Starting a Bible study in your home can be a great way to get deeper into the word and start a group community. Many groups use group conversations and discussions to start their homeschooling or bible study groups.
There are many ways to start a Bible study in your home. You can create a Bible study group on Facebook, or you can create a new bible study in your home. Either way, you must be ready and willing to welcome others into your community.
You will need good mixers, representatives, and opportunities to share in order for this to work. Once these elements are present, it will begin to generate sparks!
This article will go into detail about these elements and how to start your own home based bible study.
Contents:
Decide what topic you want to study
When you decide what topic you want to start a bible study in your home, it is time to think about how to start a bible study in your home.
There are many ways to start a bible study in your home. Some people use televisions or cable boxes as centers for meetings. Others use books of the Bible as teachable materials.
Whatever you choose, the most important thing is to decide what the central topic of the study is. The famous hunger strike made by Jesus during his execution was focused attention and commitment.
When you have those things, started a Bible study is simple. Start with one person, one chapter, or one verse of the book that we are studying. Then, ask yourself: What does this tell me about me? What does this tell me about God? What does this tell me about our lives? And then, make a decision about how to apply these things in our lives and in God’s life and in our homes.
Buy a copy of the bible
Once you have a group of people interested in reading the bible together, the next step is to buy a copy. You can buy one from your local library, or from a Christian book store, or from an online seller.
This is important because you do not want to buy your copy at a bookstore or from an internet seller. The copies sold at bookstores and from book clubs and sales are usually the best quality due to years of testing and production.
The ones sold by internet sellers may be cheap and thin, making it hard to keep attention on what people are reading. Only buy copies that have money behind them because of force-feeding into your groups.
Buy some commentary on the topic you are studying
These are the notes, study guides, and lectures that the author wrote to present their subject matter in a clear, concise way. This is important as no one likes to read text that is hard to understand.
Buy these materials before the event to be ready if needed. Some topics have been designed with a group in mind, so make sure to look into that.
Participating in a bible study is one of the most gratifying things you can do for your faith. You get to meet other people with similar beliefs, you get to discuss your thoughts on the topic, and you get to learn some new things about yourself.
When participants come together and create a discussion topic, they can start discussing several days out of sequence.
Have people bring their bibles to the first session
Your home Bible study should have a clear purpose. For example, is the group reading the Old Testament or the New Testament? Are they studying the stories or preparing for their next study?
Having only a basic purpose can be difficult when you are trying to plan your group’s next meeting. For example, did someone fail to prepare a New Testament study week in December? Or did someone leave the group before the New Testament was studied?
Having a purpose helps create clarity around what people want from your Bible study and what they can give themselves. It also helps build trust between you and your members as you can tell why they need to prepare for a book or two.
Take time to prepare for the session
In the beginning, your group will probably be too busy leading the study to really get ready. This is why you must have a plan!
To help you get ready, we suggest doing some of the following at least once a year to refresh your commitment. You can also do these in groups or as individuals, both are equally valid.
Month-long group study: Doing one group study per month gives you more time to prepare. You can either spend the time building your knowledge in preparation or combine your studies into one long session.
The two most important things to know in one short session are how to begin a Bible study and what Thessalonians 5:15 means.
Decide a schedule for studying
When you join a Bible study group, you and the other members of the group set a schedule for studying the Bible. In your home Bible study, you can have God at your table!
Like the other members of your group, you must studies on a set schedule. The Bible study that fits your schedule best is the one you should join.
Some days of the week has a special meaning to have a specific book of the Bible studied. For example, Friday nights are usually devoted to studying Scripture about Jesus day by day in his life.
The night before an important biblical reading day, everyone gets a good night’s sleep. This helps ensure that you are ready to read when God calls you to read!
When joining a group, find out what days and what books they assign studies.
Encourage each other toward spiritual growth
A Bible study should also be a place where people encourage each other to grow and develop. This is important in a bible study!
You’d think that after an hour of each other’s time, they would encourage each other to develop. After all, they are spending their time together! But it seems not everyone does that in a bible study.
Developing relationships is one of the most important things a bible study can do. If the people in your bible study don’t develop too, then you have lost something important.
If people in your group don’t feel like they are developing together, then they may start thinking that they aren’t developing because of each other. This could get messy fast!
A Bible study should encourage growth both on the spiritual and social levels. That way, people feel encouraged to return and see how others have developed.
Keep it fun!
Starting a Bible study in your home does not have to be stressful! You can do it with little or no difficulty. It is also possible to start an intense Bible study in your home. The majority of homeschooling groups are very active and thrive on the challenge!
Start with a fifteen-twenty minute meeting every week, followed by thirty minutes of study time each week. This is enough time for one round of Bible studies per week!
Weekly meetings are best because participants can easily make phone calls to add to the mix, and because participants can easily keep up the interest in the group by hosting weekly meetups.
It is hard to get people interested in a group if they cannot schedule a meeting soon after starting! Keep starting members off with good information and fun activities.