by markw
Obedience Based Discipleship – a House Church Resource
1:14 pm in Community Garden, Educational, Resources by markw
There are many ways to study the bible together – but how often does that study lead to actual obedience to God’s voice and to transformed lives? We want our house church network to be one that “listens to Jesus and does what he says.” Simply put – there are too many other voices in our culture telling us what to do that runs contrary to the voice of Christ.
David Watson, a internationally-known author and missiologist, has helped plant tens of thousands of house churches in India, and has helped create an indigenous church planting movement in that region. He has released his very simple bible study method that he used to help spur people on toward more spiritually-formed lives. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be releasing his documents on this site (they are free to download for yourself or for a house church or small group).
He calls them “Discovery Bible Studies” because there is little “from the front” lecturing or even teaching. There is gentle guidance from a facilitator, who might even rotate around the group. Generally a passage is selected, read aloud several times from different people. Then another person retells the scripture in his/her own words, followed by a discussion from the whole group on what the text is saying. Finally, there is a few moments of silence as each person in the group decides what God is asking them to do about the text – how to be obedient not just to the words of the text, but to God who is speaking to each heart in the group. Each person says and/or writes down an “I will…” statement committing to do one thing within the next 48 hours of the group’s gathering (if it doesn’t happen within a short time of the commitment, many times it is sifted through life’s other demands.) It has brought life and transformation to a group in Rogers Park – may it bring life to your group as well!
