Tag / 8 Questions

by johnkking

Being Doers of the Word (Part 1)

Living out of our identity as sons and daughters of the Creator looks like an apprenticeship. We once marched to the beat of a different drummer (a death march). But now, in Christ we hear the Father and seek to do His will.

Discovery Bible Studies (DBSs) call us to hear the Word and put it into practice. We obey out of love, just like Jesus did. We know that our obedience does not earn us standing before our Father. We know that it opens us to being channels of His blessing for others.

One of my teammates has a supporter who works in the water/waste management field. He is an engineer who is a consultant for numerous municipalities. Grease can be incredibly damaging to a city’s sewers. A business that chooses to run grease into the sewer system will block the flow of waste behind them in the system. Trust me, you want sewer flowing all the way to the treatment facility! Blockages are a nightmare. The technology this guy has developed to monitor such potential problems makes him a valued specialist.

Disobedience blocks our spiritual flow. It creates problems that prevent us from experiencing the richness our relationship with God offers. It also restricts the blessings our Father desires to pass through us to others.

 

by johnkking

Outside the Box (cont.)

Good things are happening in the two DBSs I mentioned in my last post. These groups of women are exploring the nature of God. They are finding their time together is uplifting and enriching. The lady who pulled them together shared with me:

“The ladies have really opened up and have been very willing to share what is going on in their lives.  One lady in particular does go to our church and has for a couple of years but has not made any real connections with anyone in the church.  She has been extremely shy.  I am happy to report that she has opened up and shared in the group.  Tears just flow from this precious lady and I can see that healing is happening in her life.

I have to say that I believe the questions (thankful and struggles) really set us up to get into the word.  They are so receptive and excited to discuss the scriptures at that point of the meeting.”

Questions 1 & 2 remind us to note our blessings and our needs. Together they prime our minds to hearing from God. Answering them disciples us to praise God and turn to Him in intercession. They tune our ears to hear what in his character addresses our human predicament.

This lady also shared that the lady who responded to the Craigs List ad, “has continued to come.  She is having some serious struggles and it is apparent now why God led her to join our group.  Even though she is a new believer I am in awe of how God is comforting her and leading her.  She is clinging to Him and staying in the word.”

Just wanted to give you an update to this process. Join me in praying that more groups will begin as these ladies are discipled and begin to share what they are learning with the people who come to mind as they answer the question, “Who do you know who needs to hear this passage?”

by johnkking

Outside the Box

Two weeks ago I trained a group of people how to facilitate Discovery Bible Studies among their friends who do not know Jesus. One young lady, who was encouraged to come by her pastor who also came, immediately recruited enough people to have two groups of six ladies. She intentionally invited a few of the ladies from her church to participate. There are two not-yet believers and four believers in one group. The ratio is the opposite in the other group.

This lady is already coaching a member of one of the groups to facilitate. She is benefiting from the process of passing on the leadership. She is excited about what happened last week as the groups just began.

Her pastor urged her to “think outside the box” as she considered who to invite to the groups. She decided to run a Craigs List ad. Here is what the ad said:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If you would like to participate with a small group of women as we walk together discovering what God has to say to us through His word then I would love to talk to you!

This is a small group of women (no more than 6) and we will meet together weekly. We will encourage each other as we look to God’s word for answers we all want.

If you have never been to church in your life – this group is for you! If you have been to church every time the doors have been open and still feel like you don’t know who God is – this group is for you! If you don’t know if you even believe in God – this group is for you!

You don’t need to know anything about the Bible at all! This is a DISCOVERY group. We will only focus on what the Bible says – not what PEOPLE have to say about God.

I can’t wait to hear from you.

by johnkking

Tips for Trainers

After our daughter and son moved out, they started calling their mom asking for recipes of their favorites dishes she cooks. Eventually she decided to give them each a set of recipes. But she began to realize that they need more than a list of the ingredients; she will also need to become aware of what they don’t know (e.g., one recently asked what could be used as a replacement for corn starch).

