Starting Your Own Women’s Bible Discussion

Things I have learned

By Melanie Darvodelsky, Sydney, Australia 

Bible discussions or “Bible talks” are a classic medium for spreading the gospel in your area. Pick a time and place and invite people to come and hear a message from the word of God that they can easily digest and will hopefully motivate them to seek God further. Many people have become Christians through this approach! As women we often play the supporting role in running Bible discussions and that can leave us feeling ill-equipped to start our own, even when we can see a great opportunity wherever we are. So! Hopefully these tips can bridge any knowledge gaps or push back against any insecurities you may have and inspire you to start your own discussion to reach the women wherever God has placed you at this moment. 

A bit about my own history with women’s Bible discussions. When I was in university, our Bible talk group had a discussion every week on campus. My cousin and I met some girls who seemed to be interested in knowing about the Bible but were not available at the time of our regular discussion, so we were encouraged to start our own. This was a great opportunity for me -- it was my first year in campus ministry and so I was not leading anything at the time, and all of a sudden I had the chance to lead a discussion! My cousin and I picked a place and a time that worked for these girls, and a topic, and it was so much fun! Honestly, my cousin did all the heavy lifting in terms of teaching the Bible (thanks Ashlea) and we weren’t that fruitful in the end, but we learned so much, taking on that initiative ourselves.

Because of this, when I changed universities to a college that didn’t have any other disciples at it, I felt more confident to start my own discussion there. This discussion was not just for women, and I invited other disciples to come help me run it (including my dad) but I was able to share the gospel with a lot of my classmates in a more efficient way. A lot of my classmates were mature-aged students, and it was a real surprise to my disciple friends when the visitors I brought to this new Bible talk were in their 60’s (hence the need for my dad’s help!). 

Later on, when I was leading the professionals’ ministry in the Sydney church, I realised that we had a lot of women who were great, faithful Christians who were working in pockets of Sydney that we weren’t reaching as much, and who weren’t leading any other group at this moment. It seemed obvious to help them to start women’s Bible discussions as a way to make the most of their talents and reach more people in Sydney. One group met in a park in the middle of a business area during lunch, and another group met after work in the middle of Sydney city, right around the corner from the Opera House. We hired a room in an old library, and brought charcuterie boards, and all these women who worked in the city were able to bring out their colleagues to discuss the Sermon on the Mount while snacking on brie. 

My most recent dabble with women’s Bible discussions came when my daughter was one and a half, after I listened to an episode of the Woven In Truth podcast that featured Megan Bliley. She laid out a challenge in that podcast to any sister who had been a disciple for at least 10 years, to grab a friend and start their own local Bible discussion. I was so inspired by this episode (I really recommend giving it a listen!) and I had been feeling a bit embarrassed about the lack of spiritual impact I was having in my neighbourhood after living there for a few years. I had so many mum friends that I had met in the park, and yet none of them had come to church with me or studied the Bible. I decided to do a Bible discussion specifically aimed at young mums that ran for one month, just before my second baby was born. We had a new mum come out each week, and I was able to teach the Scriptures to people who had never known about God. 

So - I have tried a few things with Bible discussions, and here’s a summary of what I have learned (by the way - some of these are stolen from that podcast episode! Go and listen to it if you want more inspiration).

1. Do it with a buddy

The hardest one of those discussions for me was probably the second one at my college. Not having anyone to bounce ideas off or own it with me made me much more likely to wimp out, or postpone the discussion a week, or generally become afraid. Grab a friend and do it together! With the mums’ bible discussion, I specifically prayed for a friend to do it with, because most of my mum friends worked during the day. While I was praying, I remembered a sister who had recently moved in from overseas who homeschooled her kids. That meant she could probably make herself free during one day a week for the discussion! It was so helpful to have a buddy to help get my neighbours’ numbers and invite them to things, so that I wasn’t trying to do this scary thing by myself. She also did things that I would not have thought of, like bringing cute snacks, and sharing great input in the discussion. And the bonus was that I felt so close to her after we had done this thing together (thank you Christina!).

