Hey there, you wonderful woman who is leading my Heaven: When Faith Becomes Sight Bible study! This is Jennifer, and I want you to know how thankful I am for you. God uses all of us, and I’m super grateful we are in this together.

Before I filmed the video sessions for this Bible study, I got to teach it to the amazing ladies at my church. So, below are some ideas, helpful group questions, links to treats and keepsakes we used, and anything else I thought might be helpful as you lead your women through this study.

But before we dive into the fun stuff, I want you to be aware of these helpful resources…

Online Video Access

The teaching videos for this study are accessible online to everyone with a study book! This means you and your ladies can either watch the videos together as a group, or you can have your women watch the videos beforehand to allow for more discussion when your group comes together. And if someone in your group misses a session, they can easily catch up by watching the video on their own! Super helpful, right?

Video Teaching Summaries

I’ve put together a short summary of each video teaching session as a recap of what you heard during our time together. These summaries are a great way for your women to get an overview and reflect on the main points. Just have them request each summary here [COMING SOON].

Leader Guide

My publisher, Lifeway, put together a leader guide that will give you some good ideas on how to structure your group time, tips to help you lead, and a conversation guide for each session. Download your leader guide here.

Now, let’s talk about the flow of your study…

Session Flow

When I led this study with the women at my church, each gathering had the same flow. You may want to use this structure or make it your own, but here’s what we did:

1. Table Talk

First, we had the women gather around their tables and provided them with a “table talk” question. During this time, I’d also have them share their “adjective” with each other where each woman tries to sum up how she is, how she feels, and what is happening in her life in just one descriptive word. This gets the conversation going and helps women get to know each other.

2. Welcome and Prayer

Next, we began our session with our facilitator or leader saying a welcome and praying over our time together. This may be you!

3. Video Teaching Session

This is where I get to join you! Of course I was in person with my ladies for this part, but you get the idea! Just play the video teaching session and I’ll lead this part of our time together. One thing you should check ahead of time is if your church has a stable internet connection. If not, no problem! The video teaching sessions are available in DVD format.

4. Discussion Questions

After the video, we moved right into our discussion questions. Because we had a large group of women for this study, we did table talk where the women at each table discussed the questions provided in the study. Often, these small groups dismissed themselves with prayer when finished. If you have a smaller group, you’ll want to discuss these questions together as one group and dismiss when you’re finished.

I should mention that each gathering also included a creative element. Sometimes it was food or beverage that fit the week of study. Sometimes it was décor or a take-away trinket to help them remember what they learned this week. Sometimes the creative element was at the beginning of the gathering, sometimes near the end. It all varied based on the creative element and how it fit best in the flow.

And speaking of creative elements, now let’s get to the fun stuff…

Session Ideas

Group Session 1: Getting the Scoop on Heaven

This is your first gathering where women receive their study book if they don’t already have it.

Creative Element: We gathered at round tables with a blue placemat, blue-wrapped Dove chocolates, and a lovely blue flower stem in the center of each table. You can also consider serving “Blue Flower Tea.” Here’s the tea we served, but make sure you provide sweetener—it looks better than it tastes! All the blue flowers will make sense when they see the Heaven cover and watch the first teaching video.

Table Talk Questions Before the Video:

What are you hoping to learn or gain from this study of Heaven?
Why did you choose to study Heaven?
What is your adjective?

Table Talk Questions After the Video:
See Conversation Guide on page #11 in your Bible Study Book

Group Session 2: Living an 8:18 Life

Creative Element: Each woman received a blue flower pen placed at their table to remind them of the blue flower.

Table Talk Questions Before the Video:

What is your adjective?
What is something you “unlearned” about Heaven this week?
What is your favorite flavor in Neapolitan ice cream? What is something you learned about that “flavor” of Heaven?

Table Talk Questions After the Video:
See Conversation Guide on page #45 in your Bible Study Book

Creative Element: We served Neapolitan ice cream sandwiches after the video for fun! But if you don’t have easy access to a freezer, there are freeze dried options out there too. Ha!

