My wife and I launched a new Bible study group at our church last week. Almost a dozen adults gathered for the first meeting of this fledgling group! We’re off to a good start.

I’ve chosen to use the new Daily Discipleship Guide from the Bible Studies for Life series produced by LifeWay (total transparency: I have the privilege of managing the people who do the heavy lifting and create/edit this excellent study resource). Why choose the Daily Discipleship guide? Here are 5 reasons I’m using the new DDG (Daily Discipleship Guide) in my group:

1. It is discussion-centered. I love the 5 great discussion questions that are a part of this series. Every study begins with a tremendous “icebreaker” question – one that gets the group talking, and one that you cannot answer wrong (which encourages everyone to speak up more during the study and take a chance on answering the other questions I ask). Plus, I don’t want the Bible study to be about me and what I say or do – I want the Bible study to be about what the people do.
2. It engages the group members during the Bible study. The DDG (Daily Discipleship Guide) has engaging photo images, in-group activities, and fill-in-the-blanks that engage logical, visual, physical, and relational learners.
3. It provides 5 daily studies that tie to the group’s study. This is my favorite new feature! One I lead the group’s Bible study, the study isn’t quite done. Following the group Bible study are several pages that have daily Bible studies – deeper dives into the very Scriptural text we studied together as a group. Our group study now aligns with my “God and me” time during the week, which makes a lot of sense to me.
4. The six-session studies are compelling and engaging. I don’t have to dream up each week’s Bible study – it’s prepared for me and relates to a larger six-session study. The topics hit adults where they live and engage them in deeper Bible study.
5. The teaching plan is a part of the DDG – I no longer need a separate leader guide with all of the teaching procedures in it – that is now built into the back of each Daily Discipleship Guide. I already know a few people in the group that I’m going to ask to follow me in the teaching procedures section – I want them to see that they could follow the simple teaching plan to teach a group of their own! I don’t want them thinking “I could never teach like Ken.” Instead, I want them to say, “Since I have the same teaching plan Ken does, I could do this!”

There are more reasons why I think this is a great choice for groups – perhaps I’ll revisit this in a future post. For now, I’m proud to place this excellent resource in the hands of every group member and guest. If you want to take a look at the Daily Discipleship Guide, click here.

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