One of the church planters that I am coaching recently asked me to write out the things I intuitively do when I am training groups to facilitate Discovery Bible Studies (DBSs). It is a great request, but the challenge is me becoming aware of what I do intuitively. Thankfully I had another meeting right after the one where this request was made where I was able to process it more fully with another team member.

Here is the “Tips for Trainers” list that I prepared in response to the request. Maybe it will be helpful to someone else. If so, please comment below so I might learn more about what I do intuitively.

Tips for Trainers:

  1. Keep the groups small. (Five is the ideal number, but 4-6 is okay.)
    • Prevents the meeting from taking too long (45 minutes is ideal).
    • Draws quiet or shy people into the discussion.
    • Models the most readily available settings (e.g., a few people at work over lunch, a few soccer moms at the practice fields, or a handful of friends after a meal).
  2. Divide larger groups into sub-groups and have them work through the questions simultaneously.
    • You get to model how to handle a bigger group.
    • Involves more people in the facilitation role.
  3. Remind the facilitators of their responsibilities:
    • Keep the discussion moving and involve everyone.
    • Use the “Where is that in this passage?” question to keep the group on track.
    • Be sure to save time for questions 6, 7, and 8.
    • Make sure someone takes notes when the “top three” are selected.
  4. After they answer the questions, facilitate a debriefing exercise by having sub-groups list their “top three” insights into God and their “top three” ways to obey the passage.
    • The goal is to enable people to hear from God. The larger group review confirms the things each group heard and exposes them to something they might have missed that another sub-group heard.
    • Provides an interesting review process (the three “Rs” of education are “repetition, repetition, repetition,” but that cannot be boring or you lose them).
    • Exercises the participants in healthy group functions (your long-term goal is to disciple them in functioning as a healthy church).
    • You can “accentuate the positive” by highlighting the healthiest responses. (Rather than causing those with weak responses to lose face, you get to spotlight the ones that are strong and worthy of being imitated.)

What actually sparked the request for me to write out what I do intuitively was me sharing the training that I recently did with a women’s discipleship group. I told how I handled the fact that the group was so large that I had to create sub-groups. This disciple has experienced that kind of setting, but all of his earliest training was with a small group that was never subdivided. Though he is working with a larger group, he had kept them all together and now he anticipated there might be other things I needed to make more explicit.

If you are like me, you will probably need a new trainee to help you realize what you do intuitively. As they ask questions about things that you assume are givens, make notes. These “givens” are likely what you do intuitively.

by johnkking

What Are the 8 Questions?

Discipling praise:

  • Question #1:  “What happened last week for which you are thankful?”
  • Encourage everyone to answer briefly.

Discipling intercession:

  • Question #2:  “What struggles are happening in your life, family or community?”
  • After the study there will be a follow-up question.

Discipling accountability (not done the first week):

  • Question #3: “How did the attempt to help with the need go?”

Discipling hearing God’s word to obey:

  • Have the text read/told well (If illiterate it must be told well.)
  • Ask for a volunteer to re-tell the passage in his/her own words.
  • Ask the rest of the group to fill in any details that were overlooked.
  • Question #4: “What do we learn about God in this section?”
  • Question #5: “What do we learn about humanity from the section?”
  • Question #6: “How would your life change if you put this passage into practice?”
  • Question #7: “Who do you know who needs to hear this lesson?”

Discipling being servants:

  • Earlier we heard about (insert appropriate need).
  • Question #8: “How can we help meet that need?”

This format is followed every meeting.  While it may seem too simplistic or redundant, it is to be repeated until it becomes something the group knows to do without thinking about it (the three “R’s” of education—“repetition, repetition…”

There is one more question that is needed at times—“Where is that in this passage?” The group is trained to ask this question when someone tries to bring in topics that are not included in the text as a way to keep the group on track. Here they are being discipled to depend on Scripture as their source of spiritual authority.

Outside leaders should never facilitate more than two studies. It is preferable if they never facilitate, but rather coach the Person of Peace to ask the questions.