Discovery Bible Study

Seven Generations of Disciples

Aug 6, 2020 | Stories

In North India, some women have been trained in making disciples. They have been faithful to apply what they’ve learned, and are experiencing joy from bearing fruit. They have also cast a vision for disciple-making in six districts of their state.

One of the leaders of this group, a lovely and gentle woman, recently shared her testimony. Two years ago, she became a follower of Christ. She, her husband, and their children had been idol worshipers. Her family was “broken and terrible.” They had no joy. Her husband drank all the time and beat her. Her children were undisciplined and refused to go to school.

Then one day, she says, it was as if a light suddenly came on. That was the day she attended a Bible Study in a nearby home. She loved it. After participating in the Bible study for three months, she wanted to start one in her own home. Soon, she and her whole family were baptized.

Today, through ongoing obedience to the Word and the application of its truths to their lives, this woman and her whole family have been changed. Her husband no longer drinks or beats her. Their children are full of joy. They actively share with others all that God has done for them. This one woman has started nine different Discovery Groups from which have come seven generations of disciples making disciples!

Jesus promised to build His church and has not forgotten His promise. His Kingdom of love and light is growing in some of the hardest-to-reach places in the world, through simple disciples like these ladies in North India.

Why Had Jesus Appeared to Her?

Jun 26, 2020 | Stories

One day, out of the blue, it occurred to Sue that she should pray for three of her Turkish Muslim friends to encounter Jesus through dreams and visions. She often prays this prayer for Muslims in general and for her friends in particular, so this notion was not out of the ordinary for her.

A few days later, she received a text from Adile, one of the friends she had prayed for. Adile is a conservative Muslim woman who has been part of a group doing Discovery Bible Study (DBS) with Sue. And she had seen Jesus in a vision!

While doing the prescribed prostrations for Islamic prayer, Jesus appeared and spoke to Adile. “The road [you are all on] is not wrong,” he said, “but a good step still has not been taken. Reading Scripture is not sharing Scripture. How are you [all] applying these verses to your lives? How are you consciously obeying them and, when you do obey them, what benefit do other people receive from it?”

Adile thought a lot about Jesus’ words and also contemplated why Jesus had appeared to her rather than her honored prophet Muhammad. She knew the questions were not just for her; they were also for the others in the DBS group. When she shared what had happened, everyone in the group was deeply impacted.

One man, a local partner, said, “Adile’s conversation with Jesus binds me even more to this group. Sometimes, even while we’re meeting, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing. Should I continue with this, or are we deceiving ourselves? This vision, though, affirms us . . . and challenges us. We have been fed and filled; we have learned and drunk. But how much have we been filled? Completely satisfied or just a little? Have we drunk deeply or just gotten our lips wet? How well have we understood? We’ve been asking the discovery questions but we haven’t placed importance on the last two questions: ‘How will you obey this?’ and ‘Who will you share with?’ From now on, let’s take obedience and multiplication seriously. What you’ve been fed, feed others. What you’ve understood, explain to others. Don’t keep it to yourself. We need to focus on that. ‘Reading Scripture is not sharing Scripture.’ What a great saying! I’m excited! Jesus is leading us, and he really knows what he’s doing.”

Sue was elated. God had answered her prayer! She began to wonder: “Does God answer that prayer every time I pray it? Has a Muslim somewhere had a dream or vision every time I ask God to show himself?”

Please pray for Adile and the two other Muslims in the Discovery Bible group. They love Jesus and read the New Testament but haven’t yet accepted him as Lord. Pray they see Jesus as more than a good teacher and prophet. Pray they would follow him as Lord and Savior and become winsome disciples.

*pseudonym

“Jesus Knows My Name”

Jun 11, 2020 | Stories

Geriel*, an old Mongolian woman, had talked about Christ with her dear friend, Khulan*, many times, but Khulan was never interested in hearing more.

One day, Geriel heard about a five-day training on church planting that was being held near her home, and she decided to go. Kevin*, Beyond’s East Asia strategy coordinator, was part of the team teaching the principles and importance of Disciple Making Movements to the class.

During the training, a portion of each day was spent learning and practicing how to engage others with truths from Scripture through the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) process. In a DBS, the Holy Spirit leads participants into understanding, as a facilitator asks a few simple questions about a passage of Scripture. Geriel thought she could try this method with Khulan using Jesus’ calling of Zacchaeus from Luke 19.

That night, she found her friend and showed her the story of Zacchaeus. Geriel asked her to read the story twice, then asked if she understood it. Khulan said she did not understand.

Geriel asked her to read the story a third time and again asked if she understood. Khulan’s face began to brighten as realization dawned! “Jesus knows my name,” she said, “and he’s calling me! He wants me to follow him too!” Right then and there, she decided to give her life to Christ! She said that, just like Zacchaeus, she would be the best disciple ever!

