Leader of Self to Leader of Followers

Help your disciples reach their potential to make disciples

Lead your disciples through this content so that they can understand what it takes to make disciples themselves

Multiplying Disciple D-Group Curriculum Sessions

In the drop-down section below, you will find the curriculum and meeting flow for each D-Group session for Multiplying Disciple Part 1: Leader of Self to Leader of Followers. The purpose of this curriculum is to help your disciples practice what it would look like to take their faith and use it to pour into others.

Session 0: Guidelines and Testimonies

Today’s Session

In this first session, you’ll spend time getting to know each other. Here’s an outline of what to expect:

Review the Discipleship Group purpose and guidelines below.
Read, discuss and agree to the Discipleship Group Commitment Form.
Share your faith story.
Pray for one another.
Plan your next meeting.

Purpose

The purpose of the Discipleship Group is simple: to learn what it means to grow in deeper obedience to Jesus so that we could more effectively inhale the Gospel, exhale the Gospel, and make disciples who do the same.

With that being said, let me tell you what it isn’t. This is not simply another Bible study or prayer group. In this group, you will study the Bible, you will pray, and you will have accountability, but God’s vision for this experience is much greater than any individual component. His goal is nothing other than the production of missionary leaders that have a radical love of God and an incomprehensible love for those He has placed around them. A love like that will change the face of the planet. So, how in the world can these gatherings accomplish that? One word… togetherness. 

“Just as iron sharpens iron, so does one person sharpen another” (Proverbs 27:17). Transformation will come from our time in the word, and our intentional togetherness by which my roughness can sharpen your roughness through holy friction. This experience is intended to provide that kind of friction-producing intimacy. This model isn’t new. The author of it was none other than the Son of God. 

When Jesus wanted to convert a band of backwoods Jews into world-changers he simply did life together with them. They had assignments (go to this or that village, share with them, and come back), they had teaching moments (usually out in the fields looking at nature), they had confrontation (“Get behind me, Satan!”), and they had life-change. This experience is no different. You will have assignments, teaching moments (as we learn from each other) and maybe even some confrontation, but ultimately, our hope is that as you grow in His word, you will learn to live like Jesus did. That kind of lifestyle will change the world. 

But being in a Discipleship Group is not the end of the story. Just as Jesus gave the twelve with an assignment to make disciples as He left them, you too will be sent to continue the process of disciple-making. This is a part of exhaling the gospel. As you take this journey of understanding God’s word and learning to love like Jesus did, our hope is that your desire to change the world will overwhelm you to the point where you have no choice but to exhale the gospel and make disciples who do the same.

General Guidelines

The four major values in the DGs are authenticity, pliability, confidentiality, and dedication. Each person is asked to make a commitment to live by these values during the DG experience.

Every person must choose authenticity over comfort. The more real you are, the more you give God space to deal with areas of growth in your life.
Every person must choose pliability above self-confidence. The more you approach this thinking you have the answers, the less you will see your need to change (and consequently, the less you will!). Our goal is to be mutually pliable during this process giving God space to let us shape each other.
Confidentiality – what is said during the meeting stays in the meeting. If you are married, this includes speaking with your spouse about things that are discussed. If this guideline is breached, authenticity suffers.
Dedication – due to the intensity of the experience, each person must dedicate themselves to do 4 things: pray for each other, do all the assigned readings, prepare for each meeting by answering all questions in advance, and make attendance to the meetings a priority.

Discipleship Group Meeting Flow

Almost every discipleship group curriculum that Fielder offers follows the same formula and contains the same components. This ensures that no matter what you are learning, it is being taught in a familiar and uniform way. The components of a Discipleship Group will often include:

Prayer (10 minutes) – A time to spend time with the Father together, offer up prayer requests, and to pray for the non-believers in your lives.

Accountability (15 minutes) – Hold each other accountable to your Bible reading goals, regular prayer times, confession and repentance of sin, and action steps based off of the last D-Group session.

