of believers sharing food together. 

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

– Philippians 2:12-13

This book can really solidify and confirm the purpose of small groups and add to the bond the members feel with one another as it’s revealed this is a practice that started long ago and they are a part of a continual practice that has been continuing for over two thousand years. They are a part of something special. 

I also really appreciate the way it proves out that we should grow in knowledge so that our love may abound. It’s so that we act more, love more, spread the gospel more, we perform acts as His hands and feet. It’s not just so that we’re smarter. 

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”

– Philippians 1:9-11

It’s only four chapters so it can be a quick read but that doesn’t mean it has to be a quick study. There is a lot here and can take plenty of time to review together. It’s also easier to digest and understand for people newer to diving into what the Bible says so you’ll tend to get a higher contribution from the small group members. The book can be covered in a month, or can last up to several. It can work well to pair this book with some other short books of the Bible over the small group season. 

If you want to complement the study with a resource guide to help with your small group study of Philippians I will attempt to recommend some below. 

There are several free studies online. Here is one from Bible.org:

Knowing Jesus, Knowing Joy: A Study of Philippians by Bible.org

https://bible.org/series/knowing-jesus-knowing-joy-study-philippians

I really like the way they implement a ‘Your Joy Journey’ section into this study that really helps turn this from a Bible study to a Small Group study. These questions and answers should really help drive dialog, growth, and encouragement within the small group. 

Philippians – A Life Worthy of The Gospel by Campus Crusade for Christ

https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/bible-studies/philippians-life-worthy-of-gospel.html

This is a very impressive study guide for free. It breaks down Philippians as chapter studies and goes above and beyond by also providing a separate ‘Leaders Guide’ that can benefit small group leaders and proves it was designed with a group approach in mind. 

This study includes some great ‘Apply’ questions that also help us consider our position in this story and help drive our growth. Here an example of a question provided in this very well laid out study”

“What did you see about Christ from this passage that if you experience in the face of difficulty would free you to serve the interests of others?”

Life Lessons From Philippians: Guide to Joy – Max Lucado 

There is one by Max Lucado called ‘Life Lessons from Philippians: Guide to Joy’. I added a link below. Again, I haven’t read this book, but I do trust Max Lucado and feel confident recommending his material. The book has twelve lessons and the description uses words like ‘reflection’ that confirm it’s more of an application guide than a knowledge study. 

Max Lucado actually offers books on a lot of New Testament books that can complement a self-study. I do recommend using these books to complement the small group study, and not to base the small group study on. Another way they can be used is for leaders that are struggling to get conversations going by leveraging the questions in these guides. 

Galatians

The book of Galatians is also rather short with only six chapters. It’s actually a letter from the apostle Paul to the early churches in Galatia. It has an overture of trying to help the church deal with conflict by providing direction and exhortation to resolve these conflicts. It helps point to what is most right, most good, and what our focus should be on to bring us together. 

The book of Galatians kicks it off by presenting to readers there is no other gospel than the one of Jesus Christ. 

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Galatians 1: 6 – 10

Galatians for Beginners by Mike Mazzalongo

If you have a group that is struggling to read the Bible on their own you can consider hosting the study time together at the small group. This is a great way to introduce new believers, or non-believers, to reading the Bible. Another option is playing a video. Sometimes this is even a softer and easier transition for people One great small group resource I found for to study Galatians together as a small group is a YouTube series put together by BibleTalk.tv by Mike Mazzalongo. 

Galatians: An Inductive Bible Study by Grace-Bible.org

http://www.grace-bible.org/resources/bible-studies-and-publications/galatians

Another study available is from Grace-Bible.org called Galatians: An Inductive Bible Study. I haven’t spent much time on this study, no have I read through Grace-Bible.org’s statement of faith. What is nice is they quote scripture, and build a study for free for people. The study also provides ‘Reflection’ questions that are meant to focus on the application of the scripture to our lives. The nice thing about this one is you can download the PDF. That’s great for putting on iPad, or mobile device and even have access to it offline. If you’re into leveraging your mobile device for your study material and aren’t confident that every place that hosts small group as WiFi, this one might be for you. 

Galatians For You by Timothy Keller

If you prefer a hardcover, or soft cover, book in your lap than check this out. I haven’t got to this one yet, but it’s on my list. I’ve read plenty of Timothy Keller’s other books and they hit me hard and always have a strong impact on my faith and the way I walk it out. I trust him as an author and don’t hesitate to recommend this book. If you read it, please let us know in the comments what you think. 

Putting it All Together

If you are in a small group that is devouring books of the Bible then you should consider ‘chaining‘ some of them together. For example, start a small group Bible study in 1 Corinthians and then rock through 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and beyond. 

It’s really great to approach these in Biblical order and I’ve found it can really encourage people to read the Bible. After marching through a study together they feel more confident to read through it on their own. 

Partner with the Pastor

Another great thing you can do when planning a small group Bible study talks to your pastor and find out what he plans on teaching about at church. It really gets people more deeply engaged in the preaching message when they are reading along in the Bible and coming to church prepared with the scripture fresh on their minds. The pastor is usually blessed by this and really appreciates people being more in tune to his message. 

This has the secondary benefit of small group members getting additional knowledge and understanding about the study you’re doing by listening to the pastor. This will compliment the small group and add additional contributions. 

Summary

Using the Bible as a small group study is a great way to bring fellowship together and base your foundation on the truth of the gospel. The one thing you’ll want to be careful of is including questions that focus on the personal application from the knowledge people learn from the study and preventing this form beinging a ‘Bible Study’ group where only Biblical knowledge is the output. 

Consider doing this by looking at some New Testament books fo the Bible and scheduling them over the course of weeks. By including some of the study systems that promote conversation, this can make for great small group material. By taking some time to review available material there is something in every price range and something available for any format that people like to study with. 

We’re confident that by using some of the resources we’ve provided here your small group will have a successfully meaningful and growing small group.