As a group leader, one of the most important things you do is to lead your group to investigate and then apply the Bible into their everyday lives. This is generally referred to as transformational or life-changing Bible study.

I’ve noticed that when I speak with small group and Sunday School leaders about leading their group in life-changing Bible study that there are generally some positive, nodding heads agreeing with me. But, there is also some confusion on just what exactly life-changing Bible study is, or what it looks like.

Is it some kind of mystical thing that happens when we study God’s Word?

Does merely reading God’s Word do any good?

But the bigger question becomes: how do I know that I’m leading life-changing Bible study?

Here is a simple equation to help clarify what life-changing (transformational) Bible study is:

Information + application = transformation

Information alone is not enough. Our adversary has biblical information, more information in fact than anyone on this planet. Biblical information alone has not made Satan more godly.

Teaching for information alone is not enough. Jesus’ harshest words were always for the Pharisees, who had more biblical information than anyone in ancient Palestine. What the Pharisees lacked was application, or to be more accurate, correct application.

Some Bible verses that support the application of God’s Word:

• James 1:22
• John 14:15
• John 14:21

Action item: After you have prepared this week’s Bible study for your group, go back through your study and look for points that your group can apply to their lives. How many applications are there? Are the applications direct and obvious enough that your group will grasp both what the biblical truth is and how it applies to their everyday life?