Often times I get asked, “Why doesn’t ‘DBS’ work?? The question is directed at an acronym ‘DBS’ which in my world stands for “Discovery Bible Study.” In my particular tribe we don’t use the term for reasons I explain in Spent Matches. (p. 116)
Usually the context of the question comes from a group of well meaning Christ followers who are enamored with a new way of handling the Bible. That “new” includes an emphasis on obedience. Certainly not a novel idea since Jesus taught it to his disciples. But the slow move of the good news west from Jerusalem also saw a slow cancerous incursion of a Greek way of thinking attached to the good news. For more on this check out Spent Matches (p.73ff).
One of the many reasons ‘DBS’ doesn’t work is couched in the story of 5 frogs.
5 frogs sitting on a log, one decides to jump. How many are left? Typically we might give the knee jerk answer, FOUR! But wait, there are 5 because deciding to jump and jumping are two different and distinct things.
The person asking this question went thru a training session with the presupposition that they would be doing a group with people yet to be connected to their Father in heaven. As I poll DMM trainers I find that many of them will say that 1 out of 100 will be found taking the training to the a place of lostness and asking people to join them in discovering what God has to say about life.
What doesn’t ‘DBS’ work? Because it hasn’t been tried in the right places for the right length of time!
Using the discovery process in the believing world rarely if ever jumps into the nom believing world simply because those who profess to follow Christ have so few relationships with those who are lost.
If you’d like to learn to use the discovery process with your friends (preferably those who are lost) check out DGapp.org. It works best on a smart phone.