How To Teach The Bible Better In Small Group

If you want to make a story or joke have maximum impact, you set the stage. You take the time to provide the context for what you’re about to tell. The same is especially true of your Bible teaching.

Teaching any passage without providing the context fails to help students see the “big picture view” of Scripture. How can you teach in context? Glad you asked. Here are three easy tips:

Think Macro
Take a few seconds to place the book you’re studying in the overall timeline of Scripture. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just give students something to nail down the big picture view of the Book and where it falls. If you’re in the New Testament, say so. And do a little extra work to place it in the context of the New Testament. Is it a Gospel? A Letter? It’s that easy.

Who? When? Why?
Who wrote the book? When was it written? Why was it written (i.e., what’s the purpose)? This stuff isn’t boring. It’s vital. And your students need to hear it. Do you HAVE to treat them to a discourse on the alternate theories of the authorship of Genesis? No way. But students need to know that Scripture was written by God-inspired people, in a certain cultural context, with a specific purpose in mind.

Think Micro
Don’t just jump into a passage. Help students know where the passage fits into the surrounding text. If you’re teaching your students Jesus’ words from Matthew 7 about not judging others, place the passage in the context of the Sermon on the Mount. Take a quick second to summarize what’s going on.

Does teaching contextually take more preparation? Honestly, it does. But nothing a good Study Bible can’t solve. So, give contextual teaching a try. I promise you and your students will love it.

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Andy Blanks is the co-founder of youthministry360 and is a HUGE believer in DNow Weekends and the Small Group leaders who make them so awesome.