Editorial shortlist
Men's groups in churches tend to run on three kinds of book: titles written directly to men, leadership studies, and books that make the case for what Christians believe. This list draws on all three, using our topic and audience classification rather than a guess.
15 studies below, drawn from 27 in the library that fit this list. Catalog facts last updated .
A guide qualifies when its classification names men's ministry as a strong audience fit, or when it is a leadership and ministry title, or when it is an apologetics title also marked as sermon-series material. Anything classified for women's ministry is left out so the list stays what its name says.
by John Eldredge
Why it’s on this list
Eldredge builds the book around three desires — a battle to fight, an adventure to live, a beauty to rescue — and the sessions follow his chapters through the wound, the father's voice and a band of brothers. Expect the group to talk about fathers, and set the room up for it.
by Patrick Morley
Why it’s on this list
Morley takes one pressure per chapter — identity, purpose, priorities, money, time, marriage, fathering, friendship, accountability — across 22 sessions and 158 questions. It is the longest study on this list and works best as a year-long men's group.
by Tony Evans
Why it’s on this list
Evans organizes twelve sessions around a man and his God, inner life, past, marriage, children, work, church, community, prayer and legacy. One relationship per week keeps preparation simple when leadership rotates.
by Stephen Arterburn & Fred Stoeker
Why it’s on this list
The book is about sexual temptation and the guide keeps that plain, moving from where we are, to how we got here, to a battle plan for eyes, mind, heart and marriage. It needs a group with real trust and a leader ready to hold confidentiality.
by Stephen Kendrick & Alex Kendrick
Why it’s on this list
Each session takes one clause of the written resolution — to lead, to love, to protect, to provide, to raise children, to live with integrity, to leave a legacy. Groups that want a study to end in a commitment rather than a conversation often choose this one.
by John Stott
Why it’s on this list
Stott's argument runs in four parts — the claims of Christ, the nature of man, the work of Christ, and man's response — and the ten sessions follow that order exactly. Short and unhurried, and useful when the group includes men still deciding what they believe.
by Lee Strobel
Why it’s on this list
Strobel's interviews are grouped as lines of evidence — eyewitness, documentary, corroborating, scientific, medical, resurrection — and each session takes one. The investigative frame gives a men's group something to argue about that is not personal.
by John MacArthur
Why it’s on this list
MacArthur takes one disciple per session, from Peter through Judas, then closes on what the Twelve together say about calling. Bible study with biography attached, which suits a group that prefers text to topic.
by J. Oswald Sanders
Why it’s on this list
Sanders works through the qualities, cost and failures of leadership, with whole sessions on prayer, the leader's time and the leader's reading. Written in 1967 and still the most concrete of the leadership studies here.
by Josh McDowell
Why it’s on this list
McDowell's chapters run one question at a time — Lord, liar or lunatic; can we trust the Bible; who would die for a lie; what about the resurrection. Eleven short sessions make it a fair first study for a group that has never run one.
by Gregory Koukl
Why it’s on this list
Koukl teaches a conversational method — the Columbo questions, taking the roof off, handling the steamroller — so each session is a skill rather than a doctrine. Men who dread being asked about their faith at work tend to engage with it.
by Eric Metaxas
Why it’s on this list
Metaxas follows Bonhoeffer from his theological formation through the Confessing Church, the conspiracy, arrest and Flossenbürg, and the sessions follow that chronology. Fourteen sessions of history and ethics with the cost of conviction as the running question.
by Steve Corbett
Why it’s on this list
The guide for When Helping Hurts runs 10 sessions with 71 discussion questions, filed under Leadership & Ministry and Christian Living. It is on this list because its guide is classified for men's ministry, or as a leadership or apologetics study a men's group can work through; Week 1 is free to read before you decide.
by Wayne Cordeiro
Why it’s on this list
The guide for Leading on Empty runs 11 sessions with 78 discussion questions, filed under Leadership & Ministry and Mental Health & Wellness. It is on this list because its guide is classified for men's ministry, or as a leadership or apologetics study a men's group can work through; Week 1 is free to read before you decide.
by Lee Strobel
Why it’s on this list
The guide for The Case for Faith runs 11 sessions with 79 discussion questions, filed under Apologetics and Faith & Theology. It is on this list because its guide is classified for men's ministry, or as a leadership or apologetics study a men's group can work through; 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.
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.
Christian books on anxiety
Studies on anxiety, the thought life, burnout and boundaries, ordered from plainest to most clinical.