Can you believe it’s August? Summer is winding down and many churches are getting ready for their Fall Bible Studies. It’s no secret that I love attending Bible Studies and think they are a wonderful way to grow in knowledge and community. So, I’ve written a four-part series all about it to get you ready for the semester! Whether you are a long time Bible Study participant or have never attended a Bible Study, I pray this series helps you get the most out of your semester and offers you effective and grace-filled ways to attend, participate, and enjoy biblical community this fall. 

Even if you aren’t attending a Bible Study this semester, this series will remind you of the importance of studying the Bible, show you how to grow in God’s Word, and offer encouragement for your personal study time. 

So, stay tuned each week in August for a new post in the series! And don’t forget to share this with a friend who could use the encouragement, too!

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Attending a Bible Study is a great way to keep up with your Bible study habits and to enjoy the fellowship of a biblical community as you learn. Going to Bible Study keeps us consistent, accountable, and makes growing in the Lord so much fun. I’ve attempted to go to a good many Bible Studies but didn’t make it through all of them, for all the reasons you can probably imagine. So, I know “going to Bible Study” is not always easy. My heart is with those who hear “Bible Study” as a loaded phrase because of past or current hurts. I know for others the desire to go is there, but the hurdles of work, schedule conflicts, and other responsibilities are hard to overcome. And still for others, there are fears, worries, and unmet expectations that are difficult to move past. We might look at all this and wonder: why should we go to Bible Study?

I wrote this for all of you–to encourage you to reframe how you think about going to Bible Study and to prayerfully consider finding a Word-centered group to learn and grow with. There are seasons where it just isn’t feasible to go to Bible Study, but if this is your semester to attend one, I hope this post helps you attend for the right reasons.

Why do you sign up?

We often sign up for a Bible Study because we want to make friends, we want it to be a comfortable place to grow, and we want it to be fulfilling and meet our needs. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But when we go for those reasons, it’s easy to become disenchanted when the group or study doesn’t do those things. Likewise, some of us have been burned before or are busy and we go but attend half-heartedly or flake out. It’s easy to justify our absence if we feel Bible Study isn’t meeting our needs or doesn’t serve an important part in our spiritual growth. 

So, I’d like to suggest that you don’t sign up just for those reasons above (although they may be natural results you experience from a great Bible Study). But,

Don’t go just to be social.

Don’t go to be impressed.

Don’t go with unrealistic expectations.

Instead, let me offer 3 Biblical reasons to attend Bible Study that just might help you go and stick it out to the end, even if it turns out not to be the best Bible Study you’ve ever gone to in your whole entire life. 

Go For These Reasons

In 2 Peter 1:5-8 Peter gives us a list of traits that should characterize the Christian life. He writes:

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

Peter is teaching believers to respond to God’s power and work in their life with effort, dedication, and “moral energy” (one of my favorite John MacArthur phrases) to become holy and productive. Specifically, we are to assemble or put together a life that includes the qualities above. My MacArthur Study Bible had some helpful synonyms for the character traits in this passage: Peter lists both inner disciplines like self-control (literally “holding oneself in”), steadfastness (patient endurance), virtue (goodness), and godliness (to live reverently), as well as external traits like brotherly affection and love. It’s not about acquiring or doing these things in a certain order (although Peter lists “faith” first as the obvious beginning point of the Christian life). It’s about exhibiting all these qualities in increasing measure to be effective and fruitful for the Lord. 

I have noticed that attending Bible Study allows us to cultivate each of these characteristics week in and week out. There are, of course, other ways to practice, learn, and grow in these traits. But Bible Study is one good way for us to purposefully pursue or “add” virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love.

And in that sense, these are powerful reasons to go to Bible Study. It is a place that can help us mature in these qualities and provide specific opportunities to exhibit them. 

So, go to Bible Study for these 3 Biblical reasons:

Go to learn.

Peter is clear that knowledge is a crucial part of the Christian life (he lists it in our verse above and in 2 Peter 3:18). We grow in knowledge through pursuing God’s Word. And what we learn from the Word enables us to live obediently and faithfully. Bible Study is not a social club or book club—it’s all about imperfect people committing their imperfect lives to studying the perfect Word of God. When you go to learn every week of Bible Study, you’ll be overflowing, in the best way, at the end. 

Go to practice Christian character.

You will find that as great as attending a Bible Study can be, it will not be everything you want it to be every time. No group is perfect! Friendships take time, group dynamics can be funky, personalities can be challenging, and it’s impossible for leaders to bring their A-game every week.  In these situations, we get to practice some of the character traits that Peter lists above. We learn to exercise self-control within the group dynamic, steadfastness when our expectations are not met, and consistent goodness towards all the different personalities we encounter. Bible Study is a wonderful, character building training ground. And that’s just what we need.

Go to serve and love your community well.

Bible Study is about learning and growing in community. And to participate in community well, we get to offer our time, our prayers, and our hearts to each other. In other words, we learn to show brotherly affection and love. You will be asked to participate at Bible Study by sharing what you’re learning, by praying for others, by meeting a need at your table, or maybe even by sacrificing in some way. How beautiful! I’ve been at Bible studies where women have stayed late every week to pray for each other, held crying babies so mom could focus on the lesson, babysat each other’s kids during the week, brought meals to each other when life was hard, and even lent each other a car when someone was in need. I’ve heard of men’s Bible Studies having attendees become golfing buddies, accountability partners, moving helpers, and friends for life.  While we do go to Bible Study to learn and receive the Word, we also go to serve and love our Christian family. This is so good. If your current group is just learning how to serve and love well, be the example they can follow.

Bible Study gives us the opportunity to be doers and not just hearers of the Word (James 1:22). 

If you go to Bible Study this semester, go for these reasons and see what happens. I can’t wait to hear about it.