Start a New Group Using the Daily Discipleship Guide 

The Daily Discipleship Guide was developed in part to prepare people to start a new group. That is one reason the group plans are in the back of the Explore the Bible Adult Daily Discipleship Guide. We are not providing the potential new teacher a different book; we’re just encouraging an apprentice to use the book he or she already has in a different way 

Starting new groups is critical to the life of our churches and the lives of the individuals in our groups. There are people in our groups who need to be challenged to take on a greater role. Providing the opportunity to do so helps them grow and removes the largest barrier to starting new Bible study groups—finding a leader for a new group. We can make a difference in the growth of individual group members and in the future of our churches by apprenticing potential group leaders. Here’s how a teacher or leader can use the Daily Discipleship Guide to make this happen. 

• Step 1: Ask a group member to follow along in the Leader Helps during the group time. They should note what was done and what was adjusted. This person should be asked before arriving for the weekly group time. 

• Step 2: After that group experience, spend time with the enlisted group member going over what was done and how the plans were adjusted. This is an opportunity to help them see how they can do the same thing.  

• Step 3: Invite him or her to do this again in a few weeks. 

• Step 4: Ask him or her to lead a group time or part of one using the suggestions in the Leader Helps for that session. You may be away that week, or you can simply observe as a group member. Offer to help him or her prepare if needed. 

• Step 5: As your apprentice gains confidence, allow him or her to teach more in the near future. 

• Step 6: As a need for a new group surfaces, prepare to move on to lead the new group, with the apprentice becoming the leader of the current group (which tends to work best), or commission the apprentice and a few others from the group to start a new group. Either way, the apprentice will be using the book he or she already uses, just in a different way. 

• Step 7: Do it all again. Not everyone in the group will become a Bible study leader. For those who do, you can become a mentor to potential leaders, extending your teaching ministry and demonstrating discipleship. 

Learn more about the Daily Discipleship Guide and view a sample. 

View the how to videos for the Daily Discipleship Guide: For the Group and For the Teacher.