The Practice of Godliness- Small Group Curriculum Guide by Jerry Bridges

To compliment the book, The Practice of Godliness - "Godliness has value for all things", Jerry Bridges has developed a small group curriculum guide.   If you are familiar with Bridges, you know that he has a way of being straightforward, yet gracious in his writing.  In his book, The Pursuit of Holiness, Bridges focuses on our sin, the taking off of the "old self."  In this book, he focuses on Christian character, the putting on of the "new self."  Bridges puts forth that Godliness is developed first by increasing our devotion to God and then second, developing our Christian character.  He spends the first five chapters (or 3 study sessions) addressing our devotion/relationship with God.  We must have that relationship if we expect to grow in character.  The last 13 chapters (8 sessions) address character traits that you will want to grow in (like humility, patience, self-control, etc.).

As a Curriculum guide, this book is great.  First, in contains The Practice of Godliness in its entirety so you do not have to purchase a separate book nor do you have to fumble with two books while you are doing the study.  Second, it is printed with wide margins so you can take notes.  I love this part.  I found as I was doing the study I had plenty of room to annotate the book as I read.  Third, the study questions for each session are at the end of the chapters for that session.  There is plenty of room to write your answers should you choose to write in the book, too.  The book itself is the right size.  It is not too small nor is it too large or bulky.  It is easy to handle and carry around.

Who would you use this curriculum with?  This study could be done on your own (as I did to review it) or in a small group.  It is applicable for youth and up.  I would like to do it in our family (we have teenagers) as I can see that the content would be very beneficial for them.  The study is not overly theological in nature, meaning it doesn't get bogged down into deep theological truths.  Bridges stays on the practical...the here and now of how are you going to apply that Scripture to your life.

Overall, I would give this 5 stars.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book from NavPress Blogger Review program  in exchange for my fair and honest review.