Adapted from Naylor’s 2026 MABL 504 lecture, “Discover Your Call as a Disciple Maker” (Edited with the help of ChatGPT)
Discovery Bible Study (DBS) is a widely used disciple-making approach that grounds people in Scripture through discovery rather than teacher-centred instruction. Its significance lies not simply in providing another format for Bible study, but in creating a reproducible process through which people learn to engage Scripture for themselves, respond to what they discover, and help others do the same.
DBS normally takes place in a small group. Participants read a biblical passage together and use a repeatable set of open-ended questions to discover what the passage reveals about God and about human life. The process requires little preparation and is simple enough that participants can take turns facilitating. In this respect, DBS resembles a book discussion in which participants explore the significance of what they have read, but it adds an essential dimension: each person considers how the biblical message should shape the way he or she lives.
There are a number of DBS modules, the version I personally use is available here.
The Spiritual Orientation of DBS
At the heart of DBS is the conviction that the Bible is God’s self-revelation and that discipleship involves conforming one’s life to what God reveals about his character, will, and mission. A group normally meets regularly, often weekly, with the Bible functioning as its primary curriculum. Participants learn to engage Scripture directly rather than depending on someone else to explain it. This does not diminish the value of teachers; rather, teaching supplements the foundational practice of helping people develop confidence that they can read, understand, and respond to Scripture themselves.
The facilitator guides discussion through simple questions that remain largely consistent from meeting to meeting. The aim is not merely to gain information but to discover the significance of the passage for life. Each participant identifies a response arising from the discussion and seeks to bring his or her life into greater conformity with Jesus’ will, character, and mission. The Holy Spirit is understood to be the teacher, using God’s self-revelation in Scripture to move participants toward faithful action.
At subsequent meetings, participants report on the commitments they made previously. This accountability is intended as encouragement and support as participants grow in allegiance to Jesus and learn to translate biblical insight into behaviour.
The disciple-making movement within DBS can therefore be summarized in four related movements:
- Revelation — reading Scripture to discover God’s character, will, and mission.
- Integration — allowing that revelation to reshape one’s orientation, convictions, and understanding.
- Application — conforming one’s life to God’s revelation through specific actions and behaviours.
- Evaluation — celebrating faithfulness and providing mutual accountability for commitments to follow Jesus.
In this sense, the disciple maker trusts the Holy Spirit, takes initiative to promote intentional growth, and creates opportunities for people to discover together how to live as disciples of Jesus.
Core Practices That Keep DBS Focused on Disciple Making
Several practices help distinguish DBS from a knowledge-focused Bible study and preserve its potential for reproduction and multiplication. Much of the following material is adapted from my Cross Cultural Impact articles “Discovery Bible Study (DBS)” and “Why Discovery is Essential for Disciple-Making.”
1. Practice disciple making in a group
DBS is best practiced in a small group, typically three to eight people, rather than exclusively one-to-one. One-to-one discipleship can be valuable, but a group creates an environment in which participants learn to speak about Jesus, encourage one another, and develop the practices needed to help others become disciples. When someone expresses interest in learning about Jesus through the Bible, the disciple maker can ask who else within that person’s existing network might be interested so that a new group can be established. The aim is not to pull the person away from existing relationships into the disciple maker’s network, but to bring the opportunity to encounter Jesus into the person’s own relational setting. Likewise, the group should meet in a place where participants feel safe and comfortable.
Robert E. Coleman emphasizes the strategic value of investing in people who can continue the work within their own relationships and communities. This principle allows disciple making to take root within an existing social network rather than remain dependent on an outside leader. He writes (1993, 74),
In effect, the disciples were told to concentrate their time on the most promising individuals in each town who would thereby be able to follow up their work after they had gone.
and
This principle of establishing a beachhead in a new place of labor by connecting with a potentially key follow-up leader is not to be minimized.
An example from a First Nations reservation in Ontario illustrates the principle. A missionary met a woman who was interested in Jesus and asked whom she would like to include. She invited her boyfriend and sister, and the group met in their setting. He quickly realized that the boyfriend was a drug dealer and people were coming in and out to buy drugs. As people moved in and out of the home during the study, some joined the discussion when they heard the group exploring what the passage revealed about God. The missionary contributed very little, while the participants increasingly owned the discussion. The setting and process communicated that engagement with Scripture belonged to them rather than to the outsider, so much so that one visitor asked, “Hey, what’s the white guy doing here?” Within two years, approximately sixty groups were meeting regularly and a number of baptisms had taken place.
2. Keep the process simple and reproducible
The facilitator does not prepare a lesson. Instead, the group follows a simple, repeatable outline of steps and questions that can fit on a single page, together with a list of passages appropriate for the group. The process should be easy to remember and easy to use. The Bible, rather than the facilitator’s lesson, is the curriculum.
