Because of the importance of what you are doing at the moment in this DISCOVERY BIBLE STUDY GROUP of yours, we’ve even design a web-based APP for your smart phone to help you and your friends doing this as easily, but as efficient as possible.
Here is the LINK to the JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY-APP that you can type into your SMART PHONE’S BROWSER to download this app to your phone: Download it on your phone and then ADD IT TO YOUR HOME PAGE.
WELCOME!
You just join millions of people from all over the world who choose to start reading the Bible together with a few others.
People all over the world are doing this because they believe the God of the Bible says He will speak to everyone who reads the Bible with an openness and willingness to hear His voice and what He is saying.
This journey of discovery we are on is all about hearing the voice of God speaking to you when reading the Bible, or also called THE WORD OF GOD.
Here are 4 questions you can use that will help you hear what God is saying while reading the passage of Scripture we will give to you.
Choose the Bible version that you want to use
If you don't have a Bible of your own, click on any of the following links and download a Bible App for your specific Phone.
Go to that App on your phone and find a suitable Bible translation in your language to use for reading Scripture. Download it to your phone so that it will be there on your phone without needing any Wi-Fi or data.
Click on the following link to download the YOUVERSION-APP on your phone
https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/
Find a suitable Bible translation or two in your language and download it to your phone.
BIBLEGATEWAY.COM - As an alternative, this site can be used to give people a choice of a language and what Bible translation they want to use – Shoal Creek-congregation uses this option.
Here is the link to that site:
The Bible is the Word of God
You, most probably, are not alone and part of a group of two up to seven other friends joining you on this journey.
But if you are alone, you most probably already are a follower of Jesus who have heard of this webpage as a tool to use on your journey while following Jesus. If that is so, why don’t you get a few other friends or co-workers to join you on this journey? You will immediately know who they are. Because of the fact that God already started working in their lives, they every now and then shown definite interest in Jesus, in what He said and did while on earth, but also shown signs of someone really seeking for the peace the Bible talks about.
Whatever the case, what you will find on this webpage, will be an excellent roadmap on this journey of yours.
It will help all of you to know what to do each time you meet and how to create a save place for all of you to get to know one another, talk to one another, but also to help you to start hearing the One and Only God of the Bible, speaking to all of you while you are reading and studying the Bible.
I know all of you have questions and heartfelt needs that you just don’t talk about to others. But on this journey together, you as a group, will discover that when you are together, it really is safe and exciting to dare to talk to one another about those things that are important. You may even experience how this journey together can change the lives of all of you.
So, I want to congratulate you on being gutsy enough to join me while I lead you and your friends on this journey.
A Menu to follow in your DISCOVERY BIBLE STUDY GROUP
Here is a menu that is suggested to follow in these Discovery Bible Study Groups.
I want to suggest that you follow the following script in the weekly group.
TO DOWNLOAD THIS MENU as a PDF-DOCUMENT, click here:
A menu for your group
Welcome to the Journey/Discovery Group.
Discovery Process
- Question 1- How did you do with what you learned last week?
- How did you do with last week’s "I will" and "sharing"?
- With whom did you share last week’s lesson?
- How did you put into practice what you learned from last week’s lesson?
- Question 2 - What are you Thankful for?
An easy way to jump into the group.
Call on someone by name, “Sara, what are you thankful for today?
This question will help you expose the group to prayer. Prayer is expressing our thanks to God.
Eventually you will be able to show them to how to express thanks to God rather than one another.
- Question 3- What is the biggest challenge you are facing today?
Authenticity is key to a community of Jesus followers. This question helps people learn how to relate deeper.
Be careful though, this question can lead to time management issues in the group. Using the word, “today” or “one thing” can help limit the discussion so this question doesn’t derail the group.
- Question 4 - Do you know someone you could serve this week?
This could be one of your neighbours, workmates or then someone in this group.
- Question 5 -What is God saying?
- Read the designated passage aloud in 2 different versions if available.
- Have one person re-tell the passage in their own words.
- You may want to appoint that person before you read.
- Ask others to help add to what may have been missed or their insights
- Question 6 - If this is God speaking what will you do about it?
Develop a tangible statement that will put into practice what you learned from the designated passage.
For example, “I will take 10 minutes a day to reflect on how much God loves me”
“I will begin to recycle because God has given me the earth to take care of.”
To get them to make good “I will” statements you might need to take a few minutes of silence to let each person think about an “I will” statement then ask someone to start sharing what they have developed.
Work to get “I will” statement specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound.
Make sure someone records the “I will” statements so you can ask next week about them.
- Question 7 -Who will you Share with what you learned this week?
Different Routes
I know you and your friends have different questions and needs that are important to you at this moment,
For that reason, I want to invite you to have a look at the different routes for your journey that we’ve put together for you to try and meet those needs and help you discover answers to all of those questions.
You are free to take any of these ROUTES.
But if we can make a suggestion, we want to challenge you to take these journeys one after the other as we suggested below.
But, as we said, that is your choice!
Resources and other material
Down below you will find wonderful training material and other resources to help you make your DISCOVERY BIBLE STUDY GROUP exciting and a remarkable spiritual experience for everyone there.
Here is the link to the web page where you will find all of this.