Intentional Learning (65 minutes) – This will include:

Overview (5 minutes) – Recap of the curriculum that was assigned to the group
Discussion (20 minutes) – Questions that are geared towards diving deeper into what God is revealing to you through the curriculum. Use this time answer how you are understanding what God is trying to say to you through the curriculum. Don’t try to give the “right” answer, give your answer to the questions.
Model (10 minutes) – A space for the leader to show their disciples how they personally live out whatever was learned in the curriculum that was assigned. If you are the shepherd of this Discipleship Group, you are the disciple-maker. Lead the way towards obedience to Christ and let the others “be imitators of you as you are imitating Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 1:11
Practice (15 minutes) – An opportunity to put what you have learned into action in a safe environment. Whether it’s role-playing a scenario that you might encounter in the world around you, participating in an activity together, or praying that God would move, this is vitally important for getting what you learned from your head down to your heart.
Action Steps (15 minutes) – Every D-Group member will share what they will do before the next D-Group meeting to build on what they learned in the curriculum and what they confessed and repented of during accountability

Intentional Learning Guidelines

Intentional learning is an essential part of D-Groups at Fielder. Much of this learning takes the form of reading the Bible, helpful books, articles, and blogs, and watching helpful videos, sermons, and podcasts. Here are a few tips that we have found to be helpful: 

Take notes while you read/watch. Underline important thoughts, put a star or some indication next to new, important ideas, and write frequently in the margins as your thoughts come.
Pick out the 5 most influential thoughts or concepts (Top 5) from your assigned curriculum and record them in your journal.
Carve out 10 minutes every day in your schedule that will allow you to spend time reading/listening and journaling your takeaways.
To assist you in reading the assigned scripture passages, we provide a guide called The Gospel Method to help you grow in your love and understanding of God through reading and studying the Bible. This guide can be found in the resources section of this app. Take time during your first session to go over the method as a group and pray that it gives you guidance on how to hear God’s voice more clearly as you read scripture.

Bible Reading Plan

Since the purpose of being in a D-Group is to grow in more obedience and likeness to Christ, then spending time with Him through the Word is essential to your growth. We encourage you to start a Bible reading plan with your group so that you can hold each other accountable to spending time with Jesus through scripture and help one another understand the commands and promises that God is speaking over you. You can find Bible reading plans on the Fielder Website by clicking here!

Group Prayer and Accountability

Prayer and accountability are essential components to Discipleship groups. The prayer and accountability time allotted in your meetings is not just there so you can share. It’s not just there as a checklist to make sure you are doing the right things. It’s there to help you sharpen each other and grow in every area of life as you Inhale and Exhale the gospel!

For each session, you will select two questions that reflect areas of victory in your life and two questions that reflect areas of struggle and discuss them with the group. Please spend time prior to the meeting determining these areas so that you will be prepared to share.
Facilitators have the option to help push the rest of the group deeper in accountability. If there are more areas that need to be discussed, feel free to move beyond the questions selected by the group member. Additionally, each session you will discuss the Prayer for Unbelievers and Hospitality accountability questions.

We recommend spending the first four sessions sharing as a group and then each session after that pairing up to go deeper in accountability. We also recommend having measurable changes to challenge each other in accountability. This can be either your One Thing or an addition to it (see One Thing).

Prayer for Non-believers and Hospitality

Each week you will be asked to pray for at least 3 non-believers by name. Get to know people at your work place, neighborhood, and friends- find people that you have regular, face-to-face contact with. It may start with the “lady behind the counter at Starbucks” and then once you get to know their name and begin to interact with them on a regular basis, you can write that down to pray for them.
As you are praying, you will also be asked to have regular hospitality encounters with those in your community at least once a month. The first month will be someone that is a good friend that can be a Christ follower. The next month needs to be someone that you are developing a relationship with to be able to share your faith story about Christ. You can start to accomplish this by inviting a person to your local hangout spot (coffee shop, favorite restaurant, etc.). The ultimate goal will be inviting them into your home.

One Thing

As a result of your reading or accountability, list one thing that you want to do or change in your life. 
During each session, you will share with your group and record your one thing  in your journal. Your one thing should be specific and measurable. The members of the group should be able to ask if you accomplished your one thing and you should be able to answer with a yes or no. As an example, it is vague to say “I want to deepen my relationship with Jesus”. A more specific one thing would be “I want to spend 10 minutes in prayer each day between now and our next meeting talking with Jesus”. You should also record the “one things” that your group members share. 
Pray that God will give you and them the strength to accomplish your one things.

Facilitate Leadership

After the first few sessions, you should begin to rotate the facilitator of each session to give each person in the group a chance to lead. Each of you will be asked to eventually lead a Discipleship Group once you have gone through the Discipleship Cycle.
Once you go through the Discipleship Cycle, or when the shepherd of the group recommends, you should begin to lead 3 new people through a D-Group of your own.

