Discovery Bible Studies are gatherings of friends. You can use the DBS approach on your own - but you will get far more out if it if you do it with others. There are two main reasons for this:

• Groups spot things that individuals miss
• Groups remember more than individuals do on their own

So find some friends, and find somewhere comfortable to meet. A living room or a coffee shop works well. Somewhere you can relax, and talk openly to each other. We can help you get started alongside us or with your own friends and family.

Read or listen to the bible story that you are looking at a couple of times. You can use a paper bible or a phone app (like the Discover App) for this. You can use almost any Bible passage for a DBS. The Discover App website has some useful story sets to get you started. Or you can use the links below to give you an easy starting point.

Ask for volunteers to retell the story in their own words. If you are in a larger group you might like to do this in pairs. Don’t worry about missing things out - often you will find that others can fill in the details. As we said, groups remember more than individuals.

Once you are happy that you know the story, explore it with following questions;

1) What does this story tell us about God?
2) What does this story tell us about people?
3) If this is really God's word, what should I do in response? It helps to express these as “I will” statements. For example “I will listen to other people more this week …”
4) Who can I share this with?

Make sure that everyone has the chance to speak. If someone says something that doesn’t seem obvious from the story you can get them to explain a bit more by asking “where do you see that in the passage?”. As we have already mentioned, groups often spot far more in a story than individuals would do. This is one of the things that makes meeting in a group so enjoyable (and often challenging).