3. Facilitate discovery rather than explain the passage
The facilitator speaks relatively little and guides participants as they read, discuss, and discover for themselves. Facilitators are participants rather than authoritative interpreters. They join the group in a posture of submission to God’s Word and expect God’s Spirit to teach through the passage. Their responsibility is to create space for discovery rather than to provide the meaning of the text for everyone else.
4. Stay within the passage
The discussion normally remains within the passage being studied rather than moving to other biblical texts. This serves two purposes. First, participants learn that the main message can be discovered from the passage itself without outside expertise. Second, the simplicity of dealing with the text in front of the group makes facilitation accessible even to people with limited biblical knowledge. The goal is to remove unnecessary intimidation so that participants can imagine themselves facilitating. Ideally, at the end of a DBS, the question “Who would like to facilitate next time?” can be answered readily by someone in the group.
Facilitator, Disciple, and Disciple Maker
These roles need to be distinguished. A facilitator is someone who can guide a group through a discovery process, encouraging participants to read and understand the Bible and discern how God reveals his character, will, and mission. Facilitation does not itself require that a person occupy a teaching role or possess extensive biblical knowledge.
A disciple is someone who has responded to the revelation of God’s Word and become a committed follower of Jesus.
A disciple maker is a disciple who has also responded to Jesus’ call to help establish others as followers of Jesus. The disciple maker’s concern therefore extends beyond conducting a successful weekly meeting. It includes relationships, prayer, encouragement, and support for participants as they grow in faith and learn to help others follow Jesus.
Discovery, whether expressed through DBS or another method, is central to disciple making because deep personal engagement with God’s Word can lead to transformation as people conform their lives to the revelation of God’s character, will, and mission. Scripture remains the primary and authoritative source for the proclamation of the gospel and for understanding who God is and what he desires. Disciple making therefore seeks to create an environment in which people read, interpret, and respond to God’s Word together.
Engaging the Biblical Passage
Several additional practices shape the actual engagement with Scripture.
The passage is read aloud at least twice. Repeated reading gives participants time to become oriented to the text and begin considering its meaning. Reading is not treated merely as a preliminary step; repetition highlights the centrality and priority of God’s Word.
After the reading, one participant summarizes the passage in a few sentences, and others may add important points. Unlike a Bible study in which detailed interpretation may occupy most of the meeting, DBS seeks to grasp the primary message without becoming distracted by secondary details.
The discussion then moves quickly to discovery by asking what the passage reveals about God:
- What does this passage show about what God or Jesus is like? — God’s character.
- What does this passage show about what God or Jesus wants? — God’s will.
- What does this passage show about what God or Jesus is accomplishing? — God’s mission.
The Bible was written to audiences living in particular times and cultures, so a passage should not simply be applied as though it were originally written directly to a contemporary reader. Yet Scripture is God’s Word and therefore remains for God’s people. Because Scripture is revelation through which God makes himself known, every passage can be explored for what it reveals about God’s character, will, and mission. Obedience is therefore more than following isolated instructions; it is relational conformity to who God is, what he desires, and what he is doing in the world.
A ministry example from Pakistan demonstrates the effect of this shift. Papu, an experienced ministry leader, described DBS as “a game changer” because people were no longer receiving biblical information only second-hand from a speaker. They were going directly to Scripture and discovering who Jesus is for themselves. On Good Friday, when churches traditionally hold a three-hour service with seven consecutive sermons on the sayings of Jesus from the cross, Papu introduced a discovery approach. Seven people he was training as disciple makers each read a passage and facilitated discussion around what Jesus’ words and actions revealed about God’s character, will, and mission. The congregation became active participants rather than passive listeners.
Scripture as Window and Mirror
DBS also asks what the passage reveals about humanity: “What does this passage tell us about what people are like and what they need?” The questions about God use Scripture as a window through which participants see God more clearly. The question about humanity uses Scripture as a mirror through which people see themselves as God sees them. The Bible presents the full range of human dignity and brokenness. As C. S. Lewis observes in the Narnian Chronicles, being human is “an honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth.”
From Discovery to Action: The “I Will” Commitments
The discussion culminates in personal application expressed through two “I will” statements. Each participant writes and shares a response to two questions:
- What one thing will I do this week because of what this passage has shown me? “This week I will…”
- Who will I tell about what I learned and what I plan to do? “This week I will…”
These commitments express both dimensions of the disciple’s calling: obeying Jesus personally and helping others encounter what has been learned. The “I will” statements should therefore function as a climax of the gathering rather than as an afterthought. Participants need sufficient time to pray, reflect, and articulate a meaningful response. The emphasis remains on conformity to God’s character, will, and mission rather than simply acquiring information.