Discipleship Cycle Assessment

As a part of the spiritual journey you are going on in Discipleship Groups, our hope is that you will begin to see measurable changes in your life as you learn to live like Jesus did. This growth should affect you personally as well as relationally through your family, church and community. To help examine yourself, and see how God will move in your life, we have provided a Discipleship Cycle Assessment so that you may take it at the beginning and end of this Discipleship Group to determine how you have grown. 
You are not required to share these answers with anyone, so please be as honest as you can while answering these questions, and hopefully, you will see true life-change as a result of your time together in a Discipleship Group. Tap here to open the assessment.

Session 0

You may find that your first few meetings vary as your group gets into a rhythm and learns how to best maximize your time together. Session 0 should be structured to incorporate: 

10 minutes to discuss the Purpose of the DG
15 minutes to discuss the Guidelines of the DG
15 minutes to discuss the DG Covenant
60 minutes for sharing your faith story.
- During the faith story session, make sure to set a timer and spend 10 minutes sharing your stories and then 5 minutes praying for each person after they share, as well as a 5 minute closing prayer.

This brings your first session to a total of 105 minutes. 
You will likely find that your second session, goes a little long as well. However, on average, your regular meetings will likely run around 75-90 minutes. 

*The first few sessions may take longer than anticipated as you are getting to know your group. Please be aware and plan accordingly!

Commitment Form

Click here to download and print the Discipleship Group Commitment Form. By signing this, you are ensuring that everybody in the group is bought in to the vision and purpose of this Discipleship Group. This helps you trust one another as you confess and repent of sin, share prayer requests, and challenge each other to walk in Christlikeness.

Faith Stories

Share Your Faith Story

Take turns sharing your faith story. 

Tell about what life was like before Jesus was Lord of your life. (even if you grew up in a Christian home, there should be a moment where Jesus became the one sitting on the throne of your life. Describe what that “before time” was like!)
Tell how you were introduced to Jesus Christ and the events surrounding your acceptance of Him as your personal Savior and Lord.
Tell how you have grown spiritually since your conversion.

Prayer

Everyone share one area that you are asking for God to move in your life. 
After each person shares, the group should pray for them.

Engage a Missional Focus

Connect

How has your week been?
How can we pray for you?

Accountability

From your personal time with the Lord…

What is God saying to you?
- Through scripture
- Through your time in prayer
- Through your time with your family/in community
What are you going to do about it?
How can we help?
What is God asking you to confess and repent of? How can the others in the group hold you accountable to this?

From the preparation for this session…

What are you most hoping that God does in you and through you during your time in this group?
Out of all the sessions in this group, which do you think will be the most helpful for you?
Do you already have people in mind that you would like to disciple at some point?

Intentional Learning

Main Idea

Before you step into leading those that God has called you to, you first have to find them. Engaging a missional focus will help you understand who God is calling you to and how to reach them.

Learning Materials

Discussion

What stood out about the chapter that you read and the video that you watched?
Is there anything that doesn’t make sense after going through the learning materials?
How have you seen the concept of Tribes play out in your real life?
How can you use what you’ve learned from the reading this chapter on Tribes to reach those around you?
What are examples of people of peace that exist in the Bible?
What are examples of people of peace in your own personal past?
How do you see identifying people of peace affecting the way that you personally do ministry?

Practice

Write out the different “tribes” that you can think of in your life. Think through the tribes in your work/school, your neighborhood, your city, etc. Create a masterlist and share it with your group.
Make a list of people of peace in your missional focus based on the criteria in Jo Saxton’s teachings.
Share with your group a little bit about the people of peace that you identified. What makes them people of peace?

Plan

Continue to build upon your masterlist throughout the week. Use the chapter that you have read to think through different tribes and their values. Be prepared to share with your group in your next meeting.
Make a plan to meet with one of the people of peace in the missional focus that you are reaching. Take some time to connect with them, get to know them, and make plans to get connected to the people that they are connected to.

Guided Prayer

Pray for…
- The different tribes that your group members have identified in their lives.
  - That God would give each of you wisdom in how to reach the tribes that each person has identified
  - God would give you favor with the tribes that you feel called to.
  - That God would reveal more tribes to you that He could be calling you to
- The people of peace that each person has identified
  - Wisdom to discern if they are actually people of peace
  - Courage to have spiritual conversations with their people of peace
  - Opportunities for their people of peace to connect them with others who need to hear the Gospel

Conclude

Building Friendships from Scratch

Opening Prayer (10 Minutes)

Ask for prayer requests and pray for each member, while also praying for your time together.

