How to Do a Discovery Bible Study: Learning Directly From God

October 21st, 2026
by Kurt Olson

This is Part 10 of an 18-part series drawn from Kurt Olson's book, The Endgame of God. New posts publish every Wednesday at GoMultiply.org/blog.

SERIES NOTE: Our blog “Where Discovery Bible Study Came From” tells the origin of this tool. This post is the how-to companion — so if you want the story behind it, read that one first, then come back and learn the method itself.

Simple Enough for Anyone. Deep Enough for Anyone.

The Discovery Bible Study, or DBS, is the primary tool God is using to launch multiplying movements of disciples all over the world. Simple enough for someone who cannot read and deep enough for a seminary professor, its power lies in how simple and reproducible it is. And underneath that simplicity is a beautiful conviction: that ordinary people can learn directly from God through His Word and His Spirit, without depending on an expert to tell them what to think or what it means.

Why It Actually Works

Most of us were consciously or subconsciously taught that we cannot really understand the Bible without a professional explaining it to us. That is simply not what Scripture says. Jesus said, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught by God and everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to Me’” (John 6:45). He promised that the Holy Spirit “will teach you everything” (John 14:26), and John writes that we do not need human teachers because the anointing (Holy Spirit) we have received “teaches you everything you need to know” (1 John 2:27). Paul told Timothy, “the Lord will help you understand all these things” (2 Timothy 2:7). In other words, “learn from Jesus.”

The Discovery Bible Study is built to get the human teachers out of the way to let that happen. It trains people to encounter God in a passage, learn from Him for themselves, and — most importantly — obey and share what they discover. And James tells us who receives the blessing: not on the one who merely hears the Word, but on the one who looks “carefully into the perfect law that sets you free... and does what it says... God will bless you for doing it” (James 1:25). Discovery plus obedience is the essential combination. Want to be blessed by God? Do what He says.

The Personal Discovery Study: Three Columns

You can do this today, by yourself, with any passage of Scripture. Take a sheet of paper and draw three columns. In the first column, copy the passage word for word — this slows you down and plants the words in you and helps you memorize them. In the second column, rewrite the passage in your own words, as if explaining it to a friend. In the third column, answer two questions: How will I obey or apply this in my life? And who will I tell and when will I tell them?

That third column is where growing as a disciple actually happens. Knowing and understanding are good, but they were never the goal. The goal is a life that obeys and a mouth that shares. Do this often and you will find yourself growing faster than decades of passive listening could ever produce.

The Group Discovery Study

The group DBS is just as simple, and it is built to reproduce. A handful of people gather — in a home, a break room, a market, under a tree — and work through a passage together.

Here is the basic process:

Begin by sharing what’s going on in each other’s lives: what are you thankful for today? What is concerning you today and how can we help? This simple check-in builds real community and keeps care flowing. Then look at the last passage you studied together and ask the accountability questions: How did you obey what we discovered last time we met? Who did you share it with? And how did it go?

Then read this week’s passage aloud, at least twice (different versions are good). Then have someone retell the passage in their own words with the group filling in any missing details. From there, a few questions let God do the teaching: What stood out to you from this passage and why? What does this passage teach us about God? What does it teach us about people? How will you obey it this week? And who will you tell and when will you tell them?

Two final questions: Who do you know in need and how can we help them? And, when and where will we meet again? By meeting needs outside the group, we can create a curiosity in people which can lead to more people following Jesus and more DBS churches starting. Also, our enemy the devil does not want people to study the Bible in this way, so he will do whatever he can to keep the groups from continuing. And, many times the group doesn’t meet in the same place each week so it is important to establish the next meeting before you finish the one you are having.

Two Rules That Keep the Group Healthy

Two simple rules keep the group healthy. First, only discuss today’s passage — not other verses, not outside books, not the group’s stories or opinions. This rule creates a level playing field for the discussion, respects everyone’s time, and keeps God in the position of the teacher. Second, if someone brings in outside teaching or outside passages, gently ask, “Where do you see that in this passage?” These two rules keep the group leaning on God’s word and relying on the Holy Spirit rather than the most knowledgeable person in the room. They also keep false doctrine and heresy out of the little churches.

Why It Multiplies

Discovery Bible Studies tend to multiply because they need no building, no seminary, no professional, and no special materials — anyone can start a Discovery Bible Study and anyone can facilitate one. People report that the experience is so much richer than any they have ever had at a Sunday service. That is exactly why it multiplies. While our more complicated, less meaningful methods usually stagnate. I have seen a group of women who couldn’t even read start fourteen churches, using memorized Bible stories and this simple discovery process. When the tool is that simple and reproducible, the Word of God begins to move from person to person and household to household along relational lines. There is no bottleneck to hamper the growth and expansion.

That is the genius of it. The Discovery Bible Study does not make people dependent on any one person. It makes them dependent on God — and then it sends them out to help others connect with God as well.

What passage are you studying right now? Before you finish this blog, pick a few meaningful verses and try the three-column discovery method: copy it, restate it, and write down exactly how you’ll obey it, who you’ll tell — and when.