08/25/2026
On a different front, our Bible Study small group has been going through an interesting period, for sure!
We’ve had up to 20 people gathering in our Sunday evening small group study, and with that have come some amazing questions, honest conversations, and even some challenging ones.
One question we decided to explore was:
“For Christians, why don’t you study your Bible?”
But we wanted to approach that question without judgment, condemnation, or presumptuous ideas.
So we simply asked.
And what we discovered was, dare I say, shocking to all of us.
The overwhelming answer?
“Because the majority of us were never taught how.”
Many people were handed a Bible and told, “Read it. Study it.”
But no one necessarily explained how to study it, where to begin, how to understand what we’re reading, or how to apply it to our lives.
And when frustration grows, what happens?
We often assume the person simply isn’t interested enough, isn’t disciplined enough, or somehow isn’t taking their faith seriously enough.
But what if they were never taught?
What if we, as leaders and teachers, have sometimes thrown young Christians into the deep end and said, “Here’s your Bible. Go study it.”
We tell them to pray—but even Jesus’ disciples came to Him and said:
“Lord, teach us to pray.”
They recognized that prayer was something they needed to be taught.
So why do we assume that new believers—or even longtime Christians—automatically know how to study Scripture, understand Scripture, pray, grow, and develop a deeper relationship with God?
That conversation brought an incredible amount of honesty to our group.
And honestly?
Wow.
So instead of simply asking people, “Why aren’t you studying your Bible?”
We decided to ask a better question:
“What if we learned together how to look at God’s Word?”
And that’s where our next lesson began:
Let’s Look at God’s Word.
Not with condemnation.
Not with guilt.
Not with assumptions.
But with curiosity, humility, and a willingness to learn.
And we’ve taken it one step further.
We’ve challenged the members of our group to put together their own small Bible studies and present them to the group.
Then we explore them together.
We ask questions.
We challenge one another.
We dig deeper.
We learn from one another.
And yes, sometimes we may discover that we need to go back and look at something again—and that’s okay!
Because the goal isn’t to have all the answers.
The goal is to learn how to rightly engage with God’s Word.
And Lord willing, as we continue this process, our hope is that these men and women won’t simply become better students of the Word, but will become better equipped teachers of the Word—people who can take what they have learned and help someone else who may be standing exactly where they once stood.
Because discipleship shouldn’t end with:
“Here’s your Bible. Go study it.”
It should include:
“Come alongside me. Let’s learn how to study it together.”
And perhaps, one day:
“Now you teach someone else.”
What an incredible opportunity God has given us to learn, grow, challenge one another, and ultimately equip others.
Let’s look at God’s Word. Let’s learn it. Let’s live it. And Lord willing, let’s teach it.
