The last couple of posts have been about the inductive Bible study that our small group is doing. As a starting point, an inductive study is a great tool to help an individual study a passage of Scripture. It is also a tool that can facilitate a small group discussion of a passage. There are several ways that small groups can do studies. Within our church, we have small groups where one person leads the study, with a lot of teaching interspersed with some question and answers. We have also done some videos where the group watches a video and then someone facilitates a discussion of the video. A couple of groups have done studies of particular books. In fact, we have a group in our church that is doing a study of Randy Alcorn’s book, The Treasure Principle.

I think that in some ways, doing an inductive study facilitates even more discussion and participation than most of these other types of studies. Here is why:

When done correctly, a leader in an inductive study does not do a lot of teaching. The primary tool for the leader is asking the different types of questions, and steering the discussion back to the questions, so that the study does not get too far off topic, or ahead of itself. So, at last night’s study, my job was primarily to ask the questions, and let the rest of the group answer and discuss the questions. With some groups that doesn’t always work. There needs to be a general comfort level within the group before some folks are willing to risk answering questions. But that confidence will come when answers are greeted with the correct response, and not criticized.

There are two great things about this method of study: First, and most importantly, it helps model how to study the Bible by allowing the participants to see the process in action. The Willow Creek Association recently released a book which talks about how the church needs to do a better job of teaching believers to take responsibility for their own spiritual growth. This is part of that process. Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks that inductive Bible study is a good way for people to learn how to grow spiritually. The other thing that it does is makes everyone an active participant in the study and encourages discussion of what the scripture means.

InterVarsity has some resources for small group studies that are using the inductive method.