How To Lead A Bible Study

I haven't watched this, but given the familiar face, I expect it'll be very useful.

Homegroup Plans

We're currently working through Galatians in our homegroups. For the next quarter, the studies might go something like this:

12^th May - (5) Galatians 3:15-25

26^th May - (6) Galatians 3:26-4:20

9^th June - (7) Galatians 4:21-31

23^rd June - (8) Galatians 5:1-15

7^th July – (9) Galatians 5:16-26

21^st July – (10) Galatians 6:1-18 & Review

When we're finished the Passion For Life Prepared for Mission material, we're thinking of studying Galatians in our homegroups. I've been agonizing over what chunks we might tackle it in and I reckon it might go something like this, though I'm not perfectly happy with it.

Introduction to Galatians & Galatians 1:1-10
1:11-2:10
2:11-21
3:1-14
3:15-25
3:26-4:20
4:21-31
5:1-26
6:1-18 & Review

How Not To Lead a (Camp) Bible Study

We had the pleasure and privilege of having some young people from the church Mark serves on camp. I hope we didn't do too much of this sort of thing to them, though I recongnise I've done that kinda thing many a time and probably will many times more!

Notes on the Apostles' Creed

Please feel free to comment or email me if you might be able to use some notes (introduction, Q&As, tips etc.) on the Apostles' Creed which I originally prepared for our homegroup leaders. I could send you a Word document with a couple of pages each of 10 studies.

I might one day get round to editing them and putting them up on line but it doesn't seem the most pressing or important thing to do right now.

Studying The Apostles' Creed

Since I started writing the homegroup notes for our church, we've almost always worked sequentially through books of the Bible. Next term we're going to try something different. D.v. we'll have Bible studies which use the clauses of the Apostles' Creed as a launching off point.

The following might be helpful resources:

Tim Chester, I Believe: The Apostle's Creed 10 studies for individuals or groups Good Book Guide (2007)

Michael Horton, We Believe: Rediscovering the Essentials of the Apostles' Creed (Nashville, Word Publishing, 1998)

Alistair McGrath, I Believe: Exploring the Apostles' Creed (Downers Grove, IVP, 1991, 1997)

J. I. Packer, Affirming the Apostles' Creed (Wheaton, Crossways, 2008) - formerly part of Growing In Christ originally published as I Want To Be A Christian

George M. Philip, The Apostles' Creed: What Christians Should Always Believe (Fearn, Christian Focus, 1990, 1994)

I guess it would also be helpful for leaders to look up the relevant doctrines in something like Bruce Milne's Know The Truth or an evangelical Systematic Theology such as Wayne Grudem's.

I'm thinking the study series might go something like this:

(1) I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

(2) I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

(3) suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

(4) On the third day he rose again;

(5) he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

(6) and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

(7) I believe in the Holy Spirit,

(8) the holy catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

(9) the forgiveness of sins,

(10) the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.

Here's Tim Chester's outline (with suggested Bible passages) taken from the Good Book Company website:

1. Believing in God
'I believe in God' Romans 1 v 18-25 and John 14 v 1-11

2. The Triune God
'the Father...his only Son...the Holy Spirit' John 17 v 20-26

3. The Sovereign God
'the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth' Psalm 33

4. The identity of Jesus Christ
'I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord' Hebrews 1-2

5. The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ
'who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead' Matthew 27 v 11-54

6. The reign of Jesus Christ
'On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead' 1 Corinthians 15 v 1-34

7. The life of the Spirit
'I believe in the Holy Spirit' Romans 8 v 1-17

8. The community of the Spirit
'the holy catholic church, the communion of saints' Ephesians 1-4

9. The work of the Spirit
'the forgiveness of sins' Matthew 9 v 1-13 and Titus 3 v 3-8

10. The hope of the Spirit
'the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting' Romans 8 v 18-39

On 21st January I might speak in our midweek meeting on "I believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit: The Apostles' Creed and the Trinity".

Colossians Bible Studies

Here are some Bible Study notes on Colossians I prepared to assist our homegroup leaders in their preparation. (Word document, 5 studies).

Homegroup Notes on Ruth

Here is a Word document with some notes on Ruth, prepared for homegroup leaders as a (hopefully!) helpful resource rather a complete ready-to-use study. (4 sessions)

Preaching and Homegroup Plans (May-Aug)

When we finish 1 John in homegroups we're going to study 2 & 3 John in a session each. Then I'm thinking of 4 sessions on Ruth.


Here are my Sunday preaching plans for May - Aug:

Continuing through John's gospel in the evenings.

It has been "famous texts from the BCP" in the morning. Not quite sure what next.

Sun 4^th May PM – Water into Wine (John 2:1-11)

Sun 18^th May AM – The Trinity (John 17:1-26)
(Trinity Sunday)

Sun 15^th June PM – The Cleansing of the Temple (John 2:12-25)

Sun 22nd June AM - BCP Communion using lectionary (Ps 84:8ff; 1 Kings 19:19-21; 1 Peter 3:8-15a; Luke 5:1-11) at St Nicholas, Pevensey

Sun 6^th July AM – Let the nations rejoice (Psalm 67)

Sun 20^th July AM – Family Service

Sun 10^th August PM – You must be born again (John 3:1-21)

Sun 17^th August AM – The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15)

I'm thinking of doing a couple of sessions on the Lord's Prayer. I believe there are some sermons by Rev'd Matthew Mason one could plagarise.

