A couple of years ago we had to face reality. We had a group of guys meeting for our discipleship group but no one had made a disciple.
We figured out pretty quickly that our d-group had drifted from what we set out to do. We said the purpose of the group was to make disciples but we weren’t accomplishing that the way we wanted.
We called it a d-group, but it had turned into a Bible study.
Maybe you’re hosting d-groups on your campus. If your guys or girls are struggling to make disciples it might be time to dissect how your groups are structured. It could be that your schedule is contributing to the lack of fruit.
Our Schedule
We typically met for two hours. Here is what it looked like:
- 7:00 – 7:15 – show up and hang out
- 7:15 – 7:25 – share highlights from the word
- 7:25 – 7:55 – discuss Inductive Bible study
- 7:55 – 8:10 – discuss discipleship book
- 8:10 – 8:15 – break
- 8:15 – 8:25 – personal accountability
- 8:25 – 8:45 – ministry planning
- 8:45 – 9:00 – prayer
Where it went wrong…
What ended up happening most weeks is our Bible study discussion would go long. Guys were curious and had questions. It was great. The discussion was fun but wasn’t adding much to their life change.
When discussion went long it bled into our personal and ministry time. We usually split up into smaller groups of 2-3 for that time. I hated to skip giving guys a chance to talk and confess. But oftentimes guys had significant things they needed to talk about and that time would run long. I’d look down at my watch and realize we had 15-20 minutes left and we hadn’t talked about ministry yet.
We’d pull out our ministry planning sheets to talk about who we were meeting with and sharing the gospel with. After 10 minutes of updating each other, it left the last couple of minutes to make an application for the week and say a quick prayer.
All this is why our d-group wasn’t a d-group anymore and had become a regular Bible study.
Some people might push back and talk about how important discussing the Scriptures are or how crucial good accountability is. I would agree. Those are crucial to a d-group and have their place. But you have to remember the purpose of the group. This isn’t a Bible study. And it isn’t a counseling session. This is about making disciples.
Remodel D-groups to Prioritize Making Disciples
We decided to “remodel” our d-groups. For one, we changed the name to reflect what we were after. We started calling them Disciple-Making Groups (DMGs) instead of discipleship groups. It seems simple but we wanted to re-iterate the purpose was not our personal growth in the Word, the purpose was to make disciples and multiply.
The other change we made was flipping the schedule around. We wanted to emphasize ministry and outreach as our priority and ensure we had the proper time to discuss and troubleshoot that. If it bled long, I didn’t care. We had plenty of time to talk about what God was teaching us in the Word later. But these minutes planning and praying for our ministry were crucial.
Here is what the new schedule looked like:
- 7:00 – 7:15 – show up and hang out
- 7:15 – 7:25 – share highlights from the Word
- 7:25 – 7:45 – Ministry planning
- 7:45 – 8:00 – Ministry highlights, celebrate
- 8:00 – 8:05 – break
- 8:05 – 8:20 – personal accountability
- 8:20 – 8:30 – discuss inductive
- 8:30 – 8:40 – discuss discipleship book
- 8:40 – 9:00 – prayer for each other’s ministries
Shifting ministry planning to the beginning made a ton of difference. Sometimes ministry discussion and planning went long. When that happened, it bled into the Bible study discussion, but I didn’t care. The guys had benefited a ton from studying the Bible and reading the book that week. The discussion was a bonus. A lot of times we had an even BETTER discussion on the Scriptures because it was so focused. We didn’t get lost on tangents.
More importantly, guys left with very clear ministry action steps. They had a plan for the week. We always prayed more than we had with the other schedule. The results in their personal ministries were obvious.
Put it into Practice:
What do your discipleship groups look like? Are they accomplishing their objective?
Maybe it’s time to “remodel” them to make them more effective. Will you emphasize disciple-making? Evaluate your schedule to see if you’re giving enough time to ministry planning. Remember, the purpose of these groups is to make disciples!
