Discipleship Groups
Why discipleship groups?
The Discipleship Group environment encourages us to engage with God’s Word and His people in a way that most of us never have before. As His Spirit works in our lives, it creates a passion to help others experience the same thing.
Start your discipleship group strong.
The Discipleship Starter Guide is an interactive four-week guide that group members walk through together to get their group started. This guide helps the group get to know one another, set expectations, introduce weekly disciplines, and establish group commitments.
Download the Discipleship Group Starter Guide FREE PDF!
Frequently Asked Questions
A discipleship group, or D-Group is a gender-specific, closed group of 3-5 believers that meet weekly for a season of accelerated spiritual transformation.
Discipleship Group members commit to weekly disciplines and weekly meetings. Discipleship Group members focus on how God will grow them in five different areas during the upcoming season (MARCS of a disciple).
Small groups can contain both sexes, be oriented around lifestyle, hobbies, or age. For example: "Men's Ministry, Young Marrieds, or Bowling for Jesus".
If you want to have a thriving culture where believers become fully-formed followers of Christ, consider implementing both small groups and discipleship groups. Learn why you need both of them.
Blog Post - Small Group vs Discipleship Group: Why You Need Both
We made a whole guide just to answer this question! Be sure to scroll to the top of this page and download the "Discipleship Group Starter Guide". It is an interactive four-week guide that you and your group members will walk through together. It helps the group get to know each other and set expectations. It also introduces weekly disciplines, outlines commitments, and provides tips on how to lead a successful D-Group.
Since D-Groups are discipline based, rather than curriculum based, the focus is on engaging with and discussing the Bible. We encourage D-Groups to follow a Bible reading plan (One of ours, or any other!), and follow the starter guide's rhythms.
A critical component of D-Groups, the HEAR journaling method promotes reading the Bible with a life-transforming purpose. No longer will your focus be on checking off the boxes on your daily reading schedule; your purpose will instead be to read in order to understand and respond to God’s Word.
The acronym HEAR in HEAR Journal stands for Highlight, Explain, Apply, and Respond. Each of these four steps contributes to creating an atmosphere to hear God speak. After settling on a reading plan and establishing a time for studying God’s Word, you will be ready to HEAR from God.
Check out our D-Group Resources page here!
Need some help?
D-Group Launch is for you!
D-Group Launch is an innovative, collaborative journey that can include both in-person & virtual sessions. Through this process, our Replicate Navigators will guide you and your team to launch and sustain your Discipleship Group ministry. Additionally, you will get to learn from other churches who are going through the same process.
D-Group Videos
The following videos will help you lead your discipleship group with confidence and maximize your time with the men and women you are investing in.
How to START Your Discipleship Group and Start strong by using the Discipleship Group Starter Guide Weekly Videos.
Conference Kits
The Conference Kits are a turn-key system to provide you with everything you need to host excellent training events for launching and multiplying D-Groups.
Supplemental Resources
Check out the blog and podcasts for more great resources.