Discovery Group Format
For Discipleship in Small Groups and in Discipleship Units
DISCOVERY GROUP FORMAT
These PDFs below provide a very practical structure to guide either your discipleship meetings or small group gatherings. The Discovery Group Format can be divided into 3 parts, where you "Look Back" to reflect on how the week went, "Look Up" to focus on what God wants to say through a Bible Study or Biblical Meditation, and then "Look Ahead," in terms of setting personal goals for the coming week.
You will find below three different versions of the Discovery Group Format to serve the needs and growing maturity of the people to which you minister (pre-believers > new-believers > mature believers). To go along with the Discovery Bible Study you would do with people in varying levels of faith or lack of faith, you can use the Discovery Bible Study Sets web page for options of Bible passages you can use or DBS sets you can cover over weeks.
PDFs: Pre-Believers v1 > New Believers v2 (Español) > Mature Believers v3 (Handout v3)
Using This Discovery Group Format As A Consistent Structure To Your Discipleship and Small Group Meetings Will...
Help you keep the main focuses in place during your ongoing gatherings. - When you are winging it or just doing something, you may not be providing something that has long-term growth or strengthening people in spiritual practices they can do for themselves or use with others later on.
Provide a context for learning and growing in Christ, where everyone is involved in an interactive and reflective way. - All involved, including the leader, are growing and applying the truth of God's Word to their lives in a personal way. All learn from each other, support one another and empower one another in ministry and mission.
Model the discipleship process step-by-step on a regular basis, to everyone you minister to. - In this way you are making a memorable imprint in those you disciple on what to do, in discipling others. Helps them remember from experiencing it in your times together, how they can structure their own meetings with someone they will disciple or a small group they will lead. - It is the "What" and the "How" of discipleship that you are modeling in the most clear way using this format. This model is geared specifically for "making disciples who make disciples," which is what Jesus said in the Great Comission (Matthew 28:19-20 - "...go and make disciples... teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you..." - which obviously includes them also making other disciples.)