A LifeGuide® Bible Study

HOW TO LEAD

A LifeGuide® Bible Study

Jack Kuhatschek & Cindy Bunch

A LifeGuide® Bible Study Resource

An imprint of InterVarsity Press

Downers Grove, Illinois

InterVarsity Press

P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426

World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com

E-mail: email@ivpress.com

Third edition ©2003 by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the United States of America

Second edition ©1985 by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the United States of America under the title Leading Bible Discussions by James F. Nyquist and Jack Kuhatschek

First edition © 1967 by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the United States of America under the title Leading Bible Discussions by James F. Nyquist

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a student movement active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write Public Relations Dept., InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895, or visit the IVCF website at www.intervarsity.org.

LifeGuide® is a registered trademark of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Credit lines for cartoons:

p. 9: Taken from Way Off the Church Wall ©1989 by Rob Portlock. Used by permission.

p. 13: Taken from Church Is Stranger Than Fiction ©1990 by Mary Chambers. Used by permission.

p. 28: Taken from It Came from Beneath the Pew ©1989 by Rob Suggs. Used by permission.

p. 34: Taken from Faith in Orbit ©1995 by Mary Chambers. Used by permission.

p. 37: Taken from Reborn to Be Wild © 1993 by Doug Hall. Used by permission.

p. 47: Taken from Murphy Goes to Church ©1993 by Rob Suggs. Used by permission.

Cover image: Kirsten Pott

ISBN 978-0-8308-6319-8

Contents

Preface

1 The Power of a Small Group

2 Choosing a Bible Study Guide

3 Preparing to Lead

4 Warming Up the Group

5 Getting Inside the Passage

6 Uncovering the Meaning

7 Making It Real

8 Following Up

9 Leading the Discussion

10 Evaluating the Discussion

Appendix A: Guidelines to Interpreting Scripture

Appendix B: A Sample Study

Resources

Preface

This is the third edition of a handbook—a product of InterVarsity back in its early days—that has been an important tool for church, dorm and neighborhood groups both within InterVarsity and far beyond, with over 200,000 copies in circulation.

The original Leading Bible Discussions was written by James F. Nyquist in 1967 as a revision of his booklet Conducting Bible ...