After that I'm wondering about a series on the 10 commandments. Would I have plenty to say on each one? And would it be a bit samey?

1 John Bible Study Notes & Commentaries

Here are some notes for homegroup leaders on 1 John (in a Word document).

I've used:

Nathan Buttery, How to be sure: the Good Book Guide to 1 John (The Good Book Company, 2006)

and:

John Stott, Epistles of John Tyndale New Testament Commentary (IVP, 1964)

and bits of:


David Jackman, The Message of John's Letters The Bible Speaks Today Series (IVP, 1988).

I barely opened:

I Howard Marshall, The Epistles of John New International Commentary on the New Testament (Eerdmans, 1978)

and:

Colin G. Kruse, The Letters of John Pillar New Testament (Eerdmans / Apollos, 2000)

The water and the blood

Toiling away on 1 John for homegroup notes.

There are various theories about what John means by “the water and the blood” in 1 John 5v6-7.

According to John Stott, Luther and Calvin took the water and the blood as references to baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Augustine saw a reference to the water and the blood that flowed from Jesus pierced side after his death (John 19:34-35).

According to John Stott, the most satisfactory reading (which goes back to Tertullian) is to take “water as referring to the baptism of Jesus, at which He was declared the Son and commissioned and empowered for his work, and blood to His death, in which His work was finished.” (p178). The false teachers John is opposing may have held that Jesus was an ordinary man on whom the “Christ” descended at his baptism and departed before the cross. John is thus insisting on the reality of the incarnation and especially of the death of the Christ.

Interpretative maximalists might like to know that Stott is somewhat sympathetic to some place for the other readings:

Having accepted that the primary reference of this verse is to the historical events of the baptism and crucifixion of Jesus, it is not impossible that it also contains secondary allusions, since the past events remain present witnesses (8). 'Water and blood', which occur together in some of the Levitical rituals, are intelligible symbols of 'purification and redemption' (Plummer). ... To these aspects of salvation [justification and sanctification] Jesus himself had referred in the discourses which John recorded in chapters iii, iv and vii ('water') and vi ('blood') of his Gospel. Perhaps John also saw them set forth once in the issue of blood and water from the side of the Crucified, and even regularly in the two sacraments. (p179)

Epistles of John, Tyndale NT Comm., IVP, 1964, pp177-179

Towards Better Bible Studies Training

Here's a Word document with some thoughts on how to prepare and lead a Bible Study with some suggested resources. The notes are from a couple of training sessions I ran for home group leaders and others at Holy Trinity.

The Original Christmas Hits (Homegroup Notes)

Here is a word document with some notes intended for homegroup leaders for 3 studies from Luke 1 and 2 on the songs of Mary, Zechariah and Simeon.

Homegroup Leaders' Notes on Jonah

Here are some notes for 4 studies on the book of Jonah I've prepared for the homegroup leaders at Holy Trinity, Eastbourne.

The studies basically follow the chapter divisions:

Ch. 1: The Disobedient Prophet Shown Up By The Pagan Sailors
Ch. 2: God’s Merciful Rescue of the Repentant Prophet
Ch. 3: God’s Merciful Rescue of the Repentant Ninevites
Ch. 4: The Angry Prophet Shown Up By The Compassionate LORD


And here are a few words of explanation and advice for the study leaders:

Please feel free to use the notes flexibly and adapt them to the needs of your group – missing things out or spending more time on one point as seems appropriate. It’s great if you can do some of your own preparation on the text too. I never find it easy to use other people’s questions! Obviously you’ll need to interact with what people say and not just go through the sheets. Remember that ideally we’re neither pooling our ignorance nor preaching a sermon: we’re aiming to ask questions so that people see the truths of God’s word for themselves and are able to apply them to our lives. I’ve tried to write the questions in blocks so that they build on one another and lead towards the points that the passage is making. Sometimes your group might hit on the point in one leap from just one question, in which case you’ll want to pass over some questions. In other cases you might need to break it down, re-word the questions or point at particular bits of the text. Some of my questions are different ways of getting at the same thing so it might be overkill to use them all. I hope there aren’t too many “guess-what’s-in-my-mind” questions!

Personally I would recommend encouraging your group members to read the text in advance but not giving them these notes before the study as the notes give away the points you’re hoping to discover together from the Bible in the studies.

With the notes in an electronic form you can play around with them, if that’s helpful. For example, perhaps one or two questions given out to group members in advance could work well.

Do remember to make time in the sessions to pray in the light of God’s word.

Please feel free to get in touch if you’d like to talk about any of the studies or anything from Jonah.

I’d appreciate your feedback on the notes and on how the groups go.

With my prayers,

Marc

Homegroup and preaching plans

We’re thinking of doing some studies in Jonah in homegroups in the new autumn term followed by some material appropriate to advent.

I’m thinking of preaching a long series on John’s gospel on Sunday evenings and on what might be called some classic “Anglican” texts in the mornings, starting with the first of the 39 Articles and then some Biblical texts that are prominent in the Book of Common Prayer and Common Worship.