Does the schedule work for any book?

Yes. Type the title, the date of your first meeting and how many weeks you have, and every meeting lands on a real date. If you tell us how many chapters the book has, we spread them evenly across the weeks. When the book is one we already have a study guide for, the number of weeks fills in on its own and each week shows that guide's reading.

What arrives by email, and do I need an account?

No account. We ask for your email only to send the printable (as a PDF and as a web page you can print) and a calendar file. The same links appear on this page the moment you press send. That one email also mentions our study guides once, with whatever first-year code is live at the time — nothing else follows.

How do I put the meetings on my phone or the church calendar?

Open the calendar (.ics) file. Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and Outlook all read it and add one all-day event per meeting, named by week and titled with the reading, so the whole study shows up at a glance.

Does the schedule cost anything?

No. The schedule, the printable and the calendar file are free. Our study guides — discussion questions, a reading and a closing prayer for every week of a book — are a separate thing, and Week 1 of every guide is free to read.

Free for small-group leaders

Book Study Reading Schedule Maker

Tell us the book, when your group first meets and how many weeks you have. You get every meeting on a real date, right on this page — then a printable for the group and a calendar file for your phone if you want them.

Loading the schedule maker…

Real dates, not “Week 4”

Meetings repeat weekly from your first date, so the plan reads like a calendar your group can keep.

Reading for each week

Give us the chapter count and we spread it evenly. If we already have the guide, each week shows that guide’s own reading.

Print it or add it to a calendar

A one-page printable for the group, and an .ics file that drops every meeting into Google, Apple or Outlook calendars.

How many weeks should a book study run?

The honest answer: shorter than the book deserves and longer than the group expects. Groups rarely quit because the reading was too light — they quit because the study outlasted the season it started in. Pick the number of weeks from your calendar first, then divide the book to fit.

Length	Best for	Weekly reading	Watch out for
4–6 weeks	A first-time group, a busy season (Advent, Lent, summer), or a short book of 8–12 chapters.	2–3 chapters (roughly 40–60 pages).	Discussion has to move — plan fewer questions per chapter, not more weeks.
8–10 weeks	The standard church term: starts after kickoff, ends before the holidays. Fits most 10–14 chapter books.	1–2 chapters (25–40 pages).	Check the calendar for a holiday mid-run and plan the break week up front.
12–14 weeks	A chapter-a-week study of a meaty book — the pace most of our guides use, because one chapter carries one full conversation.	One chapter (15–30 pages).	Attendance dips are normal by week 9; a mid-study potluck or testimony night resets the room.
A full season (16+)	Classics and dense theology (think Mere Christianity or Knowing God) where rushing wastes the book.	A chapter or less; sometimes one long chapter over two weeks.	Only for an established group — recruit for it as a named season, not an open-ended study.

The division that actually works

Don’t divide pages evenly — divide chapters, and keep natural units together. A 12-chapter book over 8 weeks is not 1.5 chapters a week; it’s four weeks of one chapter (the dense ones) and four weeks of two (the stories). Read the table of contents before you publish the plan, and give the hardest chapter its own week.

Two dates decide everything

Work backwards: when must this end (Thanksgiving? Holy Week? the school year?), and when can it realistically start? The weeks between those two dates — minus one for a break — is your number. The maker above turns it into a dated, printable plan in one step.

Frequently asked questions

Does the schedule work for any book?: Yes. Type the title, the date of your first meeting and how many weeks you have, and every meeting lands on a real date. If you tell us how many chapters the book has, we spread them evenly across the weeks. When the book is one we already have a study guide for, the number of weeks fills in on its own and each week shows that guide's reading.
What arrives by email, and do I need an account?: No account. We ask for your email only to send the printable (as a PDF and as a web page you can print) and a calendar file. The same links appear on this page the moment you press send. That one email also mentions our study guides once, with whatever first-year code is live at the time — nothing else follows.
How do I put the meetings on my phone or the church calendar?: Open the calendar (.ics) file. Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and Outlook all read it and add one all-day event per meeting, named by week and titled with the reading, so the whole study shows up at a glance.
Does the schedule cost anything?: No. The schedule, the printable and the calendar file are free. Our study guides — discussion questions, a reading and a closing prayer for every week of a book — are a separate thing, and Week 1 of every guide is free to read.