How to Help Others Discover God (Without Ever Preaching a Sermon)

Practical Urban Mission - Part 6
By S. Crawley

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

In this post, we will dig into discovery - a powerful approach that helps people discover God and start relating to Him.

Discovery is more than DBS

When we use the word "discovery" many people immediately think of the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) tool developed by David Watson.

Millions of people have found DBS profoundly helpful in listening to God, walking in a relationship with Him, and helping others do the same. However, cities are complex, people are diverse, and DBS will not serve everybody's needs all the time.

DBS is powerful, but it is not the main thing. People discovering God is the main thing, and there are a range of ways to do this depending on the needs and hunger of those we are interacting with.

How do we facilitate Discovery?

The short answer is, it depends!

Remember - God is already at work stirring hunger and drawing people to Himself. The question is, how can we serve Him and those around us in what He is doing? This is the listening piece.

As we "listen" we will get a sense of how open or hungry people are. It can help to think of a range of openness and spiritual hunger along a line like this:

At one end are people who have little or no openness or spiritual hunger. Or perhaps we just don't know how interested they are yet.

At the other end are people who are extremely open and/or spiritually hungry. There are different ways to facilitate discovery depending on where people are on the scale.

How we facilitate discovery will depend on a combination of how we sense God’s leading and what we are discerning about the people around us. As we ‘listen’ to God and people, we can pick up signals that will tell us what kind of discovery will best serve the needs of those around us.

Seven Ways to Facilitate Discovery

Here is a quick rundown of some different ways to facilitate discovery:

Informal Discovery

Facilitating discovery can be very natural and relational! Here are some ways I have found effective:

1) Transparent spirituality: Wear your relationship and interactions with God "on your sleeve". Live out your relationship with Him in a way that is not hidden and exposes others to Him in your day-to-day life.

The key here is our actual, living relationship with the Father - not our relationship with Christianity. Spiritually hungry people are hungry for God, not religion.

2) Pray for people: Take every opportunity to offer to pray for people or bless people. Many people do actually desire this and when we offer to do so, it reveals something about our spirituality and about our God. If they say, "No" we lose nothing, but they know that we are someone they can ask for prayer in future.

If they say, "Yes" they are opening themselves to an encounter with God. When we pray honestly and authentically, they get a glimpse of our relationship with the Father. Then we watch and see what God does. Anything is possible at this point.

3) Personal storytelling: We can share stories or experiences from our journey with God that are relevant to our friend or the conversation. Then listen again - have they had any experiences like that? What happened? What spiritual experiences have they had?

 In addition to exposing them to God's work in our lives, this can take our relationship into deeper places and give us a clearer sense of what God is stirring in their hearts.

4) Sharing Bible stories: We have all experienced God impacting our lives by speaking to us through the Bible. These stories can bless, encourage and challenge our friends, too. We can share it and ask, "What do you think about that story? What do you find interesting? How does it connect with your life and experience?"

Formal Discovery

Facilitating discovery in a more 'formal' or structured way (like DBS) only works if there is a certain amount of hunger or openness. What is important is that we are serving THEIR desires and goals rather than our own. Again, listening and being curious is the key here.

If the conditions are right, this is a powerful process that empowers people to start and grow in a lifelong relationship with God. For a detailed description of the DBS process, see this earlier post.

5) One-off discovery Bible study: Offer to take a look at the Bible together as a one-time experience. In fact, this does as much for our relationship with God as it does for theirs! I've learned so much from the insights God gives to friends who haven't been exposed to the Bible before but come with an open mind or a hungry heart. A great way for them to get exposed to God and His story.

6) DBS Topical Series: Explore a specific topic in the Bible using a short DBS series (for instance, 4-6 stories) focussed on a topic they are interested in or curious about. There are lots of story sets available on different topics like hope, relationships, family, money - the list is endless! Here's a list of sets that many people have found useful, but there's nothing to stop you building your own.

7) God's Story: A longer set which gives a more complete picture of God's story and character. Creation to Christ is a well-known version, but others have been developed that communicate better for different cultural groups.

The beauty of the DBS process is that we don't need to be directly involved. We can facilitate it with our friends, or we can support them in facilitating it with their friends and then discuss their experience with them afterwards.

Outcomes of Effective Discovery

I hope this quick list gives you some useful ideas.

Facilitating discovery in a flexible way:

• Reveals Us: Others see us as spiritual people who know God.

• Reveals God: People get a taste of who God is.

• Reveals Hunger: Shows us how open or hungry people are, so that we can serve them better.

Conclusion

This wraps up our series exploring practical urban evangelism.

We saw that the core of what we are called to do is to BE witnesses who listen, trust, and obey the loving Father King . Discipleship, evangelism and mission all flow out of this. Therefore, evangelism means being WITNESSES who share what we have seen and experienced and point to God.

We spent time digging into the importance of listening to God and to people - being curious and attentive . Discerning the ways He is already working so we can better serve Him and those around us in the situations He places us.

Finally, we explored discovery and how to facilitate it - helping others who are hungry and motivated to discover God.

What have you learned? What would you add? I'd love to hear and learn from you.

For Reflection

1. A Scripture - Acts 17:22-28  

What does this passage tell us about facilitating discovery in urban contexts? How does Paul connect with the audience where they are and what God is already doing?

2. A thoughtful question

Think about the people in your life who seem spiritually curious or hungry. What aspects of God might they be already seeking, even if they don't recognize it as such? How might you help them discover Him through those very points of interest?

3. A possible application

This week, try practicing "transparent spirituality" in one of your regular relationships or settings. This could mean:

- Naturally mentioning how you experienced God's guidance in a decision

- Sharing how Scripture spoke to you about a situation they can relate to

- Offering to pray for someone when they share a challenge

Discipling the Urban Harvest provides practical insights and encouragement to walk with God in multiplying discipleship in an increasingly urban world - growing as children of the Father, serving the communities He has called us to, and discipling those hungry to know Him.