Bible Discussion Leadership: Do I Really Have to Cover All This Material?

You open the teacher's book.

There's the Scripture passage.

Then the commentary.

Background information.

Three teaching points.

Several cross-references.

An illustration or two.

Application ideas.

Maybe a sidebar you hadn't noticed before.

And somewhere along the way you realize:

There is absolutely no way I'm going to get through all of this Sunday morning.

So you do what conscientious teachers sometimes do.

You try anyway.

You talk a little faster.

You shorten the discussion.

Someone gives an interesting answer that could lead somewhere worthwhile, but you've still got two points left.

So you say, “That's really good. Let's keep moving.”

And we do.

But maybe the problem isn't that we ran out of time.

Maybe we tried to put too much into the lesson in the first place.

Good preparation often gives us more material than we can possibly use. The challenge is deciding what will best serve the passage and the people we're teaching.

The Curriculum Is a Resource, Not an Assignment

I understand the pressure.

If somebody put the material in the teacher's book, it can feel as though we're supposed to teach it.

Otherwise, why is it there?

But curriculum gives us resources and choices.

The curriculum writer doesn't know your class.

You do.

The writer doesn't know what your class discussed six months ago, what they already understand, or what someone sitting across from you is wrestling with right now.

And the writer certainly doesn't know that someone is going to ask a question Sunday morning that changes the direction of the entire discussion.

That's part of your job as the teacher.

Not simply to deliver the material.

To decide which material will best help these particular people engage with this particular passage.

Bible Discussion Leadership: Find the Spine of the Lesson

Here's one way I've found helpful to think about it.

Before deciding what to leave out, decide what holds the lesson together.

What's the spine?

Not five things people could learn from the passage.

What's the central truth you want them to understand and wrestle with?

Suppose you're teaching the Good Samaritan.

There's plenty you could explore.

Who were the Samaritans?

Why were relations between Jews and Samaritans so strained?

What was the road from Jerusalem to Jericho like?

Why might the priest and Levite have passed by?

All of that can be useful.

But Jesus is answering a question: “Who is my neighbor?”

And by the end, He has turned the question around: Which man became a neighbor to the wounded man?

That's the spine.

Now the other material has a job.

Does knowing something about Samaritans help the class feel the force of Jesus making the Samaritan the hero?

Absolutely.

Does another five minutes of background about first-century travel help them wrestle with Jesus' command to “go and do likewise”?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Once you know the spine, deciding what to leave out gets easier.

More Material Doesn't Necessarily Mean More Learning

There's a temptation in teaching to equate quantity with effectiveness.

If I covered seven things, surely I taught more than if I covered four.

Technically, perhaps I did.

But did they learn more?

That's harder to know.

Think about sermons or Bible lessons you've heard.

How many points can you remember a week later?

Probably not many.

But occasionally one idea sticks.

One Scripture bothers you—in a good way.

One question follows you home.

You find yourself thinking about it Tuesday afternoon.

Sometimes depth requires us to sacrifice breadth.

Give Everything Else a Job

Once you've identified the spine, look at the rest of your preparation.

Background information.

Cross-references.

Illustrations.

Commentary.

Discussion questions. Ask: What job does this do?

Maybe it helps people understand the passage.

Maybe it helps them explore its meaning.

Maybe it helps them respond to what God is saying.

Those are all good reasons to use something.

But sometimes the honest answer is:

It's interesting.

I know that problem well.

You spend twenty minutes discovering something during preparation and think, I've got to tell them this. No, you don't.

It wasn't wasted preparation. It helped you understand the passage better.

But everything we learn during preparation doesn't have to become something we say during the lesson. Maybe use it if someone asks a relevant question. But sometimes good preparation gives us the confidence to leave good material out.

Leave Room for the Class

There's another reason not to fill every minute.

Good Bible discussion leadership means leaving room for the class.

A lesson plan needs enough margin for people to think, respond, ask questions, and go back to Scripture together.

If you've prepared forty-five minutes of things you need to say for a forty-five-minute class, every answer becomes a threat to the schedule.

Every follow-up question puts you behind.

Every unexpected insight has to be acknowledged quickly so you can return to the outline.

Good Bible Discussion requires margin.

Enough space for someone to think before answering.

Enough space to ask, “Why do you say that?”

Enough space for another person to see it differently.

Enough space to go back to the passage together.

And sometimes enough space for a conversation you didn't anticipate.

A Good Discussion Can Still Be a Detour

But there's another side to this.

Not every lively discussion deserves twenty minutes.

Your class can become very animated about politics, somebody's experience at work, something another church is doing, or a theological rabbit trail that's only loosely connected to the passage.

Everybody may be talking.

That doesn't necessarily mean you should let the conversation run.

This is another reason the spine matters.

Ask yourself:

Is this conversation helping us engage more deeply with what this passage is saying—or carrying us away from it?

If it's carrying people toward the central truth, maybe Question 7 can wait.

If it's carrying people away from Scripture, it's probably time to say something like:

“That's an interesting discussion. Let me bring us back to what Jesus says here.”

Knowing what to leave out also means knowing what not to chase.

You Were Always Going to Leave Something Out Anyway

A forty-five-minute class is a forty-five-minute class.

We can't solve that problem by talking faster - - although my seminary professor TRIED to.

So the question isn't whether we'll leave something out.

We will.

The question is whether we'll make those choices intentionally - or let the clock make them for us.

That's why the question from last week's article matters:

What do I hope happens in my class members because we studied this passage together?

Once you know the destination and the spine of the passage, you have a much better way to decide what deserves your limited time.

This Week's One Change

As you prepare your next lesson, identify three things:

• The destination: What do I hope happens in my learners?

• The spine: What central truth from this passage needs to hold the lesson together?

• The options: What material can I use if it helps us get there?

Then give yourself permission not to use all of your options.

If a good discussion develops around the central truth, stay with it.

If the class needs more explanation, give it.

If a conversation wanders away from the passage, bring it back.

And if everything moves quickly?

You've got plenty of material waiting.

The goal isn't to see how much of your preparation you can fit into forty-five minutes.

The goal is to use the time well.

Sometimes Less Really Is More

A teacher who leaves material unused hasn't necessarily failed to finish the lesson.

Maybe someone understood the passage more clearly.

Maybe someone reconsidered an assumption.

Maybe someone saw how God's Word speaks into something they're facing.

Maybe one question followed somebody home.

We can't manufacture those moments.

But we can leave room for them.

So study thoroughly.

Prepare more than you'll probably use.

Know what holds the passage together.

And then give yourself permission to leave some good material behind.

Sometimes covering less gives God's Word more room to work.

Want More Questions Than You Need?

That's actually how I design the discussion guides at Steve's Bible Questions.

Each lesson includes ten discussion questions—not because I expect you to ask all ten, but because different classes need different questions.

Choose the ones that fit your destination and your class. Skip the others. And if one good question produces the conversation your class needs to have, stay there.

Try a free sample and see which questions you'd choose.