BFAM LEADER’S GUIDE

The BFAM (Be Fruitful And Multiply) Bible study method is an incredibly powerful tool that has proven to result in multiplication of Kingdom truths and deep revelation of the Word all around the world! BFAM was originally designed by Every Home for Christ for indigenous people who couldn’t read or write and is designed to disciple believers through Bible stories.

Jesus loved stories! This group Bible study method can be done with kids, families, non-believers, friends, etc.

 

GENERAL NOTES ABOUT LEADING BFAM

  • BFAM is meant to be used with stories! New Testament letters, prophetic books, etc., are more challenging to study with this method due to the context required and lack of character interactions

  • To fully dive into the passage, try to keep your passage short (in most cases, 5-10 verses will take an hour)

  • BFAM is meant to be a conversational and Spirit-led study tool. Having a proper understanding of context and proper hermeneutics is still important, but let Holy Spirit bring out the gold in a passage

  • The goal of BFAM is group engagement! The best BFAM experiences will be had when everyone is contributing and offering their perspectives. That being said, this method will also work for your personal study time

  • Do your absolute best to not include outside sources or cross-referencing until the end (e.g., “I heard Bill Johnson teach on this once and he said…” “This other passage says….”). Mine and explore the passage as a team!

  • LEADER’S NOTE: Communicate clearly what you are and are not doing at every step. The tendency is for people to either NOT share or OVER share; your job as a leader is to help everyone trust the model


STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO LEADING BFAM

INTRODUCTION

Be sure to let your group know the pieces of information below:

  • BFAM was originally designed by Every Home for Christ for indigenous people who couldn’t read or write, and was designed as a communal way to read the Bible

  • BFAM is meant to be used with stories

  • The best BFAM experiences will be had when everyone is contributing and offering their perspective

  • Do your absolute best not to include outside sources or cross-referencing until the end

STEP 1 - KNOW THE STORY (~10 min)

Read the story twice aloud. The first time, have people follow along in their Bibles. The second time, have everybody listen.

Every story has three common qualities/features that we want to uncover:

1.    Who are the CHARACTERS?

2.      What are the ACTIONS?

3.      What are the DETAILS?

LEADER’S NOTES:

  • Lead the room in an elementary, hand-holding type of way. This will help to keep the group engaged and hungry. Ask leading questions along the way. (e.g., “We need two volunteers to read,” “Who did they meet next?” “What did Jesus do?”)

  • At this point, we are NOT looking to share revelation! This is information gathering time. You as a leader should clearly communicate this at the beginning to keep the group focused

STEP 2 - RETELL THE STORY (~3 min)

Nothing solidifies a story in your mind better than retelling it! Get in groups of three and have someone retell the story as best as they can in their own words. The other two can help remind or prompt if the person retelling the story gets stuck.

LEADER’S NOTES:

  • At this point, don’t reference the text - use as much memory as possible

  • Celebrate the person sharing whenever possible!

STEP 3 - UNDERSTAND THE STORY (~25 min)

Now that you KNOW the story, you are going to seek to UNDERSTAND the importance and meaning of the story. The best way to understand the meaning of a story is to focus on the different perspectives of each character in the story. In this step, it is important to step into the shoes of each character to try to identify with them. In order to do this, ask the three questions below:

1.    What EMOTIONS might each character be experiencing?

2.      What CHOICES does each character have?

3.      What are the MOTIVATIONS behind each character’s choices?

LEADER’S NOTES:

  • This should be the bulk of the allotted time. As a leader, you can go character by character to get into the story. Ask leading questions to model the depth you’re wanting to see

  • Before entering into this phase of the study, communicate that we can’t base doctrine off of what we perceive to be the emotions or potential motives of the characters, but that doing this helps the Bible come alive

  • Again, this is NOT the time to share revelation. Tell the group beforehand to hold off on sharing truths (that’s coming next) and stay engaged in the story. At this point, truth will be exploding in people’s hearts; you can encourage the excitement without letting the time go off the rails

STEP 4 - DISCOVER THE TRUTHS (~15 min)

Now that you have gone through the steps to KNOW and UNDERSTAND the story, the next step is DISCOVERING the truths in the story. Give everyone 5 minutes to process the question below:

  • What are the TRUTHS God is revealing to me in the story?

After everyone has had a chance to process, facilitate a group sharing time where people share their revelations.

LEADER’S NOTES:

  • Before the quiet time, have music queued up. Pray to launch the quiet time

  • Now is the time for cross-references (if people have them)! This is an open sharing time

    • PRO TIP: If someone shares something that is not in-line with the truth of the new covenant, lovingly ask questions and/or prompts that lead them to truth. You don’t want to shut this person down, but you want them to leave with good and proper revelation!