Accountability (20 Minutes)

Confess and repent of sin, update the group on previous action steps you have committed to, and pray the truth of forgiveness over one another. Use the accountability questions found on the D-Group Bookmark!

Intentional Learning (45 Minutes)

Review the content for the session, discuss what each member learned, leaders model for the group how they live out their faith, and group members take time to practice for themselves:

Review and Discuss:

Main Idea

A key part of leading others will be to start friendships with them! It may seem intuitive but there are helpful principles to think through as we seek to form relationships with those that we will eventually disciple. Some skills that we will seek to hone are how to navigate a conversation, how to create touchpoints with those that you are reaching, and how you can leverage hospitality to reach the lost and make disciples.

Learning Materials

Discussion

Re-teach me what you have learned
What is something that stood out to you in each piece of content that you went through about building friendships?
Regarding the articles about communication skills and conversations, what are your strong points and weak points when having conversations with new people?
What stood out to you the most about the KU study on friendship?
Do you think that you are good at creating touchpoints with people, or is that something that you struggle with?
Were there any “ah-ha moments” when watching “The Gospel Comes With A House Key?”
How could you use where you live as a tool to build relationships with those that God is calling you to shepherd?

Practice

Take some time role-playing the different kind of conversations that you may find yourselves in when reaching the people that God is calling you to shepherd. Find ways to allow the conversation to be engaging and having it lead towards a later touchpoint/an invitation into your home.
Map out different times in your schedule that you can have touchpoints with those that you are reaching and invite them into your home!

Action Steps and Prayer (15 Minutes)

Listen to the Holy Spirit as He encourages you to create action steps based on what you confessed and repented and/or what you learned during the Intentional Learning time. Pray that each member would walk in obedience to what Jesus is prompting!

Deliver the Gospel Story

Opening Prayer (10 Minutes)

Ask for prayer requests and pray for each member, while also praying for your time together.

Accountability (20 Minutes)

Intentional Learning (45 Minutes)

Review the content for the session, discuss what each member learned, leaders model for the group how they live out their faith, and group members take time to practice for themselves:

Review and Discuss:

Main Idea

The truth of the Gospel is the bedrock of our faith. If we don’t have the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus then we have nothing. Learn how to share the Gospel with those that the Lord has brought to you.

Learning Materials
- 3 Circles Gospel
- Four Biblical Foundations for Contextualization
- “Missional Living Wheel”
Discussion
- Re-teach what you know about the Gospel
  - Is there anything from the 3 Circles video that stood out to you?
  - Is there any aspect of the Gospel that you focus on the least? Why?
  - What’s the hardest part of the Gospel for you to share or understand?
  - What are you most confident about when sharing the Gospel?

Practice
- Take turns sharing the 3 Circles with each other. Keep it simple, concise, and clear. You want people to know the necessary truths of the Gospel while still staying engaged in the conversation. You are not preaching a sermon, you are having a conversation about who Jesus is and what He has done.

Action Steps and Prayer (15 Minutes)

Listen to the Holy Spirit as He encourages you to create action steps based on what you confessed and repented and/or what you learned during the Intentional Learning time. Pray that each member would walk in obedience to what Jesus is prompting!

Reading the Bible Correctly

Opening Prayer (10 Minutes)

Ask for prayer requests and pray for each member, while also praying for your time together.

Accountability (20 Minutes)

Intentional Learning (45 Minutes)

Review the content for the session, discuss what each member learned, leaders model for the group how they live out their faith, and group members take time to practice for themselves:

Review and Discuss:

Main Idea

As you start to pour into people in your life, you can rely on the Bible to provide all that they need when it comes to truth, encouragement, and correction. Learn how to confidently open up the Bible and read it with those that you are starting to disciple.

Learning Material

Discussion

Re-teach me what you learned
Is there anything that stood out to you about reading the Bible that you never considered before?
Knowing what you know now, would you feel comfortable with helping somebody younger in their faith than you read the Bible, maybe for the very first time? Why or why not?
(The assumption is that everybody in this group knows how to read the Bible for themselves. The point of this is to help you help others read the Bible.)

