Reading the Bible with Know-Nothings

Discovery Bible Study groups usually begin with no Christians participating. Although one person assumes the role of discussion facilitator, they are all know-nothings. To Christians used to being instructed by a Bible expert, this sounds foolish, risky, and unlikely to bear fruit. When we imagine a group of know-nothings reading the Bible, we think of phrases like “pooling of ignorance” and “the blind leading the blind.”

How could a group of know-nothings reading the Bible ever become disciples of Jesus Christ? Here are two factors.

MENTOR

The person who forms the group and facilitates the discussion is not working alone.  A Christian is mentoring the facilitator.  If you wanted to serve as a DBS mentor, here’s what you would do.

1. You pray daily for God to lead you to someone whom Jesus describes as a person of peace, a worthy person, or a worker willing to labor in the Lord’s harvest field.  (See Mt. 9:35; 10:11; & Luke 10:2, 6.) 
2. A person of peace is willing to hear to what you say about the Living God and the Bible. 
3. You hold a few Discovery Bible Study sessions with your friend, demonstrating the simple, repeatable process of asking a series of questions as one reads the Bible.
4. You ask your friend to invite relatives or friends to explore Bible passages together using the same series of questions.  You offer to mentor him or her to facilitate the discussion and teach the same process to the group.
5. If your friend accepts the facilitator role, the group is invited, and they begin.  Week by week, they read a Bible text and discuss the series of questions.  Eventually, everyone knows the process and is capable of facilitating a similar group in the future.
6. You, the mentor, do not attend the DBS sessions.  Instead, every week you meet with the facilitator to discuss how the last session went and how to deal with any problems.  You also help him or her prepare for the Scripture portion to be read the next week.
7. The facilitator is not alone.  You are praying for him and his group.  And most importantly God is at work among them.

Perhaps you are breathing a bit easier about DBS. Maybe the teamwork of mentor and facilitator prevents the groups from being the blind leading the blind.

But how does the group discussion avoid becoming the mere pooling of ignorance? After all, that’s what often happens in Bible studies where an expert is not present.

FOCUS

The group is trained to focus solely to what God says in the Bible. Repeating something learned from a person or source outside the Bible is not permitted. Harping on a personal soap box topic is out of bounds. When a group member veers off track, any other member may inquire: Where does it say that in the passage we are reading?

By means of this focus question, other voices and opinions are muted, and the group stays tuned to God’s word.  The Know-nothings are not dominated by a Know-it-all.  Because they all share equal status, they learn to listen to God’s word in humility.  The result?  Since the early 1990s, Discovery Bible Study has led millions in Asia, Africa, and elsewhere to become dedicated followers of Christ.

This happens because every Discovery Bible Study actually does have an Expert present — the Holy Spirit! He attends every session, and working powerfully through the Scriptures that He inspired, He guides the Know-nothings into all truth until they know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. (See 2 Tim. 3:15-17 and John 16:13 & 17:3.)

You might say,  “You’ve given me a lot to think about.  But what are the discussion questions a DBS group uses to explore the Bible?  Are they magic or something?”  I’m glad you asked.  That’s the topic of my next blog post. 

Meanwhile, a video is worth a million words as this 8-minute film proves.

If you desire training to use these magnificent tools, I am willing to mentor you (at no charge) and point you to training resources available online or in your area.

Meaning of acronyms used in these posts:

• CPM (Church-Planting Movements) refers to phenomenal multiplication of house churches and Bible study groups in various places in the world.
• DMM (Disciple Making Movement) refers to multiplication of disciples who make more disciples as Jesus specifically told us to do in Matt. 28:18-19.
• DBS (Discovery Bible Study) cultivates disciples who obey and apply what the Holy Spirit reveals through Scripture, and then share it with others.