Bible Discussion Leadership: What Are We Trying to Accomplish?

You've studied the passage.

You've read the teacher's material.

You've checked the cross-references.

You've even found an illustration that you think will work.

Sunday morning comes, and you make it through almost everything you prepared.

You explained the difficult parts.

You covered all the major teaching points.

You even finished on time.

Good lesson?

Maybe . . . Probably.

But let me ask a slightly uncomfortable question:

What happened in the lives of the people who were listening?

That's a different way of measuring success.

And I think it's an important place to begin if we're going to talk about Bible discussion leadership.

Before we talk about how to ask better questions, how long to wait for an answer, or what to do with the person who talks too much, maybe we should start here:

What are we actually trying to accomplish?

Good Bible teaching isn't measured only by how much material we cover, but by what happens as people engage with God's Word.

Knowing More Isn't the Finish Line

My friend Josh Hunt often makes a point I've always liked. Borrowing a phrase he attributes to Howard Hendricks, Josh says the goal of Bible study isn't to make "smarter sinners."

The goal is to make disciples.

Don't get me wrong: There's nothing wrong with knowing more about the Bible.

In fact, we should know more about the Bible.

We should understand what the passage says.

We should learn its context.

We should understand important doctrines.

We should become increasingly comfortable finding our way around God's Word.

But knowledge isn't the finish line.

Jesus told us to make disciples, "teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:20).

James tells us to be doers of the Word and not hearers only (James 1:22).

So maybe one of the questions we should ask after a Sunday School lesson isn't simply:

"What did they learn?"

Maybe we should also ask:

"What might be different because we studied God's Word together?"

Discussion Isn't the Goal Either

Now, since I spend a lot of time talking about questions-based Bible teaching, you might expect me to say that a successful Sunday School class is one where everybody talks.

I don't think that's true.

We've all been in plenty of conversations where everybody talked and nobody accomplished much of anything.

A lively discussion can wander completely away from Scripture.

People can trade opinions.

Someone can tell a great story.

Everyone can laugh.

Forty-five minutes can fly by.

And we can still miss what God's Word has to say.

The goal isn't discussion.

The goal is discipleship.

Discussion is simply one of the tools we can use to help people engage with God's Word.

That's an important distinction.

We're not trying to make Sunday School more conversational just because conversation is more entertaining.

We're trying to create opportunities for people to think about Scripture, wrestle with it, hear how other believers understand and apply it, and consider what it means for their own lives.

Sometimes that happens while the teacher is talking.

Sometimes it happens when the teacher stops talking and asks one good question.

What Do We Want to Happen in the Learners?

I think most teachers naturally prepare by asking:

"What do I need to cover Sunday?"

I understand that question.

Open almost any curriculum and there's more material than you can reasonably use.

There are teaching points.

Commentary.

Background information.

Cross-references.

Illustrations.

Application ideas.

And because somebody took the trouble to put all of that in the book, it's easy to feel responsible for getting through it.

But what if we started preparation with a different question?

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

Instead of beginning with everything you need to cover, begin by deciding what you hope will happen in your learners.

Suppose you're teaching Jesus' command to love your enemies.

You could explain the historical setting.

You could talk about what Jesus meant by "enemy."

You could point to other passages that teach the same principle.

You could give three illustrations.

You could cover every paragraph in the teacher's material.

And all of those things might be helpful.

But somewhere along the way, suppose you stop and ask:

"What makes it so difficult to love someone who has hurt you?"

Someone answers.

Another person shares an experience.

Someone else points back to something Jesus said in the passage.

And maybe someone sitting quietly across the room starts thinking about a person he hasn't spoken to in six months - - and what Jesus' words might require of him.

Now let me ask:

Which part of the lesson mattered most?

I'm not sure we can always know.

And that's probably worth remembering.

Sometimes Covering Less Accomplishes More

This can be difficult for those of us who prepare carefully.

We worked hard on that material.

We found that great cross-reference.

We spent twenty minutes reading about the historical background.

We discovered something interesting that we really want to share.

And then the class begins wrestling with one question.

It's a good conversation.

They're in the Scripture.

They're listening to each other.

They're connecting the passage with real life.

But the clock is ticking.

And we still have three points left.

What do we do?

Sometimes we probably need to move the discussion along.

But sometimes?

Maybe we let something go.

If our goal is covering the lesson, that's hard to do.

If our goal is helping people engage with God's Word, the decision may look different.

The things we leave out aren't necessarily unimportant.

They just may not be the most important thing happening in the room at that moment.

Preparation Still Matters

None of this means the teacher should prepare less.

Actually, I think the opposite may be true.

If you're going to lead people through a discussion of Scripture, you need to know the passage well enough to recognize where the conversation should go - - and where it shouldn't.

You need to understand the main truth of the passage.

You need to recognize what's essential.

You need to know when an interesting tangent is worth pursuing and when it's pulling everyone away from the text.

And you need enough command of your material that you don't panic when the conversation doesn't follow your outline.

A good Bible discussion leader isn't trying to demonstrate everything he learned during preparation.

He's using what he learned during preparation to help other people discover what the passage says - - and wrestle with what it means for their lives.

That's a different way of thinking about preparation.

And maybe a different way of thinking about teaching.

This Week's One Change

Before you begin preparing your next lesson, write one question at the top of your notes:

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

Don't start with:

What do I need to cover?

Or:

What do I need to say?

Start with the people in your class.

What do you hope they'll understand?

What do you hope they'll wrestle with?

What do you hope they'll see about God?

What might they need to recognize about themselves?

Is there something this passage calls them to believe, change, trust, confess, or do?

You don't need a complicated educational objective.

Just identify the destination.

Then prepare with that destination in mind.

Bible Discussion Leadership Starts With the Destination

Over the next few weeks, I'd like to spend some time thinking together about Bible discussion leadership.

We'll talk about questions.

We'll talk about what happens when nobody answers.

We'll talk about what happens when everybody answers.

We'll talk about how much material we really need to cover and what happens when a discussion heads somewhere we didn't expect.

But before we get to any of that, I think we need to know where we're going.

Because the goal isn't to finish the lesson.

The goal isn't to demonstrate how much we studied.

And the goal isn't even to have a great discussion.

The goal is to help people become disciples of Jesus as they encounter Him in God's Word.

Once we're clear about that, some of the other decisions become a lot easier.

Want to Help Your Class Engage With God's Word?

One reason I create discussion-based Bible study worksheets is to help teachers spend less time figuring out what to ask and more time thinking about where those questions might take their class.

The questions are designed to supplement the curriculum you're already using - - not replace it - - and help move the class from simply hearing Scripture explained to thinking about it, discussing it, and applying it.

If you'd like to see what that looks like, try a free sample.

You don't have to change the way you teach.

For your next lesson, choose one question that helps take your class toward the destination you've identified. Then ask it - - and see where it takes you.