How to Lead a Discovery Bible Study

God's design in scripture is that every Christian is His "ambassador of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:17-21), which includes sharing the gospel with the lost around us and also being equipped to disciple those who are interested in learning more about Jesus and how to follow Him. The Discovery Bible Study method (or DBS) is a discipleship model that’s being used all over the world to intentionally make healthy disciples of Jesus. What's cool about the DBS is that it's very simple, so anyone can do it. And because it's simple, it's also very easy to reproduce, and in many places around the world, this has resulted in movements of new groups and simple churches.

I want to be a disciple who makes disciples. If you do too, I encourage you to begin having gospel conversations with people around you, and ask them, "Would you be interested in reading about Jesus with me in the Bible?" Then, when you meet, here's the simple meeting outline that we follow... You'll notice it's broken into 3 parts: Look Back, Look Up, and Look Forward. So, sometimes these groups are called 3/3rds groups.

Look Back

Care and Prayer

To start the meeting, have everyone share their “highs and lows” from the previous week (praises and prayer requests). Go around the circle and ask everyone to share something they’re thankful for this week as well as something that may be stressing them out that needs prayer. Then pray, thanking God for the praises and bringing the requests to Him.

Loving Accountability

At this point in the meeting, we follow up on goals from the previous week (you’ll see this when we get to the “Look Forward.”) You’ll remind each member what they committed to do the previous week and ask, “How did it go?” If this is your first day meeting, you can simply ask, “What did you do last week to obey Jesus?”

Vision Cast

We always want to be casting the vision of gospel sharing and reproducing our group. One simple way to do this is to read one of the Great Commission passages: Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-16, Luke 24:46-48, Acts 1:8. A few other great passages are: Romans 10: 14-15 and Romans 1:16a.

Note: If you have members in your group who don’t know how to share the gospel, schedule a 411 training for one of your upcoming meeting times. Sharing Jesus is a very important part of their identity as a follower of Jesus, and we want to equip them with the tools to do that.

Look Up

Read Scripture

Here are some important rules:

-As the leader, you’re just facilitating the discussion, not teaching. No bullet points or line-by-line explanations of each verse. Don’t do all the talking, even if you know stuff about the passage that your group isn’t seeing. The reason for this is so that the disciple is allowed to “discover” what the Word says for themselves with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. This is why it’s called a “discovery” Bible study.

-A DBS needs to stay focused on the passage at hand. You don’t want people to bring in thoughts from other verses and passages right now. If the discussion gets off topic, ask the question: “What verse did you see that from in this passage?” and encourage the discussion to focus on the story.

-You can do a DBS with any passage of scripture, but the process works best with stories, and there are some specific sets of stories that have already been created that you’re encouraged to start with, depending on your group. If you’re meeting with nonbelievers, you can start with Stories of Hope, and if you’re meeting with a new believer, start with the Commands of Christ. Find those story sets here.

Here’s the process:

Read and reread

Choose someone to read the story. Then, have someone else read it again in a different version.

Retell in your own words

Choose someone to narrate the story in their own words from memory. You can also pair up partners to practice retelling the story to each other or have everyone chime in as a main group what they remember.

Ask Questions for Discussion

After you’ve thoroughly read, reread, and retold the story, you’re ready to discuss three simple questions about the story:

“What does the story say about God?”

“What does the story say about man?”

“What does the story tell us to do?” (Further prompting: Is there a sin to avoid in this story? A promise to believe? An example to follow? A command to obey?)

The last question will lead naturally into the third part of the meeting, Look Forward.

Look Forward

Goal Setting

This is when you personally apply what you just learned from the story. We are asking ourselves: “What would Jesus have us do as a result of our reading today?” We want to obey Jesus and follow the promptings of the Spirit that He's laid on our hearts.

One goal that's good to set is to share the story we read with someone this week. Or share the gospel with someone we know who is far from God.

Prayer

Spend a few minutes praying together, and encourage each person to pray aloud for each other and the goals that were set. 

You are Commissioned

This whole process usually only takes about 45 minutes to an hour, and most groups meet once a week. If you’ve never led a DBS before, I encourage you to gather some friends, family members, or a neighbor and try it. You are called and commissioned! And remember that you will not be doing it alone, for Jesus promises to be with you: 

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

My prayer is that your Discovery Bible Study group will result in much gospel sharing and will multiply into many groups for the praise of His glory!