Short answer: Churches can use The Pursuit of God well when the book serves a larger biblical process: read Tozer, open Scripture, name a faithful response, practice it in community, and review what actually changed. The goal is not simply to complete a Christian classic. The goal is to help people seek God more earnestly while remaining rooted in Scripture, the local church, and obedient discipleship.
Begin with the purpose Tozer gives the book
In the 1948 preface, Tozer presents The Pursuit of God as an aid for spiritually hungry Christians and says that Scripture is meant to bring people to the knowledge of God. That is a useful boundary for church leaders. Tozer can stimulate hunger, expose spiritual complacency, and give memorable language to themes such as surrender, God’s presence, faith, meekness, and whole-life worship. But the book should function as a companion to Scripture, never as a replacement for it. The original text can be checked in the Project Gutenberg edition.
Build the study around four movements
- Read the chapter for its main burden. Ask what problem Tozer is confronting and what response he urges.
- Open the Bible passages connected to that burden. Read enough context to determine what Scripture actually teaches.
- Move from discussion to obedience. Ask each participant to name one specific response that can be practiced before the next meeting.
- Return and review. Begin the next gathering by asking what was attempted, what was difficult, what was learned, and where grace is still needed.
This rhythm keeps the group from becoming a book club that only trades opinions. It also protects against treating emotional agreement as spiritual formation. A person may admire Tozer’s intensity and still avoid a concrete act of repentance, reconciliation, prayer, generosity, or obedience.
Choose a pace that allows response
A church does not have to finish one chapter every week. Some chapters are dense enough to deserve two meetings, especially when the group needs time to examine Scripture or practice an application. Two useful pacing options are:
- Ten-session format: one chapter per meeting, with Scripture and one application.
- Five-module format: combine related chapters around hunger and surrender, God’s presence and voice, faith and attention, God-centered living and meekness, then whole-life worship.
Whichever pace you choose, leave enough room for prayer, honest conversation, and follow-through. More material is not automatically more discipleship.
Give leaders three safeguards
1. Scripture gets the final word
When a sentence from Tozer is striking, do not ask only, “Do you like this?” Ask, “What biblical truth is he trying to express, and does the surrounding Scripture support the way we are using it?” Acts 17:11 provides a healthy model of eager listening joined with careful examination.
2. Do not confuse intensity with maturity
A participant who speaks passionately may still need help with patience, confession, forgiveness, service, or faithfulness at home. Measure growth by increasing obedience and Christlike character, not by how strongly someone reacts to devotional language.
3. Keep the church’s mission larger than the book
Ephesians 4:11–16 and Colossians 1:28–29 describe formation that happens through the whole ministry of the church. The Pursuit of God can contribute to that work, but it cannot carry preaching, pastoral care, fellowship, the ordinances, family discipleship, evangelism, and disciple-making by itself.
A simple 60-minute meeting pattern
- 10 minutes: check-in and review of last week’s response.
- 15 minutes: identify the chapter’s central claim and one confusing or challenging statement.
- 20 minutes: study the primary Scripture in context.
- 10 minutes: choose a specific response for the coming week.
- 5 minutes: pray in light of the truth studied.
What should a church look for after the study?
A successful study should produce more than completed pages. Look for signs such as a stronger appetite for Scripture, more honest prayer, quicker repentance, less self-protection, growing obedience, deeper dependence on Christ, and willingness to help someone else follow Jesus. Those signs are not produced by a technique; they are evidence that truth is being received and practiced.
Connect pursuit to abiding without collapsing the pathways
Pathway 1 asks what Tozer’s book teaches and how to use it faithfully. The next step is broader and more explicitly biblical: learning what Jesus means by abiding in Him. When a group is ready to move from Tozer’s call to seek God into sustained communion with Christ, continue with Kingdom Pathway 2 — Abide in Me.
A resource for leaders who want built-in study support
If your church wants Tozer’s original text paired with chapter summaries, discussion material, Scripture connections, and application tools, the expanded study edition can reduce leader preparation while keeping the group focused on response: The Pursuit of God: A Modern Study Guide to A. W. Tozer’s Classic on Abiding in Christ and Making Disciples.