Our church has gone through numerous changes during my 12 years here. Looking back, I was almost always oppose to those changes, sometimes very strongly. Continue reading →

Since I have been in bible studies for a long time now (12 years in Australia + 2-3 years in Indonesia), so I thought perhaps I should start blogging on bible study related issues (we don’t seem to talk about bible study much?).

I am starting with this one, is finishing on time for a bible study important or not?

Talking from a bible study leader perspective, I want to argue that finishing on time is important (and the implication of that is, starting on time is important too). Why? I am pretty sure you can name a couple reasons. I can think of one reason: to give structure, stability and predictability to the group members.

I also want to suggest that, on the first bible study of the year, the group should decide what start and end time that will suit the members of the group. Once it’s decided, it’s then the responsibility of the bible study leader to honor the group decision in week to week bible studies.

Things that make bible study goes over time – not comprehensive list of course.

• Discussion deadlock – two or more people in the group are having different opinions on an issue. They are hotly debating the issue and the debate has been going too long. Depending on the issue being debated, you can: ask other people in the group to get involved and hopefully the group can resolve the discussion themselves, you can declare the which side that you think is right (maybe not preferable method), you can ask them to come back on the issue when the group has time later on etc. The important thing is, you need to know whether the discussion is worth making the bible study goes over time and even risking the study to deviate from the bible study goals (some might be worth it).
• The leader let too many (and/or too long) silences. Silence can mean that people are thinking (good), people are confused with your question (bad) or people just not engaged with the study (bad). From experience, I think 2 minutes silence is probably the more than enough for thinking – look around if you see people are looking at you, you know you need to take action :). Break the silence
• Sidetrack, too many joking around. Once in a while sidetracking and joking is good, it’s useful to keep people awake and make people relax a bit – but you need to know when it become too much and not beneficial to the group anymore.

Tips to make bible study running on time or close to being on time:

• Obviously prepare. Know what the passage is about and the study itself.
• Know roughly how much time you want to spend time on bible study questions. Having a watch is handy.
• Take control – it’s not because you are a control freak or because you love the authority but because you are thinking of and mindful for the members of your group. The best outcome from a bible study is when people understand the passage and it will impact on their life.

Having said this, I think it’s not wrong on few studies to go overtime as long as it doesn’t become a norm. I think it’s only proper if you ask the group if they are willing to go a little bit overtime, maybe also offer if some people want to leave on time and the others stay.

If your group is continually goes overtime – it’s worth asking the group whether they want to change the start and end time for the bible study, it might be because the group has set the bible study time too short.