The Bible is one of the most influential books of all time, but figuring out how to read it and apply it can feel overwhelming. Whether you’ve been reading the Bible your whole life or are new to faith, this 4-week study designed for LifeGroups will help you experience the Bible in a new light. If you’re ready to go deeper in your understanding of what the Bible is, what it’s not, how to use it, and how to be a part of a movement to help more people in the world read it, The Bible: Explained is for you.

Here’s How to Use This New Study in Your LifeGroup:

1. Plan something fun to kick off the study. This four-week study will give your LifeGroup plenty to talk about over the next month. Before officially starting it, you might plan a fun hang-out to catch up on everyone’s life before diving deeply into the study. Right now, this might be a digital event, or a socially distanced party outdoors. You also might talk about your expectations for the study. Consider asking questions like: What are you hoping to gain from the study? What has your experience with the Bible been like? How might our LifeGroup grow deeper if we spend more time in the Word? See this post for some more tips on how Bible engagement might launch deeper LifeGroup engagement.
2. Be consistent. This four-week study builds off each video to paint a bigger picture of the cohesive, beautiful story of the Bible. You won’t want to miss a single week! Encourage your LifeGroup to make it a priority to attend each week, and send a link to the video to anyone who has to miss. That way, no one feels left out, and everyone gets a full picture of how incredible the Bible really is. Again, your LifeGroup might be meeting virtually right now, and that’s okay! If so, just have everyone watch the video by themselves before joining, then spend your time together discussing.
3. Watch the videos together, discuss them, and pray together. If you’re comfortable meeting together, you might want to meet at someone’s home during this study, as you’ll be watching four videos over four weeks that range from about 10-15 minutes each. Make sure you’re in a comfortable environment that allows people to watch the videos and feel safe to discuss them afterward. Once the video ends, discussion questions will be featured onscreen. Pause the video and take some time to discuss what you’ve learned. You certainly don’t have to stick to those questions, though! If you choose to meet virtually, you can have everyone watch the video before meeting, and you can have the questions available to ask your LifeGroup over a video call. Spend as much time as your LifeGroup would like discussing what they liked, what they learned, or what questions they have. After your discussion is over, make sure to pray together. Talk about prayer requests, but also ask God for wisdom in helping you understand His Word in a deeper way.
4. Go through the YouVersion Bible Plan together. A great way to live out what you’re learning together is to challenge one another to engage the Bible in a deeper, more meaningful way. YouVersion has a lot of ways you can do that, and one of those ways includes going through a Bible Plan together With Friends! Simply find The Bible: Explained Bible Plan, subscribe to it, and select the “With Friends” option to invite your LifeGroup. Engaging with the content outside of LifeGroup is a great way to develop discussion inside of LifeGroup.
5. Learn more about Bible translation efforts. This study will not only help your LifeGroup gain a better understanding of God’s Word, but it will also help your LifeGroup be a part of getting more of God’s Word into more of His world. You can learn more about Bible translation at www.sharelight2033.com, and the video prompts at the end will direct you to Life.Church giving if you’d like to contribute to Bible translation efforts. We hope this study will inspire generosity within you, but remember that God loves a cheerful giver. Don’t force anyone in your LifeGroup to give, and make sure to present giving as a next step opportunity—not a next step obligation.
6. Celebrate when you’ve completed the study! Once your LifeGroup has gone through all four weeks of content, celebrate! You might plan a virtual or social distanced outdoor hangout where you just relax and have fun together to celebrate all you’ve accomplished. You might also offer some reflection questions to help your LifeGroup process what they’ve learned. Some great questions to consider asking are: What have you learned through The Bible: Explained? What is a next step you can take in regard to reading and/or living out God’s Word? Did anything in this study challenge a preconceived notion you had about the Bible?
7. Choose a next step for your LifeGroup. As a LifeGroup, you might talk about ways to grow your engagement in the Bible together. You also might want to pick a new study to go through. Check out this post for a curated list of content for every type of LifeGroup.