By Hannah Payne

Saying “Yes” to the Call

Saying “yes” to leading a Bible study is saying “yes” to faithfully following a calling the Lord has placed before you. It is saying “yes” to trusting God with your time and how He will use you in incredible ways. It is saying “yes” to linking arm-in-arm with your sisters in Christ and delving into the growth and transformation God has in store for you. You’ve felt the calling to lead a Bible study and the group members who’ve signed up have felt a calling to join you!

We hope this step-by-step guide offers resources, insight, and excitement as you begin your leadership journey.

How to Lead an Effective Bible Study in 7 Steps

Step 1: Rely on the Lord

Rely on the Lord and stay in communication with Him about your journey. Here are some simple ways to rely on Him.

• Seek Clarity: Ask Him for clarity about the words you will share.
• Conversation: Ask Him to create space to draw closer to the members of your study and to Him through your conversations.
• Prayer: Start and end each meeting with prayer and invite your group members to lead in prayer as well. If you aren’t sure where to start, you can begin by praying, “Lord, I love you. Please give me Your words and the humility to tune my heart to what You’d have me say. Thank you for the calling and conviction you have given each of us to join this study. Please allow our conversations to grow our faith and our knowledge of You. Please take away my fear of failure and fill me with the courage and confidence in what You would have me say. Let this study be an expression of my love for You.”

Step 2: Start a Group Chat

Cultivate relationships in your group by encouraging a fun, engaging, and safe dialogue in a group chat. This will ensure that the communication within your group is prompt, clear, and inclusive.

• Build relationship: start a group chat before the first meeting. Introduce yourself and ask a few questions to get the conversation rolling! Even if you don’t get ample responses at first, those initial reach outs will set the tone for your role in the group and begin to cultivate a space to build relationships.
• Set efficient communication: you can also use these initial messages to share pertinent information like the time, date, Zoom code or address for your meeting and to set guidelines and expectations for your group.

Step 3: Create a Comfortable Environment for Women to Share Their Thoughts

It can be intimidating to get deep right away so try starting with some simple ice breaker questions that invite women to get deeper and sets the tone for your times together.

To get you started, here are 5 icebreaker conversations:

• What stage of life are you in?
• What has been your favorite recent life hack?
• What is your favorite way to spend a day?
• What is a moment in your life that you were the most happy?
• What is bringing you joy right now?

Lead by example. Share your heart behind starting this group and ask women to share theirs as well. These first meetings set the tone for the rest of your time together.

Here are some questions to help you go deep in conversation:

• What are your hopes for this study?
• What has God been teaching you in this season?
• Where are you at in your walk with the Lord?
• Do you have any insecurities, doubts or fears around being part of this group?

Step 4: Utilize Your time, Talent, and Treasure

If God has called you to this specific study at this specific time, respect that knowledge, and dive in. We have three forms of currency in this life: time, talent, and treasure.

• Time: Use your time in a God-honoring way by blocking out your schedule, halting any distractions that may impede on this precious time with the Lord each day and week, and respect the gift the Lord has given you to lead.
• Talent: Use your talent to hone your spiritual gift(s) in a way that serves your group. If you have the gift of worship, incorporate that into your meetings. If you have the gift of connectivity, be intentional about creating pathways and space for relationship building. If you have a gift of Biblical knowledge, pour that Scriptural truth and wisdom into your group’s conversations at every opportunity. We are each endowed with our gifts because God desires for us to use them to grow His kingdom (1 Peter 4:10-11). These gifts are not simply resources at our disposal that we can choose to utilize. We have a command from the One who gave us these gifts to share them! Lean in and trust in God’s perfect plan for this shared time.
• Treasure: And finally, ask the Lord how you might use your treasure for this group. It could be buying snacks to create a welcoming environment, it could be feeling a nudge from the Lord to support someone in your group on her next mission trip or fundraising campaign, or it could also look like treating someone to coffee and conversation. Our treasure is first and foremost the Lord’s treasure—let’s be women who steward that well too!

Step 5: Allow Awkward Silences

Silence is not always a bad thing.

If you’ve prayerfully prepared for group, silence doesn’t automatically mean people are not engaged or don’t want to share their thoughts. It could just mean you’ve asked questions that are encouraging them to think critically. When this happens, sit in the silence and wait for the Lord to prompt one of the ladies in the group to share. You can trust the Lord will intervene in incredible ways. Watch. Those moments of silence will turn into pockets of amazing conversation.

Step 6: Encourage Each Other to Rest

Never underestimate the power of rest.

End your meeting by practicing rest as a group. You have no idea what each group member is carrying into each meeting. Small group may be one of the only sources of community and rest they experience in a week. Incorporate the importance of rest by asking everyone to turn off their screens, close their eyes, and listen to a shared worship song. Building rest into your times together will encourage your group to enter into their remaining day and week with a mindset of rest and renewal sourced from the Lord.

Step 7: Connect Consistently

Cultivate both group and individual connections outside of your weekly meetings.

Here are some ideas:

• Send a thoughtful text during the week.
• Mail a handwritten note.
• Arranging a 1-1 coffee date or a fun group activity.

Our relationship with Jesus is not meant to be boxed into a weekly meeting so neither should our relationships with the women we are doing life with! The Lord works in mysterious ways so let’s trust Him with our time and energy in building up these relationships into what He desires them to be.

In It All, Trust the Holy Spirit

There will always be ways for us to prepare and be ready to shape spaces that the Lord trusts us with, but over the preparation, we need to be asking Him for His guidance in real time. If He has called you to this place, He will equip you in His perfect timing! If you are feeling discouraged, reach out to the person who lead you through your first small group and ask them for tips! The work you are doing is so important, never underestimate what God can do when two or more gather together!