Ring the changes

I'm trying something different at my homegroup this week.

As we're starting looking at the book of James, we're going to read the whole thing in one as a starter to the series. I'll ask individuals or pairs (if enough turn up!) to focus their minds particularly on a specific chapter. But from everyone at the end of reading right through it, I'll ask them two questions:

• What do you think is the "big push" of the book as a whole?
• Which bit are you most looking forward to thinking more carefully through - and why?

We'll then think a bit about the context, author and first readers of the letter by looking at the opening few verses and the closing verses.

It's one example of how varying the format of a Bible study is an effective way of helping your group stay engaged with God's Word, and not getting stuck in a Bible-study rut. If all you ever do is for the leader to ask questions and the group to answer them, a home group very easily becomes focussed on the group coming up with the answers the leader is after.

Of course, for certain groups it is vital to have a leader who is not frightened of, well, leading! If you have young or untaught Christians. If you have older Christians with certain hobby horses they love to ride, or strange views - it's great to have a leader who will direct the discussion in helpful and productive ways. But when they are the dominant voice in the group, and the touchstone of what is a "right" and "wrong" way of understanding a passage - you are in danger of replacing the Bible as authoritative with yourself.

Changing the format encourages greater participation, helps people think more creatively about ways to approach the passage, allows people to listen to others in the group more; and generates more excitement and pure fun around a home group. Here are some of the things I've tried that work well:

1. The Swedish Method: basically, where after reading the passage, individuals come up with a question on something they don't understand, something that really strikes them, and an application. The danger for us is that we spend all the time on the questions, and not end up on the other good stuff - but it scores high on participation.

2. Painting scenarios: I sometimes use this as a summary question at the end. I describe a person with a problem, and ask how members would give them advice following what we have read.

3. Books on the table group research: Pile the table with Bible dictionaries, commentaries, greek word study books - whatever resources you might have. Then when someone raises a question - delegate someone to research it, and tell us what they have come up with as an answer. I've had very "succcessful" Bible studies using this method. By successful, I mean that everyone has participated - people have heard and understood the passage, and have thought carefully about how what God has said might apply to their own lives.

4. A single application question: One of the prime preparations a group leader can make is to get a grip on a single "big idea" from the passage, and help his group to discover it. Start with the application, and get the group to work out the answer from the passage. A single question might be: "Why should we bother going to church. Everyone find a reason..." or perhaps more dangerously: "if this was the only bit of the Bible we had - what would our church meetings look like and why?"

There are loads of other innovative ideas that you can use to stir up your home group - and we try to build in some of those ideas to many of the Bible study resources that we publish, like Good Book Guides. But why not try something different next time you meet, and see what results. And feel free to comment on this post to share what has and hasn't worked for you when you got creative with your Bible Study group.