Discovery Bible Study !!

The Discovery Bib le Study Method (DBS) !The Discovery Bib le Study Method is something I learnt f rom David Watson in South Afr ica. I was inv i ted to go out wi th the i r team as they were p lant ing churches in the townships of Cape Town. The DBS is an awesome model . I t has with in i t empower ing d isc ip leship, s imple church and mult ip l icat ion. Whi le I was there I shot a quick ( rough) v ideo of ‘Nicky’ , a worker wi th F loyd McClung’s ‘A l l Nat ions’ group. The v ideo was taken in the home of a new bel iever, one now plant ing fe l lowships, you can see h im walk ing in the background. Check i t out on YouTube >> ht tp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPCL9w6LI jE !Now to the methodology… In most s i tuat ions, i t is best to start wi th two or three (or more) . Try and reach a community, not just an indiv idual . Th is wi l l g ive the meet ing a sense of community f rom the beginning. Jesus d isc ip led people in groups and is one of the best ways we can learn. !The DBS also has the power of accountabi l i ty and mult ip l icat ion. !Simple as A-B-C !A. Ask Ask what has been good th is week? I t ’s important to be speci f ic . Not a vague ‘how are you?’ but ‘what has been good for you?’ This wi l l force a person/group to say what good th ing happened. Asking such a d i rect quest ion wi l l then teach people to pra ise and thank God. !!!!

Then, ask ‘what has been hard, bad or chal lenging th is week?’ This wi l l lay the foundat ion for pray ing for one another. As you pray for needs, whatever they are, i t a l lows God space to break through and do a mirac le. !Fin ish ‘A’ by pray ing together, thanking God for what is good as wel l as for what people need. Keep your prayer (s ) s imple, easy and to the point . Pray ing quick ly wi l l a l low t ime for other people to jo in in too. Making your own prayer (s ) rea l ly s imple, so i t doesn’t sound re l ig ious or ‘profess ional ’ . Doing so wi l l he lp new disc ip les overcome the int imidat ion of learn ing how to pray. I t ’s important to teach people how to pray, wi th other people, out a loud and i t ’s a lso a v i ta l component of making disc ip les. !B. Bible From the beginning the a im is to teach se l f -d iscovery. To not re ly on a teacher, but to understand that the Bib le, wi th the Holy Spir i t as revealer, is suff ic ient . !Here is the system. Sel f-d iscovered t ruth that is appl ied by the person stays with the person. I t st icks. I t is the i r t ruth. I t is personal and owned. Jesus d id th is a lot in h is d isc ip leship. He asked the d isc ip les ‘Who do men say that I am?’ and ‘Who do you say that I am?’ and ‘You are b lessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed th is to you. You did not learn th is f rom any human being’ . Why didn’t Jesus just te l l them? Why didn’t he just say, ‘Hey guys, I am the Messiah, the Son of the l iv ing God!’ No, Jesus let the process of d iscovery happen over t ime. He let i t come v ia reve lat ion f rom his Father. He a l lowed people to go through a process to d iscover who he was. The same goal and pract ice is employed by the DBS disc ip leship method. !!

1. Choose a passage of scr ipture that is s imple, not too long and to the point . A story or narrat ive is usefu l . I have pasted 20 lesson plans below that have been devised for Musl ims. Feel f ree to chop and change th is, or study a scr ipture that is appl icable to a person’s quest ion(s ) and/or context .

2. Read aloud

I f the person is b i- l ingual , read i t a loud in the i r language then re-read i t in Engl ish. I f the person is not b i- l ingual i t may be helpfu l to read again, but in another vers ion.

3. Reread.

Helpfu l to ‘mul l ’ over the story. Use a d i fferent vers ion, for b i- l ingual people a d i fferent language.

4. Paraphrase

Re-te l l ing is rea l ly important as i t cements the story in our minds. Re-te l l the story as you would te l l i t to a f r iend. The re-te l l ing of the story should be a group affa i r. One person can attempt to re-te l l , and other people can chip in and add to the p icture. In th is way the story is painted by the group.

5. Then ask ‘so what?’

The key is for the leader (you) not to jump in to quick ly and teach! Let them th ink, and ta lk. What do they see in scr ipture? Don’t be afra id of awkward s i lences. I f they ask you to expla in, turn i t around by asking them, ‘what do you th ink?’ Somet imes i t is good to s imply be quiet and let them come up with the answers. This is very hard to do, as we are so used to prov id ing a l l the answers, but is the key d isc ip l ine for th is process. I t ’s a l l about se l f -d iscovery, not what you know! The teacher/ leader’s job is to g ive space for people to learn. To put in the i r own words what they can see. You have to t rust the Holy Spir i t ! !!

