Women's Bible Study Books for Your Ladies' Class

How many generations will be sitting in your ladies' class this winter? A woman who's been a Christian for sixty years may be two chairs down from one who's still working out what she believes. They'll both open the same workbook.

That room may matter more than we realize. Barna's research on Gen Z found that just 31 percent of women ages 18 to 24 had read the Bible in the last week, lower than the other Gen Z groups it studied. Only 33 percent of them said they feel valued by older adults. And 40 percent of Gen Z women agreed that older people don't seem to understand the pressure their generation is under. Those are national numbers, and they won't describe every congregation. They still give a teacher something to think about.

Paul told Titus what older women in the church were to do: They are to teach what is good, so that they may encourage the young women (Titus 2:3–4). A ladies' class is one of the best places for that to happen. The right study gives both ends of the room something to talk about.

Here are three workbooks that can do it. One studies the characters of Scripture, and two work on the character of the woman holding the book. Each fits a quarter of weekly classes.

The Amazing Women of the Bible by Wilson Adams

This is the true character study of the three. Wilson takes one woman at a time, from Eve and Sarah to Esther and Mary Magdalene, and draws out what her life teaches about faithful living. You'll see courage in Jochebed and Rahab, loyalty in Ruth, prayerful trust in Hannah and wisdom in Abigail. A woman of twenty-five and a grandmother won't read Hannah the same way. That's a good discussion to have. It's a twelve-chapter paperback workbook for $10.

Wilson believes teaching isn't finished until it reaches application, and every book in his Courageous Living series is built that way. You can see the rest in Wilson Adams' collection.

Does This Armor Make Me Look Fat? by Lonnie Cruse

That's the real title, and Lonnie's humor is a big part of this study. She starts with the questions the world keeps handing women: what to wear, whether the shoes match the purse, and whether this outfit makes you look fat. Then she turns the class toward the spiritual woman and the armor of God in Ephesians 6. The pressure to measure ourselves by the mirror doesn't belong to one age group. It's thirteen lessons in an 86-page coil-bound workbook for $10. PDF editions run $6 for personal use and $100 for class use, and you can look inside before you order.

Lonnie lives in Metropolis, Illinois, and has taught children's classes and classes for Christian women. Her other workbooks, including Recharging Your Prayer Life, are in Lonnie Cruse's collection.

Heading for Harvest by Joyce Jamerson

Joyce starts at the grocery store. We all love finding perfect fruit, and somebody had to plant and prune to make that possible. From there she opens Paul's words to the Galatians: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23). In plain, sensible language she asks women to inspect their own fruit and keep pruning. She wrote it for women of all ages, so it fits a class that spans generations. It's thirteen lessons in a 107-page coil-bound workbook for $10, with the same PDF options and a sample to read.

Joyce was a preacher's wife for almost 51 years, and she teaches and speaks to women's groups. You'll find her other titles in Joyce Jamerson's collection.

Where I'd Start

If your class hasn't done a character study in a while, I'd start with Wilson's book. A woman's story gives a quiet class something to talk about. If your women are worn down by what the culture keeps telling them, take Lonnie's. For a class ready to look hard at its own growth, take Joyce's. If you'd rather go straight at Titus 2, Dana Burk's Stirring Silent Generations works through those verses and does well in a class with both older and younger women.

A workbook only gets the conversation started. What Paul told Titus still has to happen between actual people, in the classroom and in the hallway afterward. If you're one of the older women in the room, a younger sister may need to hear what your years with the Lord have taught you. She may not know how to ask.

Who in your ladies' class needs you to sit next to her this winter?