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Giving a Bible study

You don't need to be an expert, or a pastor. The Bible teaches — you accompany. It's simpler than you think, and no one is better placed than you for someone close to you.

First: you can do this

Giving a Bible study isn't giving a lecture. It's opening the Bible with someone and letting them discover. Your job isn't to know everything or explain everything: it's to ask a question, have a verse read, and let God speak. The Holy Spirit is the real teacher; you're just the neighbor pointing the way.

« How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? »Romans 10:14

Fear is normal. Start small — one person, one ready-made study. You learn to give studies by giving them, not by feeling ready.

🎯 Practise before the real thing — the simulator
8 hard situations (objections, tears, debate, “I don't know”, the appeal, online…). Choose your reaction, instantly see what helps and what wounds.
Launch the simulator ↗

Posture before method

A Bible study isn't a debate to win, it's a relationship of trust. Before teaching a truth, earn the right to be heard. This is what's called Christ's method:

« Christ mingled with people as one who desired their good. He showed sympathy, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then he said: “Follow me.” »Ellen White, The Ministry of Healing (paraphrase)

In other words: draw near, listen, serve, love — then invite. People don't care what you know until they know that you care.

Prepare (10 minutes is enough)

Pray — for the person, and for yourself. Ask the Holy Spirit to go ahead of you.

Know your study — reread it, find each verse in your Bible, bookmark it. You don't need to be a scholar, just prepared.

Keep it simple — one truth per session. Aim for 20–30 minutes, no more. Short and clear beats long and confusing.

Bring two Bibles (one for the person), something to write with, and the printed study.

Dig into the text before you give it

Before helping someone discover a passage, discover it yourself. The safest approach is inductive: start from the text, not from your own ideas. Four steps, four questions:

  1. Observe — “What do I see?” Who is speaking? To whom? When? Which words recur? Don't conclude yet: look.
  2. Interpret — “What does it mean?” The author's intended sense, in context — not the feeling it stirs in you.
  3. Apply — “What does it change for us, today?”
  4. Connect — “What do other passages say?” Scripture explains Scripture.
Three guardrails. Observe before interpreting — like the eunuch: “about whom is the prophet speaking?” (Acts 8:34). Read toward Christ: he is the key to all Scripture (Luke 24:27). And let the Bible explain the Bible, without forcing an idea onto an isolated verse.

The flow of a session

  1. Welcome and pray. A short, simple prayer: “Lord, open your Word to us.”
  2. Reconnect. A question about last time or about their week. Truly listen.
  3. Open the topic with a question. Not a statement — a question that stirs interest: “Have you ever wondered…?”
  4. Let the Bible answer. Have the person read the verses aloud. The Bible teaches, not you.
  5. Check understanding. “According to this verse, what is God saying?” Let them put it in words.
  6. Apply. “What does this change for you?” Tie the truth to their real life.
  7. Invite a decision. Every study calls for a small step: “Would you…?” Never skip this.
  8. Set the next appointment and close in prayer. Regularity makes the disciple.

The golden rules

✓Teach, don't preach. A study is a conversation, not a sermon.
✓Ask questions, let them discover. What a person finds for themselves, they keep.
✓Let the Bible speak, not you. At each point, “what does the verse say?” “It is written” weighs more than your opinion.
✓One truth at a time. Don't pile up doctrines. Everything in its season.
✓Always aim for a decision. Knowledge without commitment evaporates.
✓Respect their pace. You plant and water; God gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6).
✓Share your testimony. Your experience with Jesus is unique — no one can contradict it.
✓You don't have to know everything. “I don't know — let's look together” is an honest, freeing answer.

Mistakes to avoid

✕Trying to win a debate. You can win the argument and lose the person.
✕Drowning them in information. Too many verses, too many topics: they check out.
✕Talking 90% of the time. If you speak alone, it's no longer a study.
✕Skipping the call to decision out of fear of refusal. Invite gently, but invite.
✕Neglecting follow-up. A study with no next appointment is lost.

What if it's online?

More and more studies begin on the internet. The essentials don't change — relationship, the Word, a decision — but a few habits help:

Pray and study yourself first (2 Timothy 2:15): you only share well what you possess.

Truth, but in love. Avoid debates; ALL-CAPS and strings of exclamation marks feel like shouting and put people on the defensive.

Choose a simple tool — a video call (Zoom, Meet…) allows real exchange; a recorded study lets people follow at their own pace.

Build the relationship despite the distance: take interest in their real needs, not only the topic.

Stay passionate. Your passion doesn't convert — that's the Spirit's work — but it draws attention and stirs thirst.

📖 58 ready-to-use Bible studies (PDF)
A collection of topical studies — enough to start this week, without preparing it all yourself.
Open the PDF ↗

Learn by accompanying: I do it, we do it, you do it

You don't train a Bible-study giver with a lecture, but through apprenticeship — exactly the way Jesus trained the twelve: they first watched him, then acted alongside him, then were sent. Three stages, at your own pace:

  1. I do it, you watch. The person comes with you to a real study and observes — the posture, the questions, the way you let the Bible speak. You debrief afterward: “What did you notice?”
  2. We do it together. They take part of the study — reading a passage, asking a question — while you hold the rest. Responsibility is shared gradually.
  3. You do it, I watch. They lead the study; you are simply present, supporting, and you review it together afterward. Then comes the fourth stage, the real goal: in turn, they train someone else.
“And what you have heard from me… entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”2 Timothy 2:2

Apprenticeship model paraphrased from the Personal Ministries training (North American Division, module “The Science of Soul Winning”).

For elders & leaders — going further

Giving studies is good; training others to give them multiplies it. Concretely: keep an interest list and pray for those people by name; pair each new candidate with a mentor following the “I do it, we do it, you do it” model above; place Bible study within the evangelism cycle (prepare the soil, sow, cultivate, reap, conserve); and remember the goal isn't baptism alone, but a disciple who makes disciples (2 Timothy 2:2).

🎓 To go further — the Personal Ministries training (NAD)
The North American Division publishes a series of modules (the Great Commission, the science of soul winning, how to give Bible studies) that deepen everything above. Copyrighted texts — to be consulted at the official source, not hosted here.
Open nadadultministries.org ↗
To continue
After the study — discipleshipWalking a new believer, week by week, toward maturity. Beginning to believe?The page for the one receiving the study — a first step, at their pace.
« Let the one who hears say, “Come!” » (Revelation 22:17). You don't have to convince — just open the Word and invite. The rest belongs to God.
To go further: Ellen White, The Ministry of Healing (“Christ's method”), Steps to Christ ; Robert Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism ; Nogent Bible Institute, Preparing and conducting a Bible study ; the inductive method (Observe · Interpret · Apply · Connect) ; École Biblique du Chrétien (study approaches) ; adventiste.mq / UFBL (online Bible studies). See also this site's discipleship manual.
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