Discovery Bible Study
Lead Like Jesus: Discovering Leadership in Matthew
Contents
- How a Discovery Bible Study works
- How to use this plan
- 1Leaders call others to follow Matthew 4:18-25
- 2The attitudes God blesses Matthew 5:1-16
- 3Leaders serve God, not money Matthew 6:19-34
- 4Hearing and doing Matthew 7:21-29
- 5Leaders welcome outcasts and sinners Matthew 9:9-13
- 6Compassion sees the harvest Matthew 9:35-38
- 7Leaders send others out Matthew 10:1-15
- 8Prepared for opposition Matthew 10:16-31
- 9The cost of leading Matthew 16:13-28
- 10Dealing with sin, and forgiving Matthew 18:15-35
- 11Greatness is serving Matthew 20:20-28
- 12Teach others to obey everything Matthew 28:16-20
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
Who this is for
- Run this with your leaders — or your most faithful people. Twelve passages from Matthew for an established group that already has the DBS habits, especially those who lead others or soon will.
- Discovery, not a leadership course. The group discovers what Jesus expects of leaders straight from the text. Don’t lecture it — what you tell them they’ll forget; what they discover they’ll own.
How to use it
- The same DBS discipline as every plan. Read the passage, retell it in your own words, work the four questions (what does this show us about God? about people? what will I obey this week? who will I tell?), and end with an honest commitment and one person you’ll tell.
- Facilitate, don’t teach. You’re leading a study about leadership — the strongest thing you can model is leading by asking. Keep asking, “Where do you see that in the passage?” Don’t chew their food for them.
- Press the commitment toward how they lead. Whom they will serve, send, correct, and forgive this week — not private devotion only.