My church small group study guide totally flopped on a tough topic last Sunday

I've been leading this small group at my church in Denver for about 8 months now. Last week I tried to use a study guide from a popular publisher to talk about wealth and poverty from a biblical angle. The whole thing fell apart because the guide kept dodging the hard questions about why some Christians are rich while others struggle. By the end, three people got upset and one guy walked out saying I was pushing politics into religion. I ended up just closing with a group prayer and promising to pick a better resource next time. Has anyone else had a study guide or curriculum fail when you tried to discuss a sensitive topic like money or inequality?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_ben18d ago

I led a group through a study called "The Blessed Life" about a year ago, and we hit a similar wall in week 6 when it talked about tithing. The material kept saying God blesses generous people with more money, which made a couple of my members who are barely making rent feel like they weren't faithful enough. One woman shared how she gave her last $20 to the church offering and then couldn't buy groceries that week, and the guide had zero answers for that kind of real life pain. I ended up ditching the rest of the book and just having honest conversations about what the Bible actually says about money, which is way more complicated than "give and get rich." Looking back, I think those popular publishers are too scared to tell the whole truth because it might make their conservative donors uncomfortable.

maxmurphy18d ago

@the_ben did that woman ever get any real help from the church after that?