!You can ask and prompt wi th quest ions l ike – ‘What does th is say about God?’, ‘What does th is say about us?’ , ‘Are there areas you are bothered by?’, ‘What do you l ike?’ !I f you are ta lk ing more than the d isc ip le, then you are ta lk ing too much. You know i f you are being successfu l i f the other person is ta lk ing more than you. Keep i t centered on scr ipture. I f the person is veer ing off course, br ing i t back to scr ipture by say ing ‘Where do you see that in th is scr ipture?’ C. Commit to obey Jesus descr ibed making disc ip les as ‘ teaching people to obey everyth ing I have commanded you’. We often miss the words ‘ to obey’ . Our d isc ip leship processes are usual ly knowledge based and not obedience/act ion based. However a DBS is d i fferent, i t ’s focus is obedience! A quest ion you can ask to do th is is , ‘So, what wi l l you do about th is?’ , or ‘What wi l l you do th is week f rom reading the passage?’ Let the person come up with the i r own commitment. I t might be something l ike ‘ I need to respect people’ or ‘ I need to be thankfu l ’ . Or i t may be something rea l ly speci f ic , l ike ‘ I need to stop shout ing at my k ids! ’ Whatever i t is , i t needs to be l is tened to and respected. I t is ok i f i t is a s imple appl icat ion. When someone commits to obey, t ruth that has come v ia scr ipture and revelat ion, in th is process, becomes l ived, personal and owned. Final ly, the last key is to ‘ te l l someone th is week what you are learn ing’ . This is part of the ‘commit to obey’ . So shar ing and mult ip l icat ion is bui l t into d isc ip leship f rom day one. Even before they ‘get saved’ they start spreading what they have been learn ing. I t ’s a l l about making disc ip les f rom the beginning that mult ip ly. Ta lk about who they are going to share wi th! ! !

Concluding remarks !So i t ’s as s imple as A-B-C. I t begins wi th worship and thanksgiv ing Then scr ipture is the centre. The teacher empowers the person and doesn’t have a l l the answers. The disc ip le d iscovers the t ruth in the Word and learns to obey and share wi th other f rom day one. !Our focus is making disc ip les, a l lowing for sa lvat ion to come through that process, rather than the t radi t ional way of t ry ing to get someone ‘saved’ (usual ly say the ‘s inners prayer’ ) and then disc ip l ing them. I t takes t ime. We are not in a hurry. !In th is process, we are let t ing people d iscover God’s story, the b ig p icture. I t is about re-shaping peoples wor ld-v iew around th is new wor ld-v iew. A b ib l ica l wor ld-v iew. This is important. For Hindu’s, Musl ims, Buddhists and now most Aussies, they needs to re-discover God’s story. !This method is s imple, but very powerfu l . Thousands of churches have been planted through th is methodology. I t is somet imes so s imple that people walk by i t and miss i ts power. I be l ieve i t is the best d isc ip leship process I have seen. I t ’s worth g iv ing i t a go a few t imes and not g iv ing up on i t too quick ly. There wi l l be great t imes and other t imes where i t does not seem to work. Keep at i t , I am convinced i t bear f ru i t . !And a l l th is should be easi ly done in under two hours! !Dave

An example of a DBS out l ine ( for Musl ims) !Genesis 1:1-25 The Creat ion Story: God Created the Wor ld Genesis 2:4-24 The Creat ion Story: The Creat ion of Man Genesis 3:1-13 The Fal l : The F i rst S in and Judgment Genesis 3:14-24 The Fal l : Judgment of a Sinfu l Wor ld Genesis 6:1-9:17 The Fal l : The F lood Genesis 12:1-8, 15:1-6 Redempt ion: God’s Promise to Abram Genesis 22:1-19 Redempt ion: Abraham offers Isaac as a Sacr i f ice Exodus 12:1-28 Redempt ion: The Promise of Passover Exodus 20:1-21 Redempt ion: The Ten Commandments Lev i t icus 4:1-35 Redempt ion: The Sacr i f ic ia l System Isa iah 53 Redempt ion: Isa iah Foreshadows the Coming Promise Lk 1:26-38,2:1-20 Redempt ion: The Bir th of Jesus (Matthew 3) John 1:29-34 Redempt ion: Jesus is Bapt ized Matthew 4:1-11 Redempt ion: The Temptat ion of Chr ist John 3:1-21 Redempt ion: Jesus and Nicodemus John 4:1-26,39-42 Redempt ion: Jesus and the Woman at the Wel l Luke 5:17-26 Redempt ion: Jesus Forgives and Heals Mark 4:35-41 Redempt ion: Jesus Calms the Storm Mark 5:1-20 Redempt ion: Jesus Casts Out Ev i l Spi r i ts John 11:1-44 Redempt ion: Jesus Raises Lazarus f rom the Dead Matthew 26:26-30 Redempt ion: The F i rst Lord’s Supper John 18:1-19:16 Redempt ion: Jesus is Betrayed and Condemned Luke 23:32-56 Redempt ion: Jesus is Cruci f ied Luke 24:1-35 Redempt ion: Jesus Conquers Death Luke 24:36-53 Redempt ion: Jesus Appears and Ascends John 3:1-21 Redempt ion: We Have a Choice