You Can Start a
Mystery Woman of the Bible Book Club

Book clubs are a great way to make new friends and expand your women’s ministry’s outreach in a non-threatening seeker-friendly fashion. Mystery Women of the Bible is an excellent choice for your first club selection because women love mysteries and the lives of these mystery women is so approachable. Every woman in attendance will find something in common with these women of yesterday, and hopefully, come to know and trust in their God.

Steps to Getting Started

It’s easier than you might think and more fun than you might have imagined starting a Mystery Women of the Bible Book Club.

1. Search and advertise for members
The first step in creating your book club is to find four to 10 women who can participate. Advertise in your local newspaper and post notices at the library, churches and bookstores. Look for a diverse group of people. If all your members have similar attitudes and viewpoints, your book discussions will be short and boring. Because you have chosen Mystery Women of the Bible as your first book, be sure to include that fact in your announcements.

2. Choose the place and the time
For the first meeting, you can send out invitations. You might wish to make your own home the meeting place and take turns after that. At the first meeting, you will need to decide if your club is meeting weekly, biweekly, once a month, and for how long. Be sure to have some munchies around. The hostess usually provides these and it's wise to discuss how fancy you want be — popcorn, pizza, or a simple dessert.

3. Make an agenda
Decide how many chapters the group will read each week by creating a reasonable timeline to finish reading the book so no one feels overwhelmed, anxious, or bored. Twelve sessions is a logical number as Mystery Women of the Bible has 12 chapters but some chapters may prompt more discussion.

4. Have good discussion
Encourage your members to read Mystery Women of the Bible with a highlighter, paper, and a pencil or pen. While they read, encourage them to highlight any sentences or paragraphs that are particularly meaningful or with which they disagree. Ask them to jot down questions or thoughts that occur to them on the paper and bring them along for discussion.

5. Have fun and pray!
Most importantly, have fun and pray for the members of your Mystery Women of the Bible book club! Please don’t feel that you need to change anyone’s mind or belief system. It is all about learning God’s Word and letting the Holy Spirit do His job. He’s SO much better at changing people than we are!

Want a sneak peek?
Here’s a chapter–by chapter synopsis of
Mystery Women of the Bible
By Rebekah Montgomery

Chapter 1 Ruth & Naomi: An Eternal Kind of Love
Ruth (Book of Ruth) had no hope of a future or a family when her innate kindness drove to a foreign country where she didn’t know the language, customs, or God. She demonstrated two qualities that irresistibly attract the favor of God and man: compassion and courage. We’ll visit the Bethlehem farms and learn how to thresh, winnow, and glean. We’ll also ask what she was doing on the threshing floor at night.


Chapter 2 Bathsheba: Temptress or Victim? Part One
Her name is synonymous with intrigue and forbidden love. Why was she bathing in eyeshot of the king? We’ll stand on a rooftop overlooking the City of David and see what David was able to see and discover the fountain of true beauty. Did she go from adulteress to mother of the future king to the model for the Virtuous Woman? Her marriage started out so wrong: Did it ever truly become a love match?

Chapter 3 Mary of Nazareth: What Did It Cost Her To Be the Handmaiden of God?
While she is arguably the most famous woman in the New Testament, she is probably the least understood. What did her family tree have to do with God choosing her to be the mother of the Messiah? What were the teachers of the Law saying about the Messiah? We will visit Nazareth and discover what it truly means to invite Jesus to live in us as did Mary.

Chapter 4 The Woman at the Well: Why Did Jesus Ask Her For A Drink?
There are lots of obvious curiosities in this story (John 4) but more subtle ones as well. Why was she collecting water in the middle of the day? Why was it unusual for Jesus, a Jewish man, to speak to a Samaritan woman? Why this woman? We will explore the ancient, broken link between the Jews and the Samaritans, how they differ, and talk about the unique ministry open to a woman with a past.

Chapter 5 The Widow of Zarephath: How Did She Feed Her Family on Faith?
When a terrible famine gripped Israel, miraculously honored the obedience and faith of one woman (1 Kings 17, Luke 4). We will make bread the same way she did for the prophet and talk about the how single mothers can encourage Godly faith in their children.

Chapter 6 Deborah: How Did Her Strategy Win a War?
How was Deborah (Judges 4) able to inspire a visionless leader and his weak army to overcome impossible odds? We'll view the battlefield of Armageddon from Mount Tabor with an Israeli female army captain and talk strategy, courage, and leadership support in the face of tremendous odds.

Chapter 7 Anna the Prophetess: What Was Her Vision of the Future?
We will explore why Anna (Luke 2) gave up marriage and family to fast and intercede day and night for Israel. What was she hoping God would do? To answer that question, we will be talking to women at the Western Wall praying for Israel and the coming of the Messiah, tying that to interceding for revival in our communities and country.

Chapter 8 Dorcas: How Did She Build a Church With a Needle?
Of all of the great teachers and apostles on earth in her day, why was Dorcas (Acts 9) so effective in her particular community? We'll interview the seamstress and fiber craftswomen of Joppa and talk about why Christian women need to see the unique respond to basic human needs with the love of Jesus.