The Study Group is the of the Workshop — the place where the real work of the Workshop is done. They are what make this Workshop unique among women’s Bible conferences. Study Groups provide hands-on experience and practice with interpreting and applying a biblical text from a redemptive-historical perspective. Each Study Group has six women and is led by a trained Study Group Leader. Together, they focus on a specific book of the Bible (e.g. Nahum), or a set of passages from a specific book of the Bible (e.g. selected passages from the Gospel of John) and practice interpreting and applying the Scripture they are studying. There are two Study Group Tracks — Personal Study and Teacher Track. Which track should you take?
Are leading or teaching a Bible study now? Would you like to lead or teach a Bible study in the future? The Teacher Track is designed for women who are currently teaching or would potentially like to teach or lead a Bible study. At home you study your assigned passage, identify a central idea and then develop a 5-minute lesson based on the central idea you have identified. Specific steps to help you are in the Preparation Materials. At the Workshop you present that very short, abridged lesson to your study group. Your leader facilitates a feedback-driven discussion of your lesson’s content and central idea as you explore the biblical text together.
Do you want to deepen your own personal understanding of Scripture, sharpen your Bible study skills and develop new ones? The Personal Study Track is for you. At home you study your assigned passage and identify a central idea in the text. Specific steps to help you are in the Preparation Materials. At the Workshop you present your central idea to your study group with a 5-minute explanation showing how your passage supports it. Your leader facilitates a feedback-driven discussion of your central idea as you explore the biblical text together.
To find out more information about what happens in the Teacher Track and Personal Study Track, check out our Youtube video Study Groups – Personal Study or Teacher Track?
Two weeks before the Workshop starts, you will be assigned to a Study Group and you will be given a passage from the book of Scripture that your group is studying. You will work with that passage at home during the two weeks before the Workshop to identify a Central Idea (CI). Resources and tools to identify a Central Idea are provided along with your assignment to help you in this process. You will share your Central Idea with the other women in your group at the Workshop.
Study Group Leaders are Here to Help You!
Your Study Group Leader (SGL) will be available to help you during your two weeks of preparation before the Workshop. Study Group Leaders spend countless hours prayerfully training for this Workshop weekend. You will receive a note from your SGL at the same time you receive your assignment with information on how to contact her. Your SGL will be available to you for personal mentoring the two weeks prior to the Workshop while you are studying your assigned Bible passage.
Study Group Leaders are women who love God’s Word and who willingly invest time in mentoring others in the joy and challenges of Scripture study – “LEARNING, NOT FOR THE LOVE OF LEARNING, BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.”
Once you are at the Workshop, your Study Group will engage in multi-session discussions, guided and encouraged by your Study Group Leader. Group members work with their Central Ideas and develop better skills for “rightly handling the word of truth.” [2Tim. 2:15] The effort you put into identifying the CI in your passage before the Workshop is essential to the effectiveness of the Study Group.
God’s revelation of Himself to us and for us is worth digging into and hearing it speak. The Workshop provides tools to do that digging, and it helps refine the study tools you may already have and gives you some new ones. You try out these tools as you work through your assigned passages in preparation for the Workshop. At the Workshop, you see and hear those tools modeled in large group sessions. Then you practice and refine them during the six hours spent with the Bible in small Study Groups.
The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New. ~ Augustine, A.D. 354-430
One of the most important gifts we hope Workshop participants will take away is the sense that the Bible tells a coherent, interconnected story about God’s intention to save a people for Himself through Christ. Each book and passage fits somewhere on the timeline of this story, and our understanding of this “Big Picture” will affect our ability to carefully interpret each smaller part.
The learning that takes place in the two parts of the Workshop – the Study Group sessions and the large group teaching sessions – are connected because all of Scripture is one big story, all pointing to the work of the One and Only Son. From Genesis to Revelation each book is an irreplaceable part of that one great story. So, what you learn in each part of the Workshop will bring you to a deeper understanding of the God who reveals Himself in and through His Word. The Word is worth the Work and the Author is worthy of worship!
