Contagious Christianity: It Just Takes One to Make a Difference

January 20, 2021

I can’t…

I don’t have time…

I don’t know how…

I’m not called to do that…

Those are all words that could have been used by the disciples when Jesus told them that he was heading back to Heaven. Sure, they were distraught, discouraged, uncertain, afraid, but when the Holy Spirit filled them they were confident, certain, courageous and contagious. Those disciples were maligned but motivated, rejected but renewed, crushed but confident. They did not stop until every person God introduced them to saw, heard and experienced Jesus living in and them by the power of the Holy Spirit. It was not a matter of how but when. It was not a matter of why but who. They were on a mission and there passionate faith was contagious!

Are we certain it spread?

If you know Jesus today, then you are a product of their obedience and love for Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:2).

Everyone of you can find a person of peace, someone who may not be a believer in your neighborhood, and invite them to invite others to your home or their home for a discovery bible study. Oh, what is a Discovery Bible Study (a Discovery Group)? I’m glad you asked!

A Discovery Group is a group of 4 or 5 people coming together to see what the Bible says about God, about them and if lived out, what it could mean for their lives.

This is a simple approach to inductive bible study that you can do anywhere, anytime with a consistent group of people where you together learn what God says, learn more about who you are and are challenged to make adjustments to our lives according to what we read. In essence, we are inviting the Spirit of God to teach us the Word of God and transform us into the People of God for the Glory of God. People in a Discovery Group are believers and unbelievers. What a believer prays for is that an unbeliever might take God at His word and watch Him transform his life through obedience to the truth. For believers, you are learning to live out truth authentically by the power and direction of the Holy Spirit. It’s a Win Win situation.

If you want to know more about this approach to Bible study with others, click on this link.

Contagious Christianity is Contagious Disciple Making

Bible Studies You Can Do with Others…without having to know it all!

Inductive Bible Study is simply allowing the Spirit of God to take you verse by verse through the Scripture, and allowing His Spirit to open it up to you. Facilitating a study is NOT teaching the passage. Facilitating the study is opening the people to the Scriptures and then allowing the Spirit of God to show the people what God’s word literally says and then drawing off application. Everyone participates. Everyone is challenged to think it through and live it out.

Here’s how it would work in your home or wherever you would meet (then it would multiply to other groups forming as believers are raised up over time):

Worship. After greeting each other and having some chit chat, you begin with taking them into a time of worship. Here is how you could start: (1) What are you thankful for this week? (this leads to gratitude and our focus on God); (2) What are some challenges you face this week? (this leads to knowing how to pray for one another); (3) What do you need to to make the situation better? (this gives the group a practical way to pray or serve); (4) What are the needs you are seeing of the people in our community? (this leads to deeper prayer, compassion, service and opportunity to make disciples); (4) How can we help one another this week with the things we have mentioned? (this gets to the heart of true biblical community, fellowship and love for one another where life-on-life is lived out).
Application/Accountability. After week one (you’ll understand by the end), you talk about what they looked at last week and how they applied it. Ask: (1) What did we talk about last week? (accountability to impartation); (2) What changed in your life as a result of last week’s study and the point of obedience you discovered? (these come from their “I will…” statements, explained later); (3) How did it go when you shared the story/truth with someone else? (accountability for evangelism and replication); (4) We identified several needs last week and committed to meet them: How did it go? (accountability for commitments made to serve one another). This is a difference maker. This is where life is lived and change happens.
Study. Choose a Bible passage (below is a list of passages and topics you could work through over a year long period. Also, you can get a copy of Pastor Joey’s devotional passages looking at the life of Jesus. Call the church office for copies). (1) Share the context of the story or passage and then tell the story/passage from memory; (2) Then, Read the Story/Passage. (Read the passage yourself, ask someone you are discipling to read the passage or anyone in the group). (3) Ask for someone to retell the passage/story in their own words, as if he/she is telling it to a friend (useful for internalization and replication, evangelism); (4) Did he/she leave anything out? (5) Re-read the passage (correct any misleading or false comments by asking, “Where did you find this (what he said) in this passage? (6) Ask a series of discussion questions:

What does this passage teach us about God? (reference point for truth)
What does this passage teach us about humanity? (reality check of contrasting character and conduct)
If we believe this passage is from God, how must we change? (obedience, transformation)
Ask each person in the group to form their own personal response to this passage by starting with, “I will…”. Write them down on cards, paper, etc. They will use these the following week.

4. Practice. Now that you have studied a bible story or passage together, it’s time to really make a difference. It’s time to take it to the streets. (1) Ask - Who are you going to share this with this week? (evangelism and replication); (2) Say - We are not here to simply learn interesting facts about the Bible or even to be encouraged. Let’s practice what the Spirit of God showed us today. (3) Follow-through - Remind the group about their service commitments and “I will…” statements. (4) Pray and dismiss the group deciding when the group will meet again.

After this takes root, you will see God raise up more people who will want to do as you did with another group of people. This is bible study made easy and made to where you see life change. We often do not see life change because we are never held to how we might apply truth. Application of truth is where we GROW (Heb. 5:11-14).

Bible Reading Plan for Your Group

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