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Q & A Discussion: Bill Tenney-Brittian

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Our group is in the middle of a curriculum series that we all purchased together, but it doesn’t seem to be working. As the leader, what should I do?

Bill Tenney-Brittian responds in our Q & A discussion.

by Bill Tenney-Brittian responds in our Q & A discussion.

Topics:	Bible study, Book study, Curriculum, Problems
Filters:	Facilitator, Group Leader, Teacher, Train
Purpose:	Discipleship
References:	Ecclesiastes 1:13
Date Added:	November 09, 2009

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Total Reader Responses: 1 (see below)

Before you do anything, take a deep breath. All is not lost, and so long as the group continues to build momentum relationally and spiritually (you are praying together, right?), you'll survive this. Before you jump into purchasing a new curriculum—or opting to do something else completely—take some time to do a small-group evaluation.

First, ask yourself (and your coach or director, if you have one) what is the primary "task" your group is meant to accomplish. Do people come primarily to be educated—to learn more about God, the Bible, the church, and so on? Do they come primarily to create a bond of Christian fellowship? To accomplish some other task? Whatever curriculum or activity the group takes on should facilitate the primary purpose.

Once you're aware of the primary task, you can begin to ask why the curriculum isn't working. Bible studies are created to achieve specific purposes, so it's quite possible that your purpose and your study's purpose didn't connect. However, there may be other reasons why it didn't work. It may have been too technical, or not technical enough. Some groups rebel against "touchy-feely" curriculum. Others object to curriculum that cites scholars with alternate worldviews or theological ideas. It may be helpful to simply ask the group what they didn't like about it.

Finally, sometimes the offending curriculum can be salvaged by presenting it differently. In one case, we had a curriculum that came with a video series that was hideous—all talking heads, and boring at that. However, once we discovered that was the case, we ditched the video and went with a simple discussion over the material. Things turned out very well.

Ultimately, you may have to scrap what you started. Don't lose any sleep over it, though. Some other group may like it down the line. In the end, it's much better to start over with a new curriculum that accomplishes the group's purpose than to labor over something that wastes everyone's time.

Posted: November 11, 2009

hsl2000 (Guest)

Here's another approach that may help, depending on the problem: Consider looking for related materials--for example, if this is a study of Ephesians or a book on parenting teens, check with your pastor or other leaders to see if there are materials on Ephesians or parenting that they could recommend as supplements that might ultimately be the main source of discussion, with your current materials used as supplemental information. That way, you don't break the momentum of the topic to date and may also find that what you have is still helpful in conjunction with more clearly presented or more relevant to the group information.