Editorial shortlist
Studies on anxiety, worry, the thought life, burnout and boundaries, each with a written guide. These get personal quickly, so every note says what the book asks of a group before it says how long it is.
15 studies below, drawn from 40 in the library that fit this list. Catalog facts last updated .
A guide qualifies when mental health and wellness is one of the topics its classification assigned — anxiety, emotions, burnout, insecurity, the thought life, healing and boundaries as they relate to emotional health.
by Max Lucado
Why it’s on this list
Lucado builds the book on Philippians 4:6–7 and a four-step pattern — celebrate, ask, leave, meditate — and the ten sessions follow his chapters. The plainest study here, and a reasonable first one for a group new to the subject.
by Jennie Allen
Why it’s on this list
Allen names one thought spiral per session — anxious, afraid, angry, hopeless, alone, worthless — and pairs each with a choice. Fourteen sessions and 100 questions, with a structure that makes preparation predictable.
by Craig Groeschel
Why it’s on this list
Groeschel's four principles — replacement, reframe, renewal, dirt patch — organize eleven sessions, with one on triggers and one on prayer and praise. It leans on brain science alongside Romans 12:2.
by Peter Scazzero
Why it’s on this list
Scazzero's claim is that you can be spiritually busy and emotionally immature, and the sessions cover going back in order to go forward, the wall, grief and loss, and a rule of life. Groups usually find the family-of-origin session the hardest and the most useful.
by Aundi Kolber
Why it’s on this list
Kolber writes as a licensed therapist, and the sessions cover the body keeping score, attachment, emotions as information, the inner critic and boundaries. The most clinical study on this list, and the gentlest.
by Joyce Meyer
Why it’s on this list
Meyer's chapters are taken two at a time across fourteen sessions — wilderness mentalities, conditions of the mind, thinking on purpose, the mind of Christ. 99 questions, and the tone is direct.
by Henry Cloud
Why it’s on this list
Cloud and Townsend define a boundary as a property line, then apply it to family, friends, spouse, children, work, self and God — one per session. Sixteen sessions makes it long; groups often split it across two terms.
by Henry Cloud
Why it’s on this list
Cloud's four tasks — bonding, boundaries, sorting good from bad, and growing up — each get two or three sessions, closing on grieving and forgiving. Fourteen sessions of counseling framework with Scripture attached.
by Robert S. McGee
Why it’s on this list
McGee names four false beliefs — performance, approval, blame, shame — gives each a session, then spends the rest on being rooted in Christ. The questions are personal from the first week.
by Lysa TerKeurst
Why it’s on this list
TerKeurst works through disappointment: why God allows it, when feelings become beliefs, two kinds of pain, and the timing of God. Eleven sessions, written out of a marriage crisis and a cancer diagnosis.
by Steven Furtick
Why it’s on this list
Furtick takes four lies — God won't, you can't, you don't deserve it, it won't last — one per session, closing on the loudest voice. Nine sessions and 64 questions; the shortest study on this list.
by Max Lucado
Why it’s on this list
Lucado's sessions move from taking thoughts captive and testing them to the worry trap, guilt and shame, doubt and fear, and bitterness. Twelve sessions and 101 questions, from a 2025 book.
by Brennan Manning
Why it’s on this list
The guide for Abba's Child runs 10 sessions with 72 discussion questions, filed under Spiritual Growth & Disciplines, Mental Health & Wellness and Christian Living. It is on this list because its guide is classified under mental health and wellness; Week 1 is free to read before you decide.
by John Eldredge
Why it’s on this list
The guide for Get Your Life Back runs 11 sessions with 78 discussion questions, filed under Mental Health & Wellness and Spiritual Growth & Disciplines. It is on this list because its guide is classified under mental health and wellness; Week 1 is free to read before you decide.
by Henry Cloud & John Townsend
Why it’s on this list
The guide for Safe People runs 11 sessions with 87 discussion questions, filed under Mental Health & Wellness, Marriage & Relationships and Christian Living. It is on this list because its guide is classified under mental health and wellness; Week 1 is free to read before you decide.
Christian books for small groups
Titles a mixed adult group can study together, with session and question counts.
Women's Bible study books
Studies written for women's ministry, from Scripture studies to books on the thought life.
Men's Bible study books
Titles written to men, plus the leadership and apologetics studies men's groups pick up.
Books for new believers
Books that explain the faith from the ground up, ordered from the lightest reading to the heaviest.
Marriage books for couples
Marriage and relationship studies, with a note on how candid each one gets.
Books on prayer
Studies on prayer and spiritual warfare, from a seven-session challenge to a full systematic term.
Books on grief and loss
Studies on grief, suffering and loss for care ministries and groups walking through a hard season.
Christian classics for book clubs
Devotional classics and true stories, with a note on how demanding the prose is.