2. Pick a theme

The Bible is vast, and a theme helps cut down decision-making for what Scripture to look at each week. Themes I have done are:  the “guard the gospel” series, the Sermon on the Mount, parables of Jesus, and what God says about motherhood. Think about the people you are reaching out to and what topic could spur them on to want to be closer to God. Make sure there is a key Scripture that the discussion is based on, and that it is simple and easy for them to digest, especially if you don’t live in a religious area.

3. Ask questions, don’t preach

A Bible discussion is different to a lesson. It’s in the name: discussing the Bible together, rather than one person delivering the message. That actually takes more skill! When you have picked your Scripture, sit down and think about what questions you could ask that would prompt discussion -- open questions, that draw out people’s perspectives and experiences, rather than closed questions or questions that require a lot of knowledge of the text. If you get stuck, run your questions by another disciple who can help. 

4. Have a start and end date

One mistake I have made many times is leaving Bible discussions open-ended - that is, we will have this Bible discussion every Tuesday at 10am from now until…..forever? What inevitably happens with this is that the Bible discussion ends up losing steam and people start to drop off, until it ends in a somewhat discouraging way. If you say, “this Bible discussion will run for four weeks,” that will allow more disciples to commit to supporting you, and will encourage more visitors to come because they may miss out. You can tell them, “we only have two more of these left!” It also keeps the energy and excitement high and helps you and other disciples persevere with inviting new people. If after that timeframe you have a lot of momentum and want to keep going, it’s really easy to start a new series that runs for another four to six weeks. But if after that time you realise you have no visitors, the end date helps you pause and consider if you have chosen the right venue, time or theme and how you could adjust things to reach more people.

5. There is no perfect time and place

I am someone who gets really caught up with perfectionism. I can agonise over whether 10 or 10:30 is a better time, or if Tuesday or Thursday would be better. The truth is, there is no perfect place or time. Some people will be able to make Tuesday and others Thursday. Some people’s babies nap in the morning and others nap at noon. And thinking about these things for too long can be a real barrier to getting started. Pick a time and a place that you and your buddy can both do, and that seems good enough to get started. If it turns out you made a terrible decision, guess what? You can change it and try again. Especially if you have only planned to run it for a month (see above).

6. Tell your brothers and sisters what you’re doing

I have had one million ideas in my life that I have never gotten off the ground. But when I tell a lot of people about an idea that I have, it’s like I am committing to it. I know they will ask me about it later and it feels like a type of accountability, which motivates me to keep putting one foot in front of the other even if I am scared. Also, other disciples may know people in your area who could come along to the discussion, and they will do that evangelising for you! I really thought all the evangelising for the mums’ discussion would have to come down to me, because I was the only disciple mum in my suburb. But because I had told all the campus and professionals in my area about my plan, one of the campus boys invited a young mum in his building to go along! 

7. For mums - babies are not a barrier

When we ran the mums’ discussion, we sat on a picnic mat at the park and the babies crawled all over us, grabbing our Bibles and generally being rascals. And it was fine! The word of God still came through. If you’re a mum of young kids, don’t worry about the babies being in the way - maybe their cuteness will help soften the hearts of your visitors ;) 

8. Be bold

The number one reason I didn’t get that many visitors to various Bible discussions is that I simply did not tell people. And conversely, I had all kinds of people who would never have come to church with me come out to a Bible discussion at least once, just because I asked them and they were curious (or maybe felt bad for me haha!). Pray for boldness, tell all your friends to pray for you, and go hard. Remember -- the wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as lions!

9. Remember the aim

Don’t forget the great commission - to make disciples. Bible discussions are a way to help people open their hearts to the word of God, but don’t forget to pray that the people you invite will not just come to your discussion but also study the Bible and become Christians. Try to get the number of anyone who comes and invite them to come along to church or some other event as well, so they can hear more about the good news of Christ.

That’s it! Hopefully this encourages you to take that step forward and start a new Bible discussion wherever you are -- your office, your park, your local cafe. Remember His word never returns empty and go for it!

Author Bio

Melanie was born and raised in Sydney, and now leads the West Region and Professionals Ministry of the Sydney Church of Christ along with her husband.