What does a Passion Pursuit study look like? How do I run one?
The ideal small group size is 8–12 women. At the minimum, you’ll need ten, two-hour sessions to complete the study in your group. If you can, please try to add an 11th week to provide incentive to complete the 10th week of homework but, more importantly, to celebrate and share what God has done. We have seen women get very creative in how they do these groups! The typical group will meet once a week in person, but we have seen online groups, groups that meet once a month, and even one on one mentoring groups. Some churches have had 10 Passion Pursuit groups meeting at the same time all over the church, and others have asked a few leaders to facilitate a group our of their home. It’s up to you! Here is the suggested format for each meeting:
These are just suggestions. Ask God to show you the best format for your unique group.
Am I qualified to be a leader?
You might be wondering, “What qualifies me to lead a Bible study on sex?” Rest assured, you don’t have to be a psychologist or sex therapist, nor do you need to have all the answers. You don’t have to be an expert—we’ve done the teaching for you on the DVDs. But there are a few things we would ask of you to help you be prepared to guide women through this study.
This is a pretty sensitive topic. Are there any guidelines for running a Passion Pursuit group?
You’re right! How does a small group talk about sex together? Very sensitively and with discretion. In order for your small group to be a safe and effective environment, ask everyone in your group to commit to these 8 guidelines:
During Week 1 we repeat these guidelines and will ask you to print them out for your group; read them to your group in your first meeting and reinforce them along the way. One savvy group leader suggested to her ladies that they glue them to the inside of the back cover of their workbook!
Do I have to buy the videos or can I just go through the workbook?
We would describe this 10-week study as a video & workbook curriculum. The two work together! How the study works is you start by watching a 30-40 minute clip of Juli & Linda teaching on the topic. You then follow up with 5 days of homework. If you simply do the workbook, you won’t go through and think “I think I’m missing something”. However, if you watch the video you will hear stories from Linda & Juli that really help take each chapter a step deeper and hear teaching from the Word. If you want the full Passion Pursuit experience, we would suggest the videos as well.
How do I bring this to my church?
Each church and community is a little unique. Here are some ideas we have seen work well around the world.
Bring Juli & Linda in to launch this movement in your community. If you live in area with some larger churches, we would love to come out and do a Passion Pursuit launch. We did this in Akron, Ohio and had women from 20 different churches in the area come who are now leading Passion Pursuit groups.
Is this only for married women? Or can single and engaged women go through it?
The conversation and teaching center around marriage and talk to wives specifically. However, you may have single women who really want to understand God’s perspective of sex. In our pilot study, we had a few single women who had been through difficult marriages and found Passion Pursuit to be a source of healing.
Throughout the workbook and videos you will hear questions about their husbands and challenge women to think about their marriage. As long as single women understand that this material wouldn’t be 100% applicable to them right away, they would greatly benefit from going through it. We have countless married women go through this material and say “Why didn’t I know this before I was married?” One of our single friends who went through Passion Pursuit said “I felt like a squirrel gathering up nuts for the winter. I can’t use all this information now but it will come in great use when I get married”.
Can I go through this study with my husband?
We wrote this study for women! As you flip through the pages of the workbook and watch the videos, the questions, challenges, and teachings are all geared to wives. If a couple would like to go through this together, we would encourage the husband to give his wife the space she asks for. For example, some sections of the book or questions she may not yet be ready to talk with her husband about. We have seen many couples watch the videos together, and then the wife will talk about certain sections of homework with her spouse throughout the week. However, we would encourage every woman going through Passion Pursuit to talk with her husband about what she is learning! This Bible study has opened up a lot of conversation between spouses and brought couples closer through intimacy and through conversations.
Do I have to share all about my sex life?
This is actually one of our eight guidelines for a Passion Pursuit group. Under no circumstances should you (or anyone in the group) share with others intimate details about you and your husband’s sexual relationship. No one should ever be able to visualize you and your husband in bed. It would be wise to reassure your husband of your commitment to keep your sexual relationship private. However, being a part of a Passion Pursuit will require some vulnerability. Will you be willing to share with the group what God is teaching you?