Helpful Tips to Pick a Great Topic for Your Group Bible Study

While there are a myriad of Bible study options, they primarily fall into three groups. Let me identify and explain each one briefly and give you some ideas of ways to use them in your group.

1. Book Studies

These are simply studies of an individual book of the Bible, and you have sixty-six options to choose from. Depending on the size of your group and how long you plan on doing the study, this can potentially lead you as to which book you will choose. For example, if your group meets once a week and you want a six week study, there are books of the Bible you simply can’t cover in that short of a period. For example, Psalms has one hundred and fifty chapters. It could take you more than three years to go through the entire book of Psalms and that is if you did one chapter a week. 

However, if you are interested in studying a book like Psalms and you don’t have three years, here is a way of doing it. You could choose certain Psalms to go through or you could have each person in the group choose their favorite Psalm, and those are the ones you study together as a group. Another great byproduct of doing book studies, especially if you go through them verse by verse, is it forces you to encounter the truth that is in the text in front of you. 

Here are some book study ideas

Romans - If you want to dive deeper into doctrine

The Gospels – If you want to look closer into the life of Jesus

James – If you want to understand how to live a practical Christian life

Proverbs – If you want to garner wisdom and apply it to everyday life

Judges – If you want to see the pattern of Israel, their sin and God’s faithfulness

As I said, there are sixty-six to choose from and you can’t go wrong with which one you choose.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Vimvertigo

These are studies of the various people who are part of the Bible. Character studies are insightful because they draw you into the life of the person. The beauty in this is God doesn’t hide the humanity of the people in the scriptures. We get to see our heroes of the faith, warts and all.

There are literally dozens of people you can spend time studying in the Bible. Some of them take up large portions of scripture, like David for example, while others may only be mentioned in one chapter and sometimes even in one verse. This gives you so many options.

For example, you might want to do a study on the less popular characters in the Bible and see what you can learn from their lives. In my online Bible Study, as we were going through the book of Philippians, Paul mentions a man named Epaphroditus. He is not one of the more well-known people in the Bible, but simply reading about him gave us insights and truth from a person who is not on the list of the usual people we study from the Bible. Now, a character like that won’t allow you to study him for weeks or months, but there are lots of these in the Bible which can create a wonderful and exciting group study.

Here are some suggestions for group character studies – Joseph, Sarah, Elijah, Jonah, Peter, James, Saul, David, Jonathan, Martha, Lydia, Daniel…the list just goes on and on. 

A good way to narrow it down is to think about the makeup of the group and find people in Scripture who possibly fit the makeup or match some of the situations people in the group face. Remember, God doesn’t leave the warts out, so there is a lot to learn that is applicable to our lives today.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/92251238

These are studies that are centered around themes or topics. There are two ways to approach this. You can find a topic within Scripture, for example prophecy, and examine what the Bible says about it. The other approach is to look at an issue that we are dealing with in society or life, for example being a witness at work, how to find your purpose, or some of the other challenges facing our society. You can take those issues and do a study of how to address those from a Biblical standpoint.

A word of caution if you are going to deal with social issues – these can be divisive, so be prepared. Make sure you set strong ground rules and allow God’s word to be the deciding factor, not popular opinion.

A Suggestion for Groups to Strongly Consider

Now that you have a general idea of the different types of studies, I want to make a recommendation of one topical study to consider for your next group Bible study. Study the foundations of the faith.

This might not sound as glamorous as some of the others, but this would be a great study, especially if you have newer believers in the group or people who have never done it before. I was having a conversation with someone recently and he mentioned that his wife is in church every Sunday, taking notes on the sermons, but didn’t know many of the foundational doctrines she believed and where to find them in Scripture.

In a world where the truth is under attack, this could be a great study to help people really know and understand what they believe.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/dusanpetkovic

There are many different places to go to get ideas for group Bible studies. I want to point you in the direction of two. One is Lifeway ministries, which has many different Bible study options available that can be done as a group study. Many of these are in print format and some have digital or video options available. You will find well known authors and Bible teachers among their selections. 

Another great resource is Right Now Media. This is a digital platform, however they have Bible studies available on practically every subject you can imagine. These studies are designed to be watched, and after watching them they can be discussed together. I was part of a men’s group, and this is how we used it. We found a topic, we would watch the video, and then spend the rest of the time discussing it. You don’t have to do it that way, these are just suggestions. On this platform you will find popular authors and teachers as well as lesser-known ones among their selections. With the wide range of topics available, you should be able to find something of interest for your group.

Choosing of a topic for group Bible study is not a right or wrong choice. You simply need to make a decision and begin studying. The good part is you can always change. If you make a choice and the group is not responding to it, then change the topic. Remember the goal is accountability and motivation, so make sure both are happening within your group, and you have the foundation for a great study.

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/monkeybusinessimages