In the last 9 months I came across an approach to studying the Bible that I want to make you aware of. It is called “Discovery Bible Study (DBS)” It has been around for quite some time and I have no idea how this slipped past my Bible study radar. Once I learned about it, we changed our Sunday night small groups to use this approach. This is equipping our leaders and group members to be familiar with an approach to Bible study that we will later use to not only guide small group studies but help guide evangelistic, disciple-making Bible studies!
Here is why I want you to be aware of DBS. It is used by Disciples Making Movements (DMMs) around the world with a lot of impact on making disciples who make disciples.
DBS works through 10 things. You can find the list, a video, and more information at North Boulevard Church of Christ’s website. Different people organize the list a bit differently:
1 – Who did you share with this past week? (Obedience/Accountability)
2 – What are you thankful for? (Gratitude)
3 – What challenges have you faced this week? (Prayer)
4 – Read the passage and re-read the passage (you can split up the reading and re-reading among the group members – no more than 10 people)
5 – Summarize the passage in your own words (have several people do this – a paraphrase)
6 – What is your understanding of the passage?
7 – What do you learn about God from this passage?
8 – What do you learn about people from this passage?
9 – How are you going to obey this passage? (Form an “I will…” statement)
10 – Who are you going to share this passage with?
11 – What can we pray about from this passage?
This is an important approach for a number of reasons. First, if you want a movement that is reproducible, it must be simple. Anyone can run the study above. That means you can train and launch people to use this method without a lot of complex explanation or training. Second, it has elements that get us in the word and in each other’s lives. Third, it moves us to action. Not many studies do that well. Fourth, it works with Christians and non-Christians.
Have you used DBS? What results have you seen? What changes or adjustments have you made?
