Your group is made up of people with a variety of gifts, personalities, abilities, passions, and experiences. They have a variety of learning style preferences: verbal, visual, logical, natural, musical, relational, physical, and reflective (Johnston and Brown, Teaching the Jesus Way, 2000, pp. 152-154). Let’s examine some of those differences and identify new ways to participate in Bible study this week.
Inner Versus Outer Thinkers
Almost every group has inner and outer thinkers. No, I don’t mean introverts and extroverts. Inner thinkers tend to need to think internally before responding to a question. Outer thinkers tend to talk out loud on their way to an answer. So when you ask a question, the outer thinkers tend to respond first. Would you like to get the inner thinkers more involved? Ask a question allowing 30-60 seconds to think before the group responds. This gives inner thinkers a little time to process an answer. Another way is to assign questions to individuals or the group in the previous session.
Learning Styles
All 8 learning styles mentioned above tend to be represented in the top 2 learning style preferences of groups with 6 or more people. Use of a preferred learning style tends to increase engagement, understanding, retention, and application. Since individuals prefer to learn in a variety of ways, adjusting our teaching methods is important. Use an intentional variety of learning styles to create new ways to participate this week.
Group Size
As groups grow larger, the number of people who respond to our questions tends to remain the same (about 4-6 people) unless we adjust how we teach. In groups of 6 or fewer, lessons can be considered conversation with nearly everyone talking. But as group size grows larger, talking out loud can be viewed as public speaking. Since public speaking is a fear for many people, larger groups lead to listening rather than talking. What can we do? Divide the group for at least a portion of the time into groups of 3-6 and give them assignments.
Good Versus Bad Questions
Bad questions tend to require yes/no or one-word answers, are leading questions, or are poorly worded or confusing. Good questions invite thinking and response. They may be open-ended or clarifying. They may compare or reflect. Or they may be hypothetical or evaluating. When participants talk out loud, they gain ownership of what they are learning and greater understanding of each other. So get them talking with well-designed questions.
There are many more ways to increase participation, including for the group leader to stop doing all the talking. As you prepare your lesson this week, seek new ways to participate. Then watch as satisfaction and learning grows. To discover even more ways to lead your members to participate, get a copy of my book, Disciple-Making Encounters. Make disciples. Be revolutionary!
Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash
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