What is Discovery Bible Study (DBS)?
Discovery Bible Study is a great tool that helps participants from many backgrounds learn about and respond to who God is.

DBS is a study method that relies on the Bible itself, rather than the leader, to do the heavy lifting of discipleship. On the surface, DBS is simply reading a Bible passage and responding with a series of questions. Going deeper, DBS is a blueprint for House Churches, teaching people to apply and share what they learn from the Bible. As participants read and react to the Bible, they are introduced to key factors of the Christian life, like prayer and sanctification.

Here is what a DBS meeting looks like:

1) Connect and Review
Participants meet and talk with each other about their week. This includes questions like “What are you thankful for this week?” and “What difficulties have you faced this week?” both of which teach participants about prayer. Everyone learns to share their highs and lows in community. During this section, participants also talk about with whom they shared last week’s lesson and how they lived their life differently because of it.
   
2) Read the Passage
The group reads the passage once together, using the same Bible translation. Then one person reads it again while everyone else’s Bible is closed, followed by another person explaining the passage in their own words.

3) Discover God’s Word
Everyone has an opportunity to discuss how they feel about the passage and why it made them feel that way. After that, the group talks about what the passage tells them about God, people, and their relationship with Him. It’s important that answers come straight from the text, not from outside sources.

4) Obey God’s Word
This is the defining feature of DBS. Participants are asked, “If this passage is true, how does it change your view of God? Yourself? Other people?” They each come up with a concrete action that they can take in the next week in the form of an “I will …” statement. They also each think of someone they can share the passage with.