Growing Discovery Bible Study organically

Over the last few years I keep hearing the phrase, “I just don't have the resources.”

This is often preceded by another statement. Something along the lines of “I want to roll out this training to five hundred leaders”. There is this huge myth circulating that the key to a successful ministry is a large, up-front investment of cash. People come to us initially because they are asking for training, but when you dig deeper, many are hoping we are going to be the key to unlock the funding that they need to accelerate their kingdom growth.

As I have recognised the issue, I have started to look for ways to mitigate it. The simple fact is that Discovery Bible Study doesn't work that way. Disciple Making Movements are not things which appear, fully-formed as a result of financial investment. They are grown organically, from the ground up.

The problem of “I want”

Often this is people's starting place. I want to see a movement. I want to plant 10,000 churches. I want to seed the biggest prayer movement. And so on. The problem is not in the things that are wanted. They are laudable. We need more movements. We need more prayer. The problem is in the “I”.

There is a huge difference between “I want” and “God has given me a vision”. Unfortunately, sometimes even the latter is code for “I want”.

The first question that we need to address is not what I want, but what God wants.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts...”

Isaiah 55: 8-9 (NIV)

God's plans for his world and our plans are very different. Gods methods of accomplishing those plans are different too. We want to grow quickly. He wants to grow quality. We want to see results. He wants to save souls. The hearts and minds of each individual are more important to him than mere numbers.

We need to start not with what we want, but in seeking him. Heading in the opposite direction. Diving deep into God before we try to save the world.

Starting small to go big

If you train five hundred leaders in one year, the chances are, when you look back less than fifty of them will stay the course. It may even be none. Discovery Bible Study is not a magic bullet. Giving people a tool without exciting their passion is doomed to failure.

If you invest in three, you may find in two years time you have six. In another year, twelve. It doesn't feel spectacular, but organic growth beats systematic growth in the long haul. If the foundations are right, and the commitment to discipleship is real an annual doubling will reach into the millions by year twenty.

Success is not about instant numbers, it is about investing for the long haul.

Leaders are grown, not cloned

Dumping a whole load of training into a person's head generally does not work. There is only so much that people can remember. One of the things that I have observed in training is that, counter-intuitively, the more you tell people the less they retain. If I ask you to remember three things you will probably remember three things. If I ask you to remember seven, you will probably still only remember three. If I ask you to remember a hundred, you will struggle to recall one.

Discovery Bible Study works because it is a prolonged investment. An incremental building of discipleship, piece by piece, day by day, study by study. Leadership develops because leaders encounter real world problems and discover how to overcome them. Our training is how to use scripture to answer our own discipleship challenges, not a tool kit of “if this happens do that”.

The larger the manual, the fewer people who will be be able to engage.

The benefits of travelling with people

“The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others”

2 Timothy 2: 2

A lot of people have asked us to record our Discovery Bible Study group training. We never have. Because the value is not in the material, it is in the interaction. You can't sit and watch someone else doing DBS. You have to be a part of it. The question is not what is God asking Fred to do, it is what he asking you?

Groups work because they journey together. They challenge each other's assumptions. They stretch each other, going deeper not faster. They support each other when it fails. They celebrate every success and pray into every trial.

Making disciples

In order to make disciples, we must first be disciples. One of my trainees once said

“The problem is that we all want to work with Paul the missionary, Peter the church founder and Matthew the author, but instead we're given Saul the persecutor, Simon the fisherman, Levi the tax collector and Judas the betrayer”

Disciples will not land, fully-formed in our laps. They must be made. It took three years with Jesus, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit for Simon to become Peter. The thing is, to make disciples you don't need resources. You just need time, a bible, an open heart and the Holy Spirit.

And if you start with these, I guarantee you, you will have the resources you need. Each generation provides the resources required to grow the next. So stop waiting for the next grant to arrive, and start making disciples

Confession time

I wrote this article as much as a reprimand to my own thinking as a challenge to anyone else's...