What are the best Bible Studies for Life Leader Extras?
Updated: Sep 1
If you teach adults using Lifeway's Bible Studies for Life®, you probably appreciate what the curriculum is designed to do. It connects Biblical truth with real life. It deals with issues adults actually face and helps them consider what Scripture means for life in today's world as well as what it meant in its original setting.
For many adult Sunday School classes, that's an important strength.
But no curriculum can anticipate everything a particular teacher or class may need. That's where leader extras can help.
The question isn't, “How much additional material can I add?” It's, “What would help my adults move more thoughtfully from Scripture to faithful application?”
The best Bible Studies for Life leader extras don't simply give the teacher more material. They strengthen the journey from the Biblical text to its meaning to the way God's truth should shape everyday life.
Keep Application Anchored in Scripture
One of the strengths of Bible Studies for Life can also create a challenge.
Because the curriculum addresses practical issues, it's easy for a good class discussion to become a conversation about the issue rather than a discussion of the Scripture.
Suppose the lesson deals with forgiveness, anxiety, relationships, priorities, or dealing with difficult people. Adults already have experiences and opinions about those things. Ask the right question and you probably won't have much trouble getting them to talk.
But an interesting conversation isn't necessarily a Biblical discussion.
That's why one of the most useful leader extras can be something that sends adults back into the text.
That might be:
a question that asks them to identify evidence for an answer in the passage;
a cross-reference that helps Scripture interpret Scripture;
a little historical or cultural background that clarifies what the Biblical writer was saying;
or a follow-up question such as, “Where do you see that in these verses?”
The goal isn't to keep adults from talking about real life. That's one of the reasons they're there.
The goal is to make sure Scripture shapes the conversation about real life, rather than merely providing the subject that gets the conversation started.
Move From Understanding Toward Obedience
Keeping the discussion anchored in Scripture doesn't mean stopping with, “What does the passage say?”
We want adults to ask what they should do with what they've discovered.
That's where I like to think in terms of application with guardrails.
A simple progression might be:
What does the Scripture say?
And then:
What does this reveal about God, about us, or about the way God calls us to live?
And finally:
What would obedience to this truth look like in real life?
Those first two questions give the third one its guardrails.
Without them, an application discussion can quickly become a collection of personal opinions and well-intentioned advice. But when application grows out of what adults have actually discovered in Scripture, the conversation becomes much more valuable.
And application doesn't always have to end with a dramatic life change.
Sometimes obedience means making a difficult decision. Sometimes it means changing an attitude, forgiving someone, beginning a new habit, ending an old one, serving another person, or simply trusting God in a situation we can't control.
The important thing is that adults leave understanding not only what the Bible says, but how that truth should begin shaping the way they live. It's a James 1:22 kinda thing - being doers of the Word, not hearers only.
Let Adults Participate in the Process
There's another temptation that's easy for a well-prepared teacher to fall into.
We study the passage. We understand the main truth. We see how it applies.
And then on Sunday morning, we tell everybody else.
There's certainly a place for explanation. Teachers should, of course, teach. We should clarify difficult passages, provide needed context, and correct misunderstandings when necessary.
But we don't have to do all the discovering for the class.
Good Bible discussion questions give adults an opportunity to participate in the process.
Instead of only telling them what you noticed, ask:
“What do you notice in these verses?”
Instead of immediately explaining the principle, ask:
“What do you think the writer is trying to help us understand?”
And instead of supplying all the application yourself, ask:
“Where might this truth challenge the way we actually live?”
Those aren't replacements for teaching. They're tools a teacher can use while teaching.
And something important happens when adults begin answering.
They have to look at the Scripture. They have to put thoughts into words. They hear insights from other believers. They may encounter a perspective they hadn't considered. And when they say aloud how God's Word is challenging them, something else happens: they've put their response into words. That can make application more personal - and harder to leave behind when class is over.
That's why, for many Bible Studies for Life teachers, good discussion questions may be one of the most useful leader extras you can add.
Life Lessons: Bible Studies for Life® Leader Extras for Discussion
That's the particular gap Life Lessons is designed to fill.
Bible Studies for Life already provides the curriculum. Life Lessons doesn't try to replace it or rewrite it.
Instead, each one-page discussion guide uses the same weekly Scripture passage and provides ready-to-use questions designed to help adults examine the Biblical text, think about what it means, learn from one another, and consider how God's Word should shape everyday life.
The questions are designed to complement the curriculum rather than give the teacher another lesson to cover.
For a teacher who appreciates Bible Studies for Life's emphasis on application but wants adults to participate more actively in getting from Scripture to life, that's a very specific kind of leader extra.
Want to see whether it would help your class? Try a complete Life Lessons discussion guide free.
From Scripture to Life
Bible Studies for Life already points teachers toward an important destination: Biblical truth that affects the way adults actually live.
Good leader extras should help you get there.
They should help adults look more carefully at Scripture, understand what it means, and wrestle with what obedience looks like in their own lives.
And they should help the teacher guide that process without feeling responsible for doing all the talking, all the discovering, and all the applying.
The best leader extra is one that helps God's Word make the journey from the Biblical text into real life.
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