“Not the best in the series”
I was delighted to recieve free copies copy of this guide as part of the early reader team, as I love the whole Good Book Guide series. As a regular Bible study leader who has used a whole range of different study guides, they are always my go-to: they are just far, far better quality than anything else I've come across.
And in some ways this study fits that: it's the same helpful format, the same excellent design, the same careful attention to what the passage actually says. But it's still a disappointment - it's the weakest I've used in the series so far.
The main issues is that the questions are mostly of the blindingly obvious 'what does this say' type - the kind that can come across as mildly insulting to the intelligence of group members. They aren't particularly helpful in getting to the heart of the passage either. All the difficult issues in 1 Peter (and boy are there some difficult bits!) are skimmed over in a way no group I've ever led would be satisfied with.
There are other issues, too. I don't think many groups could get through the whole guide in only 6 sessions. That, to be fair, is the main issue with the series as a whole. At least there are natural break points in the studies, so that you can easily split most of them in half.
If you have a group that's really brand-new to the Bible and willing to let you just tell them what the hard bits mean, this could still be a good study. And it's still better than most other series: at least it really gets to grips with the text. But sadly, I wouldn't recommend it for a series for well-established Christians.
