An inductive study of the Beatitudes in eight sessions of 75 to 90 minutes, written for a leader who is not a theologian, on the answer Jesus gives to the question everyone is already asking about happiness. Eight weeks on sixteen verses, built so the room works the Beatitudes out rather than being handed them. Every session has a live discovery where the group finds the Old Testament source itself, from Zephaniah's anawim to the psalm Jesus quotes almost word for word in the third beatitude, and a full strength objection put on the table before it is answered. Two long threads run underneath it: each person seals a written answer to what it takes to be happy on the first night and opens it in Session Five, and a portrait the leader logs in silence from week one is assembled by the group itself in Session Eight. Session Three is unusually careful with grief, and Sessions Three and Five both say plainly that this teaching never asks anyone to stay in danger. It ends by sending each person out with one beatitude to practice for thirty days. Each session carries a Leader Preparation Guide, a Discussion Guide, and a Leader Reference Card listing every passage in order. Scripture follows the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. Leader guides and take-home sheets for every session.
Rejoice and Be Glad runs 8 sessions. Every session comes with a complete leader's preparation guide and a printable take-home sheet for the people in the room, and the full text of each night can be read on a phone from the list below. All of it is free to download, print, and share, with no sign up and no cost.
How these studies were created, including our use of AI
Every session below carries three links. Read opens the full session on a phone, Sheet downloads that night's participant take-home sheet, and Leader opens the leader's guide for that session. Nothing is held back and nothing asks for an email address.
You do not need to be a theologian to lead Rejoice and Be Glad. The leader's guide carries the questions, the answers, and the background, so the group can discover the text together. There is a short guide to hosting a Bible study if this is your first one, and a set of six questions that will help you choose a study if you are still deciding.