7 Cautions Before Starting an Online Bible Study

When I set my writing goals at the end of last year, I had thought to begin a Bible study blog series, working through the book of Matthew. The idea of a public Bible study seemed exciting. I thought it would 1) add another level of accountability to my devotional life, 2) be an opportunity to learn and perhaps teach, and 3) be cool to have a public study in which friends and strangers from all over could contribute.

I wrote drafts about six studies, covering Matthew’s first three chapters. I’d done my research, written posts, thought of questions to pose, and even created graphics.

Then I bailed on the idea, and I’m very glad.

It’s not that my motivations were bad. I think almost any excuse to get into the Word, grow in knowledge, and share with others has merit. But I realized that I hadn’t thought through all of the best reasons to carry on an online Bible study, nor had I considered all of the challenges that were likely to arise.

Only after I really stopped to count the cost was I convicted that I wasn’t ready and, more importantly, wasn’t strongly called to engage in such an endeavor.

Here are seven of the red flags that came to my mind that made me reconsider and ultimately abandon a blog-based Bible study—at least for now. If you’ve ever considered starting or joining one, I hope you’ll find some wisdom here as well.

1. Launching a Bible Study Must Begin with Prayer

You wouldn’t lead a Bible study at your church unless you’ve prayed about it, would you? You wouldn’t step into leadership in your church, a position tasked with teaching, correcting, and leading, without feeling at least a nudge from the Lord or church leadership, would you? I would go so far as to say if you haven’t prayed and haven’t felt the Lord’s okaying or outright instruction to take on this role, you shouldn’t do it. For me, I realized my desire to lead an online Bible study sounded principled, but was really more my own desire than a call from God. The idea didn’t arise out of prayer or pastoral suggestion, but rather out of my desire to blog more frequently on the subject of faith. If the root and fuel of your online (or in-person) Bible study isn’t God’s will, don’t start down that road. I’m not saying you need to hear express permission from the Lord to kick off a study, but I do believe such a decision should be accompanied by prayer, affirmation from trusted brothers and sisters, and a peace that the initiative is firmly planted within God’s will—not your own. So, as with every other activity of the Christian life, let it begin not with your own plotting, but with prayer.

2. Leadership Requires Accountability

Anyone desiring to lead in the Church—in a church or through a screen—must be accountable to credible church leadership and the historic faith. Bible study leaders, like all servant-leaders in the church are answerable to orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right practice). When I planned to start a study on my blog, it was just me. I hadn’t discussed it with my elders or even my family or friends. It’s not that I intended to be secretive or independent; it’s just that I began treating the Bible study like any other blog post—something to be edited and worked on, but ultimately up to my own discretion. That can’t be the case with a genuine gospel-based study. Even as it is seeded in prayer and scripture, it must be grown with community. An online Bible study, like any other, needs accountability, not anonymity. It is responsible to God and his Word, not only your own blogging style and sensibilities.

3. Teachers Will Be Held to a High Standard

If your intention is to teach, guide, or advise people, you’re stepping up to a higher bar and a lower position. Shepherds of the Word and of God’s people face a tall task, one that carries weight far beyond one’s ability to compose blog posts and manage comment sections. “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly,” said James 3:1. If you’re considering leading a Bible study, are you doing it for spotlight, experience, to fill blog space? Or because the Lord has given you gifts like teaching, discernment, and wisdom? One could justify starting a blog-based study by claiming not to be leading or teaching anything, but rather just writing out one’s own thoughts. If it’s genuine, that may be a better approach. But if we’re trying to create a community engagement study online, the blog host and writer seems to be the default leader. If it’s framed as “listen to me” or if it comes with claims of special insight, we must ask whether we are willing and ready to be held to the standard God seeks in teachers.

4. Going Public Creates a Host of Challenges

Making a Bible study public is one of the more exciting reasons to do it. It’s also one of the more dangerous. Unless you install locks on your blog, people you don’t know can comment and respond. You must ask yourself, “How will I facilitate healthy, fair conversation? How will I deal with strangers out of leftfield inserting misguided or even heretical comments? Will I respond to all comments?” The internet is a den of trolls. Launching a Bible study on your blog will open to the door to them. Are you ready? At least an in-person Bible study (assuming it’s not recorded), is typically private and self-contained; a blog, however, is available to the masses, and that includes literally billions of people you don’t know, who think differently than you, who aren’t Christians, who may unintentionally (or intentionally) undermine the civility, credibility, and reverence of the communal study of God’s Word. Sure, going public can invite fascinating conversation and new voices and friendships, but it isn’t without hazards.

5. An Online Bible Study is Permanent. So Are the Repercussions.

As with anything on the internet, you can never truly erase it. On the one hand, it might sound good to carve your Bible-based thoughts and questions into internet stone. On the other hand, our theological understanding, our humility, our ability to engage and respond and speak wisdom, all evolve as we mature. In thirty years, if you host a Bible blog, people will be able to access your spiritual thoughts, your theological musings, your interpretations, and perhaps your vulnerabilities. Is that okay? What are the chances you’ll stand by what you write today in thirty years? What happens when, down the road, you’re nominated to be a deacon or an elder (or simply aspire to be) and someone in your church finds your Bible study blog? Again, this isn’t so much a warning as a consideration. Ideally, if you feel equipped and led to lead a Bible study, you already have enough wisdom and discernment to not write anything you’d be horribly embarrassed by in the future. Even so, before beginning, you should be comfortable with the reality that whatever is shared via your blog will likely never be entirely invisible. Just as people—friends and strangers—will find you now, they’ll find your digitally inscribed words decades from now as well.

6. Leading a Bible Study Requires Just That: Study

For some reason, this point isn’t as obvious to many Bible study leaders as it should be. Leading a Bible study blog is a commitment not just to pray, write, post, respond, and administer—it’s also a commitment to study. That’s right; if you lead a study, digital or not, you need to be ready to knuckle down and do the rigorous head and heart preparation necessary to lead community and guide through God’s Word well. You need to study! Presumably, you’re coming to this mission with some experience and knowledge in Christian life and doctrine. On top of that, time and effort to stay in the Word and diligently examine and pray over it is necessary. Studying God’s Word is, of course, a privilege. And yet, we find so many excuses to keep ourselves from it. If you’re considering a blog Bible study, the excuses need to end and an increased commitment to the Word must spring forth—for your sake, and for the sake of all those who participate.

7. Blog-Based Studies Necessitate a Ready, Competent Responsiveness

If your goal is not only to write study material and personal commentary into an empty ether, but also to share and grow and process and think within digital community, a certain level of responsiveness will be duly expected. If what you’re striving for is a true study, and if you are leading it, you should be able to regularly respond to participants. As a regular blogger myself, I know the desire for shares and comments is powerful. Hosting a blog Bible study series aimed at engagement from readers-turned-contributors only elevates that desire. After all, what’s a community Bible study if no one says a word? However, in an in-person study, responding to participants is usually a manageable task. Question. Answer. Discussion. (Not that it’s ever quite that simple!) But in a digital study environment, responsiveness can be put on the backburner. Comments can be posted at all hours of the day or night, minutes or months after a study is published. As noted before, trolls might disrupt the discussion. Because you don’t know who might participate, you can’t read your audience, their needs or desires, in the same way as you can in a physically-rooted study setting. The truth is, responding faithfully, helpfully, and biblically to all contributors can easily become a difficult task. Responding may require more study and more time and more patience that you don’t have. Remaining responsive is a test of character and ability to lead well. It’s a privilege—but can also be a pain. Hosting an online study isn’t a part-time commitment. It’s an on-call style undertaking for which you must be ready and willing to respond for as long as the blog is live.