Christian Bible groups can be really good places to meet new people and learn more about the Bible in an informal way. A great deal can be gained by asking questions with friends and discussing how the word of God can be interpreted in today’s modern world.
However events like these can be difficult when you first join. It is sometimes hard to know what to say and people can get very tetchy about their religious views. This website has been set up to help you ‘break the ice’ and get to test the water without offending anyone.
Well formed christian bible group icebreakers are nicely open-ended statement that is used to introduce oneself to the group. Ideally the icebreaker shouldn’t have an obvious wrong or right answer, but should encourage everyone to answer. Saying nothing should not be an option, otherwise a nervous group may choose to simply sit with their arms folded.
If you are the Bible study group leader try to answer yourself first; you can hereby set a correct length and give a clue to a desired answer. As the leader you should then pass the question around the group encouraging each member to answer but allowing them to pass if preferred.
Initial christian bible group icebreakers are really important as they help to ‘level the playing field’ and makes people comfortable and happy. Discussing the word of God requires your mind and body to be fully relaxed. A Christian scholar once said: “If we talk about ourselves and talk about the Bible, but never make a good connection between the two, then life transformation will never happen”.
Rather appropriately, Jesus himself was a master with the opening icebreaker question. Many of his popular get-togethers started very informally with Jesus asking how everyone was and helping people relax.
Bible study tips
There are a few other tips to help a first bible group study course off to a fine start. Firstly, if you are the leader, plan an agenda and politely but firmly stick to it. Any group of people left chatting can easily get diverted to talking about
All sorts of perfectly entertaining but unrelated matters can impede the discussion. It is important to remember that the point of a Bible study group is to discuss and further understand the word of God - hard to do if for the last 45 minutes the group has been talking about supermarket parking!
Having said that, leaders and members must always stay flexible, things happen, people are late and things rarely go completely as planned. Some of the best deep discoveries occur when conversation is flexible and people feel free to suggest an alternative to a popularly held notion, or a previously unthought of procedure. Worship has been evolving for thousands of years and is unlikely to stop changing now. We should cherish this rather than trying to keep everything too rigid.
However you decide to prepare yourself for a session, do try and create Christian Bible group icebreakers and don’t let everything get too secular. There are many great games and fun to be had with icebreakers, but we are trying to learn about the word of the Lord, and making everything too jolly and low-key does somewhat detract from the message. Everyone likes to enjoy themselves, but not at the expense of the reverence and respect that our religion should expect.
Help from the 21st century
These days technology is everywhere and, used sensitively, it can be an invaluable tool, helping people to grasp complicated concepts. PowerPoint, KeyNote or even a link to the Internet can be really useful, but please be careful and bare in mind the following:
Technology shouldn’t be a distraction; don’t have noises and overly frenetic visual effects.
People don’t always read as fast as you; try to keep the text size big and the number of paragraphs down to a minimum.
Why not put your christian bible group icebreakers on a powerpoint slide and then project your easy icebreaker onto a screen?
Rehearse what you intend to use in advance. Nothing will break the mood more than a crashing computer which keeps requiring a restart.
We hope this guide will help you attend or set-up a really helpful, friendly and great Bible study group which can help you and your community get closer to God.
- Don't get distracted, everyone should be relaxed but think: 'We are all here ultimately to learn about Jesus Christ and the Christian faith'.
- The group leader should be answering his / her own questions, don't be the task-master handing out the jobs, join in as one of the people.
- Don't be afraid to tackle difficult issues. It is through discussion that we resolve our differences. Don't start with the difficult questions though!
- Try to provide food, no one will be expecting a full spread, but a couple of bottles of pop and a bag of crisps never hurt anyone!
- Work as a team to keep everyone nicely involved. Some people talk a lot more than others, don't let the overly-enthusiastic members take over.
- Try and arrange a time when everyone can meet for a slightly more informal get-together, a meal or theater trip.
- A giraffe can easily clean its ears with a 20 inch long toungue
some useful ice breakers for christian bible study groups
Copyright © January, 2009 Russet Moose Brian Horn - Cheshire, UK