Two prayers can help participants formulate their commitments:
- “Lord, how do you want me to respond this week in a way that reflects your will, character, and mission?” The participant then writes a specific response beginning, “This week I will…”
- “Lord, bring to mind someone with whom I can share what you have shown me.” The participant then writes how the insight will be shared, again beginning, “This week I will…”
Making Commitments Concrete
Disciple makers model how to formulate worthwhile commitments. One helpful framework is the familiar SMART pattern patterned after Peter Drucker’s Management by Objectives. A useful “I will” statement is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
- Specific — it clearly describes the action that will be taken.
- Measurable — it will be evident whether the commitment has been fulfilled.
- Achievable — it can realistically be accomplished within the stated time frame.
- Relevant — it is spiritually significant and genuinely connected to the passage.
- Time-bound — it includes a clear time frame, normally the coming week.
For example, after reading John 3:16, a participant may be struck by the relationship between God’s love and the sacrifice of giving his Son. A vague response such as “I will help someone” can be strengthened into a concrete commitment: “This week I will volunteer for one evening at the downtown soup kitchen.” The statement is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant to the insight about sacrificial love, and limited to a defined time.
The same principle applies to sharing. A participant might say, “I will see my friend Bob this week. I will tell him about the decision I have made and explain that it is based on what Jesus has done for me.” The commitment identifies the person, the intended action, and the time frame. In this way, sharing one’s spiritual journey becomes a normal expression of discipleship.
Coleman (1993:68) emphasizes that the disciple maker must model what is expected of others. He writes, Jesus “did not ask anyone to do or be anything which first he had not demonstrated in his own life, thereby not only proving its workability, but also its relevance to his mission in life.”
Accountability and the 3/3rds Pattern
At the next meeting, participants report on what happened as they sought to fulfill their commitments. This is a time for encouragement and support rather than testing or shaming. Such sharing creates a healthy vulnerability and reinforces the expectation that discipleship involves concrete response. Coleman (1993: 82) similarly notes that “after the disciples were sent out to work, they were expected to share their experiences later with the group.”
A helpful way to preserve the full discovery process is the “3/3rds” pattern used by disciple makers in Pakistan. The meeting is divided into three movements:
- Looking back — reviewing the previous “I will” commitments and what happened as participants acted on them.
- Looking up — reading Scripture and discovering God’s character, will, and mission.
- Looking forward — forming new “I will” commitments in response to God’s Word.
Because the DBS process is simple and reproducible, participants can use the same pattern to disciple others. This creates the potential for multiplication as people learn not only to engage Scripture personally but also to facilitate discovery with others in response to Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:16–20.
Benefits of a Discovery-Based Disciple-Making Process
- It is simple, effective, and reproducible. The process gives ordinary believers a practical way to participate in disciple making.
- It provides a pathway for all believers to become disciple-makers. Not every believer has the gift or role of teacher, but believers can learn to facilitate a process in which others encounter Scripture as God’s self-revelation.
- It prioritizes direct engagement with Scripture. DBS brings participants into contact with God’s Word rather than making the teacher the necessary interpretive filter. Teachers remain important to the church, but helping people learn to read and understand Scripture is foundational.
- It helps participants develop a biblical theology. By repeatedly reading Scripture as God’s self-revelation, participants build an understanding of who God is, what he desires, and what he is doing.
- It emphasizes obedience rather than understanding alone. The aim is a life of allegiance and increasing conformity to Jesus.
- It facilitates intercultural disciple making. Because participants discover the meaning and significance of Scripture themselves, the cross-cultural worker does not need to carry every conclusion across the cultural bridge. Instead, the worker creates access to God’s Word and facilitates engagement with it. Language and cultural learning remain essential, but the discovery process can open a pathway to meaningful disciple-making engagement even while cross-cultural communication skills are still developing.
Conclusion
Jesus’ call, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19), connects following Jesus with participating in his mission. DBS provides one practical framework for nurturing that connection. Its strength is not simply the sequence of questions but the pattern it establishes: Scripture is read as God’s self-revelation, participants discover its significance together, they respond with concrete obedience, they share what they are learning with others, and they return to encourage one another in faithfulness. In this way, discovery becomes a reproducible pathway for forming disciples who can also help others become disciples.
Coleman (1993:94) captures this long-term concern for fruitful discipleship by stressing that “The only hope for the world is for laborers to go to them with the gospel of salvation, and having won them to the Savior, not to leave them, but to work with them faithfully, patiently, painstakingly, until they become fruitful Christians savoring the world about them with the Redeemer’s love.”
References
Coleman, Robert E. The Master Plan of Evangelism. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Revell/Baker, 1993. Ebook edition, 2010.
Naylor, Mark. “Discovery Bible Study (DBS).” Cross Cultural Impact, post 124.
Naylor, Mark. “Why Discovery is Essential for Disciple-Making.” Cross Cultural Impact, post 126.
