One of the churches I served had Sunday evening Bible studies and other activities on the church campus, and the church had the practice of scheduling “Linger Longers” ever so often. I’d never heard of a “linger longer,” so I was obviously curious what they were. Well, they are exactly like they sound like: opportunities for people to linger a little longer when Bible studies are over. People brought drinks and snacks and spread them out on tables. The linger-longers became fun evenings full of conversations and relationship-building.

If you’re the group leader, linger!

When you are through teaching your Bible study group, don’t be the first person out the door. Take your time closing up shop and simply linger. You will find that some of your group members will see you lingering and slow down long enough to spend some additional time with you. They may have a question they didn’t want to ask in the Bible study, or they may simply want some more of your time. Lingering helps you build relationships with people, so allow some time at the end of your Bible study to let people “linger longer” – you’ll be glad you did.