Group Session 3: Numbering Your Days

Table Talk Questions Before the Video:

Choose an adjective that starts with the first letter of your name and best represents you today.
How do you feel about your own longevity (taken from Day 1 of last week’s study)?
How do you want to be remembered? What do you need to do now so you live reaching for those values?

Creative Element: We gave each lady a blue flower seed pouch to plant just as God plants the desire of Heaven in our hearts. Here’s what we used for the seeds, and here are the pouches.

Table Talk Questions After the Video:
See Conversation Guide on page #77 in your Bible Study Book

Group Session 4: Getting Ready to Rise

Creative Element: We served “H2O” in blue drinking glasses. This can be as fancy as you want or you can just use blue paper cups. You can serve fizzy water or just plain still water, or you can infuse your water with something yummy. You can also serve figs—dried or fresh—as a fun nod to this week of study.

Table Talk Questions Before the Video:

What is your adjective?
What is something you learned this week about your resurrected body?
Do you have a favorite piece of clothing like Jennifer’s denim jacket that is practically imperishable?

Table Talk Questions After the Video:
See Conversation Guide on page #107 in your Bible Study Book

Group Session 5: Making Jesus the Treasure of Heaven

Table Talk Questions Before the Video:

Share an adjective that starts with the same letter of your birth month to describe how you are today.
Were there any questions from this week that you had about Heaven that were answered? Or do you still have questions about something discussed this week?
What can you do to increase your longing for Heaven? How can you make your answer into a daily habit? (Taken from Day 4 of last week’s study)

Table Talk Questions After the Video:
See Conversation Guide on page #139 in your Bible Study Book

Creative Element: We gave each woman a beaded bracelet with a question mark charm on it to remind us to ask questions with the purpose of growing closer to God. (These types of bracelets are super popular right now, especially with the youngers from teens to 30s and 40s. Of course, mine was blue! 😉 )

Group Session 6: Celebrating at the Table

Creative Element: As women entered, we served Milano cookies! This was our easy attempt at sharing something multicultural. The point is to share something from another culture or country to remind us of our Heavenly community that will all be gathered at the ultimate table someday.

Table Talk Questions Before the Video:

What is your adjective?
Which one of the “no mores” on Day 2 are you most excited for on the new earth?
What part of nature brings you a sense of joy and restores your soul when you’re there? (Taken from Day 3 of last week’s study)

Table Talk Questions After the Video:
See Conversation Guide on page #173 in your Bible Study Book

Group Session 7: Walking by Faith Until Faith Becomes Sight

This is your last gathering. I know … boohoo! It’s been so great, right? I’m grateful that Heaven lasts forever and not just seven weeks.

Table Talk Questions Before the Video:

What adjective best represents how you feel about Heaven?
What are some ways you are trying to set your mind and seek things above?
Do you have any things you compare death to that bring you encouragement?

Table Talk Questions After the Video:
See Conversation Guide on page #209 in your Bible Study Book

Creative Element: Give your ladies an “Earth is short, Heaven is long” something … a bookmark, a printout on pretty paper to display or frame, a pouch, etc. Or, even better, you can just get something already made from our ministry! Our ministry team created a really pretty “Earth is Short, Heaven is Long” declaration card that you can find here. And, let me also mention here that there’s some fun Heaven swag on our ministry store including a Heaven t-shirt and a tote bag.

There you go, sister! I hope the ideas on this page are helpful. Yet, the most help you will get is through God’s Holy Spirit who is in you and will work through you to protect His Word. So, go for it and share any other ideas you use to help out the other sisters who lead Heaven in the future.

Love,

Jennifer

P.S. Need to get a jump start on the study? You can watch the first video teaching session and download the entire first week of study for free! Plus, I’ll send you the video viewer guide to accompany all eight teaching sessions. Just click the button below…

Watch Session One Order the Heaven Study

Promote the Study in Your Church

Spread the word about your study with these fliers, bulletin inserts, and other promotional materials. After clicking the link, download the item you would like to use and then customize it by adding the details about when and where your group will meet.