How to guide a small group into a deeper discussion?

First, I praise God that you are taking this step! I too started a Bible study/discussion group recently. I don’t say this to exalt myself; I say it because I recognize that God is calling you and you are running to him. I encourage you to continue to love righteousness and hate wickedness. My words of praise have been heard by our Father and I pray that he will endlessly surround you in spirit.

When God called me to lead, I was initially concerned. I did not know what to talk about. I prayed and he graciously provided topics week after week. As time progressed, I found what helps is observing my own life. Personal challenges of faith have become some of my biggest sources of inspiration. Do not be afraid to ask yourself the difficult questions. Live and breathe the word of God constantly. Pray with a sincere heart and listen. Also, if you don’t already, start journaling. Write your every struggle, your every thought. It’s okay if you repeat yourself day after day because it is a reflection of your current self. If we aren’t growing then we can’t help others grow. The more you invest into the discussion, the deeper it gets. At the end of the week (or whenever you meet), you are sharing what you have learned.

I do want to warn that it is all or nothing. We cannot follow the Lord only 90 percent of the time (Israel’s continuous disobedience throughout history has made this apparent). We are meant to set examples.

Keep in touch.

What, I went to an HBCU and let me tell you every night there are some deep deep conversations going on in college campuses. You can start off by not having clique issues and sins, talk about current events and what God is saying. If the conversation is interesting people will come back, if it's to personal people will draw back. Make it about their beliefs in scripture and not just your own.

Yes applying Scripture to our daily lives would be beneficial. Think many Scriptures have more than one meaning - natural and spiritual for example. Knowing the Jewish roots would also give Scripture more meaning. Ancient Jewish thought was that when folks passed their spirit lingered for 3 more days. When we read that Yeshua postponed going to Lazarus until "Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already," (John 11:17) it takes on a different meaning.

anewman1993 said:

So, I'm helping get a small group going at my church for those around the college age. The whole situation is a little unclear but basically I'm not a "leader" in the group but I am giving support and helping the leader. One thing I want to help do is guide the discussion into a deeper more meaningful discussion of scripture. That said, I'm actually not sure how to go about it. I don't think many people, especially college aged, want a surface level spoon feed faith, in fact most of them I know want something they can sink their teeth into. Growing up I was always around church members who in retrospect seemed to guide us into deeper understand of Gods word with ease, but I don't know how to do that. What questions to ask, how to drive a point home.

I'm not talking about going into a super deep theological discussion on naturalism or anything like that, but I do want to try to promote people to think about the word of God themselves, with only SOME guidance, but where they can go home and think over the issues and have a desire themselves to know more, while at the same time learning while at the small group.

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Love the scriptures. Love even more the Person who gave the scriptures. Be authentic; don't put on a show. Be humble. Learn to ask yourself and others open ended questions, i.e. questions that do not have one or two word answers. Seek to first understand the meaning of a passage of scripture and then to understand how it should change your thinking/heart. Lastly, how your changed thinking/heart should show up in behavior.

In it all, remember the end goal: to further glorify God and deepen your enjoyment of him.

Hope this helps

What Hospes said!

Be deeply interested in each and every person - not just what they say in the group, but call each of them through the week and just see how they are doing. When you are having your discussion, ask them how those particular biblical principles are applicable to their current life situation, or how they can apply principles. Ask them not only about passages that are meaningful, but what makes them meaningful. If you need them to go a little deeper, ask them questions like "if you push yourself a little more, can you go a little deeper" or "can you be more specific". You can ask for examples, or hopes, etc...