March, 2015, excerpt from "Leading a Bible Study". Revised slightly September 01, 2023.

Should you serve refreshments? Or should you not?

Whether you serve refreshments for your Bible studies and monthly women's ministry meetings for your church is totally up to you and your church. I believe though that women's food activities and events are totally different than Bible study and monthly meetings. The focus for Bible study and meetings is usually on studying the Bible or getting all the needed things into a women's ministry meeting. You need all the time you can get for your Bible studies and meetings, and you don't want that eaten up by food time, unless fellowship is the goal of your meeting.

Your focus and attention on the refreshment or food time will be determined probably by what you have done in the past, but I encourage keeping Bible studies and meetings simple and having the all out yummy award winning recipes that we know some women want to make and share reserved for the bigger events like retreats, activities, and all meal-related functions.

But anyway, here are a few tips just to help you to tame that time grabber and disappointment that providing refreshments each time can sometimes end up being.

Refreshment Tips for Bible Studies and Monthly Meetings

• Keep drinks simple such as coffee, tea, or water.
• Keep food simple. Foods you can grab and not fuss with are the best, such as fruit, brownies, cookies, salty or sweet snacks.
• Because of so many allergies, stay away from serving nuts.
• If you choose to alternate bringing the refreshments by different ladies within the group, encourage small things.
• No silverware foods are recommended.
• You don’t want coming to Bible study to be a chore or the food to take away from the study or meeting time.
• Start with small refreshments and keep with it. Encourage your ladies to keep the recipes they want to try for larger events and other women related activities.
• Encourage snacks only, not meals.
• If you want to avoid no snacking at all, make that plain at your first Bible study or women's meeting so everyone knows that refreshments won't be served.
• Encourage everyone to bring their own water bottle or coffee thermos/bottle. It's less clean up for sure!
• Don't get stressed that people will think you are terrible for not wanting to serve refreshments. I've been to a lot of Bible studies that didn't serve anything or maybe just coffee and water. I think we rely too much on what we think people will think.

My favorite thing for a Bible study and women's meetings is a couple small bowls of M&Ms and a couple small bowls of the tiny pretzil rods. It provides sweet and salty and a little bit of a snack for everyone to pass around.

Copyright ©2015. Revised ©2023 Julia Bettencourt

Find some Simple Refreshments here.

See the Bible Resources Index.

Find more simple ministry ideas in the Simplified Ministry Index.

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