“When I talked to her, she never responded,” Geriel said. “But when the Holy Spirit talked to her, she saw herself in the story and responded to his voice!”

*pseudonym

“I’m in this Job for a Reason . . .”

Dec 4, 2019 | Stories

God convicted *John of not sharing his faith with his unbelieving co-workers. He became convinced that God had placed him in the exact cubicle, in this exact job for a reason – to tell them about Jesus and what he had done in John’s life.

John began by laying a foundation of prayer and asking some close friends to hold him accountable for sharing his testimony. He started going to lunch with six of his colleagues. He told them how the Bible had radically changed his life and asked if they would like to read it with him to learn what it says about God and people. Some of them rejected the suggestion outright; some remained silent.

Undeterred, John asked others: “I’ve never fully shared with you my life story. Could I share with you over lunch how Jesus changed my life?” John got a lot of no’s.

Then one day, John asked a manager named Jason, a known atheist, if he would like to study the Scriptures. Jason had been one of the silent people in the lunch group, but when asked one-on-one, Jason responded, “Sure. Why not?” Another co-worker said, “Yeah, I’ve never really read the Bible before.” John was surprised! These guys were the ones he had thought least likely to come!

On the first week, John printed out a short Bible story, and the group read through it. He asked what it said about God and about people. He then asked: “If this is true, how should you apply it in your life?” They were intrigued and kept coming to study. Word got around the office, and in a couple of months, most of those in the office were attending the lunch gatherings.

It wasn’t a scary or intense time. People walked in, picked up a sheet of paper, and started talking about it. Barriers came down. It was simple, straightforward, and moved beyond the office as the attendees told the stories to family and friends.

In similar ways, BEYOND mission catalysts seek to make obedient followers of Christ among the unreached. These disciples make other obedient disciples who plant churches that plant other churches. By living open lives and using simple, reproducible methods, we seek to bring God’s glory and saving power to those who don’t know him.

*pseudonyms used

Alone, We are Just a Drop in the Vast Sea of Need …

Oct 20, 2019 | Stories

We know the need: there are two billion unevangelized people in the world. Forty-seven thousand of them die every day, never once having heard the good news of the Gospel. We’ve heard how effective Disciple Making Movements (DMM) are, and we’re on board. But alone, we are just a drop in the vast sea of need. To address the situation, many goers are necessary – approximately 21,000 teams of two to three that can each reach 100,000 people! When you factor in the prayer and financial supporters for those who go, the need for many to catch the vision of Matthew 28 increases dramatically.

How will we ever mobilize that many? Many more people need to embrace Jesus’ calling as their own. We can help them do this through vision casting.

Chris Galanos is the lead and founding pastor of E-Life church in Lubbock, TX. Chris and his leadership team transitioned their megachurch from that of a “traditional” church into one laser-focused on disciple making through DMM practices. In his book From Megachurch to Multiplication, Chris says, “we cast vision to get more believers involved in disciple making and church planting.” He goes on to say, “The more vision we cast to others, the more people we’ll be able to train. The more people we train, the more teams that form. The more teams that form, the more people we have the potential to reach.”

Vision casting in a Disciple-Making Movement (DMM) context is simply passing on the passion and principles of DMM to believers who God might be calling to join in the work. There are many ways to do this. One might share stories of what God is doing, present facts and statistics, have a discovery Bible study or model DMM practices for others to emulate. Here are a couple of examples of some Beyond movement catalysts casting vision with potential local partners.

We have a local Christian lady attending the house church we have with others. She finally realized that we see our “house church” as a “real” and “full” church! We had a great discussion about what does God really want in a church. We challenged her to consider having a Chinese speaking church in her home. She was too afraid. She thought she was too shy . . . only special people do that. I asked her, “Do you remember the last words of Jesus on the earth?” She said yes . . ., ‘Go into all the world baptizing and teaching’. I asked, “Who was he talking to?” She paused and said, ‘His believers, followers”. “Then, was he talking to you?” I asked. Long, long pause … then she said, “Yes.” -Neill

While vision-casting with a local friend about Disciple Making Movements, I got stuck in the middle of differing expectations as to whether or not to pay local believers to partner in disciple-making. With help from my coaching circle, I selected a passage from a list of scriptures dealing with God’s perspective on money and ministry and set a time to do a discovery study with my friend and her husband. As we read the passage, my friend, who usually has a lot to say when we read the Bible together, was barely talking. Was she upset? Did she believe what the passage said? I couldn’t tell. When I saw her a few days later, she explained, “I couldn’t say much that night because I was so distracted by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was present and tangible, like a thick cloud.” Clearly, God spoke deeper than I had realized. -M.B.

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