Discovery Bible Study
12 Women, One God
Contents
- How a Discovery Bible Study works
- How to use this plan
Studies 1–4
- 1Seen by the God who sees Genesis 16:1-13
- 2She chose to stay Ruth 1:1-18
- 3She prayed until she had no words left 1 Samuel 1:9-20
- 4The woman who stopped a massacre 1 Samuel 25:14-35
Studies 5–8
- 5“If I perish, I perish” Esther 4:1-17
- 6“Let it be to me according to your word” Luke 1:26-38
- 7Twelve years bleeding, one touch Mark 5:25-34
- 8The woman at the well John 4:7-26
Studies 9–12
- 9Only one thing is needed Luke 10:38-42
- 10She gave everything she had Mark 12:41-44
- 11She washed his feet with her tears Luke 7:36-50
- 12The first to see him alive John 20:1-18
How a Discovery Bible Study works
This page is for whoever leads the study. Everyone else only needs the passage.
A Discovery Bible Study has no teacher. The person leading only asks the questions; the Bible does the teaching. That is what makes it simple enough for anyone to lead — no title, no training, no materials, no money.
Eat, digest, grow
- Eat the WordRead the passage aloud, read it again, then close the Bible and have someone retell it in their own words. Reading is the bite, re-reading the chewing, the retelling the swallow. If the group can't retell it, read it once more before going on.
- DigestWork through the four questions. This is where the passage turns into faith and obedience — answered from what the text actually says, not from what someone already knew.
- GrowGrowth is God's part, not yours. One plants, another waters, but God gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6–7). Do the cycle faithfully and leave the growing to Him.
The four questions
Answer from what the passage actually says — stay in the text.
- What does this passage show me about God?
- What does it show me about people — and about myself?
- What will I obey this week? (a concrete step, with a day)
- Who will I tell?
The shape of a meeting
- Look backWhat are you thankful for? What is hard right now? How did you obey what we found last time, and who did you tell? Pray briefly for each other.
- Look upRead, re-read, retell — then the four questions.
- Look forwardEach person says out loud one concrete commitment — a sentence that starts “I will…” — and names one person they will tell. Next time, the group asks about both. Asking is what turns a discussion into obedience.
The one rule: don't teach
The moment you start explaining, the group stops discovering. If someone says something that is not in the passage, do not correct them — ask, kindly, “Where do you see that in this passage?” and let them look. The text and the group sort it out. This is the rule that lets someone who has been in two studies lead the third.
Four to fifteen people. About an hour, once a week. Nothing else required.
How to use this plan
How to do one
- Pick the day. An actual day, on your calendar. Not “sometime.”
- Read the story out loud. Twice. Out loud matters more than you’d think.
- Close your Bible and tell the story back in your own words — say it out loud or write it down. If it comes out thin, you haven’t got it yet. Read it again and tell it again. This is the test, and it’s the step everybody skips. Don’t go to the questions until you can carry the story.
- Ask the four questions — they’re listed just below. Sit in the quiet. Don’t rush to the “right” answer — there isn’t one waiting for you.
- Write your commitment — the one specific thing you’ll do this week.
- Then pray — the prayer under the passage, or your own. Save it for the end. It’s a response to what you found, not a hint about what you’re supposed to find.
- Next time you open this, start by asking yourself: did I actually do it? Who did I tell?
The four questions
- What does this teach me about God?
- What does it teach me about people — and about me?
- What am I going to obey this week? (a command to obey, an example to follow, or a promise to trust)
- Who am I going to tell?
Same four every time. They work on every passage in this list and every passage outside it.
Under each study you’ll find those four printed again, each one paired with another way to ask it. The alternate is optional — it’s the same question wearing the clothes of that particular story. Use it if the standard wording has gone stale on you, or if you’re reading with somebody who needs a different way in. Use the standard four every time and you’ve lost nothing.
About that commitment
Put a specific person in it and a specific day on it. An idea with no specific person and no specific day produces nothing.
✗ “I’ll try to be more patient.” ✓ “Thursday I’m going to my sister to ask her to forgive me.”
If you’re doing this with friends
Read it out loud, twice. Retell it together. Everybody answers. Nobody teaches — the second someone starts explaining it, everyone else stops discovering. If somebody says something that isn’t in the story, anybody in the circle can ask, kindly: “Where do you see that in this passage?” You’re not the teacher. The Bible and God’s Spirit are.
How far you go is up to you
| Passages | |
|---|---|
| One study | #1 — start here, always |
| A month | #1–4 |
| A season | #1–8 |
| All of it | #1–12 |
Whatever you start, finish.
A few honest notes
- #1 is a mess on purpose. Hagar is a slave in the middle of somebody else’s bad decision. Nobody in that story comes out clean except God — watch what He does.
- #5 never names God. That’s not a mistake in your Bible. Ask where He is anyway.
- #7 is about a woman’s body — twelve years of bleeding that made her “unclean” to everyone around her. Don’t read it at arm’s length. Read it like it’s about somebody you know.
- #9 will sting if you’re the responsible one. Let it.
- #12 ends with “go and tell” on purpose. The last word of this plan is a woman being sent. Question 4 was never optional.
- Question 2 is the one to slow down on — “and about me.” That’s where this stops being a story about somebody else.
- When you miss a week, no shame. Ask yourself what got in the way, and pick the next day.