7 Discovery Bible Study Questions

One way that God is building his church today is when people study Scripture together, apply what they learn, and share it with others. This often happens in small groups. Participants may or may not be familiar with the Bible, but they want to learn more. They are curious. They want to discover who God is and what he has to say. In Discovery Bible Studies, participants typically discuss seven questions as they look at Scripture together.

Sound interesting? Give it a try!

In a small group, work through the seven Discovery Bible Study questions listed below with any passage of scripture.

Of course, it’s great to supplement group-discovery with books, classes, podcasts, and sermons, but don’t miss out on the significant rewards of studying the Bible in depth with others.

Before your group starts to study a book of the Bible, you might want to watch a book overview provided by the Bible Project, but then dig out the riches of that book together.

To go deeper, supplement what your group learns with input from experts who can provide helpful background on context, genres and Biblical themes. Asbury Seminary is one place where you can find that additional expertise.

Discovery Bible Study – Seven Questions

Community Questions

1. What are you thankful for this week?
2. What are you struggling with or stressed by?
3. Last week, you said you would __________. How did that go? (Use this question after you’ve already had first meeting)

Read this week’s Bible passage twice. A couple of people re-tell the passage in their own words. Others feel free to fill in missing points.

Exploring the Passage Questions:

1. What does this passage teach us about God?
2. What does this passage teach us about ourselves/people?
3. What’s one thing you could do to apply what you’ve learned from this passage?
4. Who can you tell who will receive this story as good news or addressing an issue they are exploring?

 DBS Facilitation principles

To keep your discussion on track, use these simple facilitation principles:

1. Stick to the passage being studied. Study the passage the group selected and try not to reference other passages of scripture. This keeps everyone involved and keeps the study from getting side-tracked.  When participants start mentioning other passages that people new to the Bible don’t know, it can make people feel excluded and stupid. Everyone can comment on the passage in front of them, so keep the study accessible to all. When other passages start being discussed, say, “Let’s stick with this passage.”
2. Ask, “Where do you see that in this passage?” especially when someone brings up an observation or idea that seems unrelated to the passage at hand. Stick to making observations about the selected passage. Tell people you will do this in advance. Say something like, “We are going to keep our study focused on this passage so I might ask, “Where do you see that in this passage?” just to keep us focused on observations on this passage and prevent us from getting side-tracked. We want to dig this passage out as deep as possible.”
3. Ask “What else?” when the observations seem to slow down. “What else?” is one of the best questions to ask to keep conversation moving. Dig out the passage as thoroughly as possible.
4. When someone asks a question of you as the facilitator, try to throw the question back to the group: “What do people in the group think could be the answer to that question?”
5. It is OK for the facilitator to provide some context for a passage and to give their own answers to the seven questions and to occasionally provide a little additional input on the passage; but, really try hard to facilitate discussion and self-discovery. Anyone should be able to facilitate the group whether they know the Bible well or not because a DBS is about group discovery, not lecture.
6. Always get to the last questions about application and sharing with others. Regarding sharing with others, the facilitator might ask, “Who could you talk with about this passage who would view what we discovered as good news for them or as addressing an issue they’ve been exploring?” In other words, we aren’t targeting people as projects of our witnessing efforts, but thinking who else would really appreciate knowing about what we discovered in our study of scripture that week.
7. This video from the Village Church provides an excellent overview of Discovery Bible Studies.
8. Another great resource for studying scripture together is Zume Training.