Preparing for a Discovery Study

If you are interested in this, now is the time to make ready.

Last year, I sent out a query to my subscribers asking for people that would be interested in participating in a Discovery Study, as described in the book Miraculous Movements. This is one of the foundational evangelistic techniques used in the book and also by those in the Iranian church in the movie Sheep Among Wolves.

Photo by saeed mhmdi on Unsplash

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I’m getting ready to start the Discovery Study. Here is what I’m currently thinking.

1. My overall goal with this exercise is to spark a movement of disciples who make disciples who make disciples here in the “first world,” where we have grown stagnant in our Christianity. We have been lulled to sleep by the “Satanic Lullaby.” This is one step to waking back up.

2. Start in mid-January, 2015. I thought about starting in October or November, but honestly there is just so much happening already and I suspect that’s true for everybody.

3. Sessions will be held weekly, over Zoom or a similar conferencing software.

4. Meeting times will be in the evening for US participants. Depending on where actual participants are located, we can tune this to work for everybody.

5. While I’m OK with non-US participants, you’ll need to be comfortable with speaking and reading English and the times may be terribly inconvenient for you. My initial priority is in launching this for US participants.

6. There will be some extreme size limitations with the group. Discovery Groups are small, on the order of five people plus a leader.

7. Discovery Groups are meant to proliferate. In the Great Commission, Jesus told his disciples (us!) to go and make disciples, with the expectation that those disciples would then go and make more disciples, and so on. This is how we get more people in Discovery Groups. Because of this, I’d like participants to commit to being willing to lead their own Discovery Group once they become familiar with the process.

8. You do not need to be a long-time Christian, familiar with traditional Bible Study methods, to participate. In fact, Discovery Groups operate in a way that is very easy for people who have not yet studied the Bible. The main thing is a willingness to participate and a hunger to know the truth.

9. There are going to be a few prerequisites for the initial Discovery Group because the intention is that this group will be a set of self-taught leaders who can then start to train others. These prerequisites are a baseline level of knowledge and understanding.

   1. You must be a subscriber to Simple Christianity. Ultimately, we will open this up, but for now, I’d like to keep participation to those who are part of this growing community. I’ll make this one easy. There’s a Subscribe button just below. Note that you don’t have to be a “long time subscriber.” If you found this article and it spoke to you and you want to hit subscribe right now, that’s fine, too.

   2. You must have watched Sheep Among Wolves all the way through.

   3. You must have read Miraculous Movements, Contagious Disciple Making, or The Kingdom Unleashed, and preferably all three. Each of these books describes the basic method of Disciple Making Movements (DMM), both anecdotally as well as semi-formally, that is mentioned in Sheep Among Wolves.

10. I suspect there will be far more than five people that want to do this. In your note to me, describe what God has laid on your heart that has caused you to step forward for this study. Why is this important to you? That will help me select people. Also, I suspect that we will do other groups shortly, if not in parallel. And my goal is to have participants in the first set of groups starting and leading local groups, too. That is how we make disciples who make disciples who make disciples.

If you are interested, then once you have met the prerequisites (be a subscriber, have watched Sheep Among Wolves, and have read at least one of the books), send me an email at dave@droberts.com and include “Discovery Group” in the message subject. Include your real name (not Substack handle) and contact info (email and mobile).

If you have any questions, you can send me an email at the address above (again, include “Discover Group” in the title, please).

I have no doubt that participants in this study will be stretched far beyond their traditional comfort zone. Discovery Groups are simple but demanding. Together, let’s become more purposeful about making disciples who make disciples who make disciples, to the glory of Jesus.

Remember Jesus’s words in Revelation to the church in Laodicea:

¹⁴ “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

¹⁵ “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. ¹⁹ Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. ²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. ²¹ The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.²² He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Revelation 3:14-22 (ESV)

Let us not have Jesus find us to be lukewarm.

Today’s Prayer

Holy Father, maker of all things, we worship you. Let you name be glorified for ever and ever. Give us the courage to be obedient to your will, acting locally to grow your Kingdom one saved person at a time. Help us to trust you, knowing that we can do nothing by ourselves but can accomplish anything according to your will. Amen.

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