So, your church is ramping up for its next round of Bible studies, and you're faced with the task of securing leaders for each of the women's groups. Don't worry — this doesn't have to include a five-step application process or FBI investigation.
Here are a few easy steps to choosing good leaders, adapted from the Transformed Lives women's ministry resource:
Define the leadership roles you need.
Depending on your church, you may find yourself picking just one leader or needing to select several. Here are some leadership roles you might want to enlist for:
Most Bible studies have one leader, usually called a facilitator. You will need to enlist a leader for every eight to 12 people. The facilitator is responsible for:
convening the group,
conducting the session (video-driven or not),
taking prayer requests,
leading a prayer time, and
guiding participants to discuss each week's study material or homework.
If your church has had a large response to a study, you may want to break the facilitator role out into two others:
The large-group Bible study leader is not a teacher but an organizer, coordinator, and facilitator. If you're using a video driven study, the large-group leader shows the video. Participants complete the corresponding video response sheet at the end of each week's material in their member books as they view the video.
If you have small group or breakout leaders (in the case of very large group studies), these ladies should be people who are interested in exploring the crucial truths of the course being studied and who desires to help others grow in intimacy with God. They will lead follow-up discussions, much like in the facilitator role mentioned above, for smaller groups of ladies (again — 12 ladies per breakout group is probably the biggest you should allow).
Know what you're looking for.
Lists of degrees, qualifications, and years of teaching experience aren't required for these leadership roles. Being available and teachable is more important. Your leaders should be strongly committed to study of the course and to fulfilling basic responsibilities of group leadership.
Look for these general qualities in your potential study leaders:
a heart committed to exploring biblical truth and the desire to lead others in the same;
a commitment to complete the work and basic responsibilities the study requires;
faithfulness to attend and thoroughly prepare for each meeting; and
a dedication to prayer and to caring for group members.
Prayerfully make your decisions.
The nitty-gritty of actually tapping your study leaders will vary, but the bottom line is to keep praying and let the Spirit guide you as you choose. As God leads, you may prefer to simply talk to certain ladies informally about leading a study.
If you see a lot of interest in facilitating, you may actually want to develop a short questionnaire for them to complete. Anything you can do to get to know your potential leaders better is a step in the right direction. As you talk with potential leaders about their spiritual walks and desires for leading these studies, go back to God's leadership to let you know if these are leaders you should choose
Choose a Bible Study for your women's group.