Hi friends!
First of all, we want to thank you for being a part of our Lifeway Women online community. We are looking forward to all that God has in store for us in 2019, and we hope you’ll join us for the journey!
One of our favorite things about this online community is getting to study God’s Word together through online Bible studies, and we couldn’t be more excited about what that will look like in 2019. Whether you’ve never done an online Bible study with us or you’ve been doing them for years, we wanted to take some time to break down the basics of what to expect and to answer some of the great questions you all have frequently asked us along the way.
So, without further adieu, welcome to Online Bible Study 101!
Why did you all start offering online Bible studies?
From the beginning, we’ve loved the idea of all sorts of women from around the world gathering together to study God’s Word. We love that technology allows us to do something like that online and to encourage each other as we learn more about God. Our hope for the online Bible studies is not that they’ll replace community in real life, but we’ve also heard from so many women that the ability to study God’s Word anytime, anywhere with other women has been such a blessing. We encourage you to grab a friend or two to study alongside you! For leaders, our hope is that the online Bible study can be a great tool to preview Bible studies yourself before you lead your group through them in the coming months. These are just a few of the reasons we started offering online Bible studies!
How do you all choose which studies you are going to do as an online Bible study? Can I request a specific study for you all to offer?
We try to offer a variety of authors and topics throughout the calendar year, so that plays a major role in which studies we offer as online Bible studies. Our hope is that the online Bible studies will be an opportunity for you to hear from some of your favorite authors as well as some that you are not familiar with! We love hearing from you all on which studies you’d like to see down the road, but we do schedule our online Bible study calendar out several months ahead of time. Keep telling us what you’d like to see, but just know that it may not be feasible to offer that study until much later down the road.
How does an online Bible study work?
Each week, we’ll watch a video teaching and discuss what we’re learning. Then, you’ll dive in deeper with the Bible study book throughout the week. To learn about our current online studies, go here.
What is the cost of the online Bible study?
The only cost would be to purchase the Bible study book, which we recommend for diving deeper into the content throughout the week and getting the most out of the study. The video sessions are available for free until the date noted on the sign up page.
When does the online Bible study meet?
The video teaching is not a live video, so you are more than welcome to watch the video anytime after it becomes available. We have women joining us from around the world, so ladies are watching the video and joining in the discussion all throughout the week! We’ve also begun to offer our online Bible studies in Lifeway Stores. Call your local store to find out meeting times.
How does the discussion work online?
Along with each week’s video, we’ll post 3-4 discussion questions for you to answer in the comments. As a note, we do moderate comments, so our team has to approve the first comment you submit. That may be why it takes a little longer for your initial comment to show up. Thank you so much for your patience as our team looks through all of them!
How long will the video sessions stay up?
We will post a new video session once a week, and the videos will remain available until the date noted on the sign up page. Usually, this is a few weeks after the last session is posted.
If you are unable to finish all of the video sessions before they are removed, that’s ok! You can purchase or rent the video sessions you have left at Lifeway.com. We offer audio sessions for purchase as well!
Can I get a reminder that the newest video session is live?
Yes! When you sign up for the study, you are also added to an email list specifically to receive reminders that the newest session is available for you to watch.
Having trouble getting the email reminders? Feel free to email us at womensministry@lifeway.com, and we will investigate!
Why did the online Bible studies move to a new website?
Simply put, we moved our online Bible studies from our blog to a new website to continue giving you the best experience possible! One of our favorite things about the new experience is that you can see a list of all of the sessions for the online Bible study and what date they will be available for you to watch. You can also see your personal progress on which sessions you’ve completed. And our absolute favorite thing? Once we open sign ups for the next online Bible study, you will see it available for you to sign up in your dashboard. Meaning you’ll be one of the first to know about the next study we’re doing!
Have a question that we didn’t answer in this post? Feel free to let us know in the comments section below!