How to Plan a Small Group Bible Study
Why Plan Together?
Benefits of Planning Together
Power
Prayer is not just relational. It’s powerful. Pray together — specifically and boldly — for your Core Group and their needs. Ask God for prophetic words to share. Prayer invites God to lead the Core Group.
Preparation
Your discussion will be better and more relevant when you work together to share ideas and evaluate what the Core Group needs. The meeting will flow better when all the leaders know what is happening.
Partnership
Planning time creates unity. Share how you’re doing. Share about your discipleship meetings (don’t break trust with your disciples though). Talk about any improvements you could make from last week.
Planning prevents the leader with a more dominant personality from taking total control of the group.
Sample Planning Outline
8:00–8:05
Pray. Invite God into the planning time.
8:05–8:15
Catch up with each other. What did you do last week? Share personal wins and struggles.
8:15–8:25
Evaluate last week. Is there anything you can improve? Is there any important information to share? How have your discipleship meetings been?
8:25–8:45
Plan for next week’s Core Group meeting (read the study, choose questions, assign jobs). Plan for hangouts also.
8:45–9:00
Pray for the Core Group. Pray by name for each person and their needs. It could be helpful to have a prayer list that you pray through together.