Practice

Read Romans 8
- Use the Gospel Method to journal through what God is teaching you in Romans 8.
- After reading through it once or twice, open up the blue letter bible app and use the commentaries found in it to interpret the scripture.
- Read 3 commentaries on Romans 8:28, commenting on the differences between them.
  - Make an effort to choose commentaries from people in different denominations, different eras and different countries. Discuss your findings with your group.

Action Steps and Prayer (15 Minutes)

Listen to the Holy Spirit as He encourages you to create action steps based on what you confessed and repented and/or what you learned during the Intentional Learning time. Pray that each member would walk in obedience to what Jesus is prompting!

Prayer-Filled Ministry

Opening Prayer (10 Minutes)

Ask for prayer requests and pray for each member, while also praying for your time together.

Accountability (20 Minutes)

Intentional Learning (45 Minutes)

Review the content for the session, discuss what each member learned, leaders model for the group how they live out their faith, and group members take time to practice for themselves:

Review and Discuss:

Main Idea

Your ministry will be powerless without the power of the Holy Spirit. Learn how to lead out in prayer so that your disciples are receiving wisdom and direction from our perfect God instead of an imperfect human.

Learning Materials

Discussion

Re-teach me what you learned
How could you foresee prayerlessness affecting your personal ministry?
What are some things from the article that stood out to you?
How does Jason’s vision for a prayer-filled Church affect the way that you think about your own personal ministry?
What are some convictions that you have about prayer after reading The Praying Leader?
Are there any questions about having a prayer-filled ministry that you still have?

Practice

Take some time for each member in the group to create their own personal prayer list. This could include non-believers that they are trying to share the Gospel with, new Christians that they are attempting to disciple, the future groups that they will lead, etc.

Action Steps and Prayer (15 Minutes)

Listen to the Holy Spirit as He encourages you to create action steps based on what you confessed and repented and/or what you learned during the Intentional Learning time. Pray that each member would walk in obedience to what Jesus is prompting!

Manage a Schedule

Opening Prayer (10 Minutes)

Ask for prayer requests and pray for each member, while also praying for your time together.

Accountability (20 Minutes)

Intentional Learning (45 Minutes)

Review the content for the session, discuss what each member learned, leaders model for the group how they live out their faith, and group members take time to practice for themselves:

Review and Discuss:

Main Idea

As un-spiritual as this may seem, you will not be able to disciple those that God is calling you to if you are flaky, forgetful, and unavailable. Take some time to get practical and make yourself open to those who you are discipling.

Learning Materials

Discussion

Re-teach me what you learned
Do you find yourself thinking that you don’t have enough time to do the things that the Lord is calling you to?
Do you remember a time in your life where you felt like you were glorifying God the most? How much time were you spending on Him weekly?
Do you currently have a calendar that you update regularly?
What kind of doors would pen up in your discipleship if you kept a calendar?

Practice

Set your weekly schedule
- An easy way to do this is by creating a 3×7 grid. The 7 columns are days of the week and the 3 rows are labeled as “morning,” “afternoon,” and “evening.” Write out the different activities that you do during the time that corresponds with each box. Share this with your group.

Action Steps and Prayer (15 Minutes)

Listen to the Holy Spirit as He encourages you to create action steps based on what you confessed and repented and/or what you learned during the Intentional Learning time. Pray that each member would walk in obedience to what Jesus is prompting!

Creating a Spiritual Environment

Opening Prayer (10 Minutes)

Ask for prayer requests and pray for each member, while also praying for your time together.

Accountability (20 Minutes)

Intentional Learning (45 Minutes)

Review the content for the session, discuss what each member learned, leaders model for the group how they live out their faith, and group members take time to practice for themselves:

Review and Discuss:

Main Idea

Now that you have reached the people that God has called you to, it is time to start leading them in a more formal setting. Dive into this session to learn how to lead spiritual discussions, Bible studies, and Discipling Communities.

Learning Materials

Discussion

Brainstorm necessary components for a Bible study
- Write down the components and share them with your group
Explain components and goals of a D-Group to your group
- Take time to talk about the reasons why a Discipleship Group is important for the people that you’ve been living towards and how you plan on inviting them into a group with you as well.

Practice

Start a Bible study and invite unconnected people to it
- These should be people that you have at least had spiritual conversations with and are interested in learning more about Jesus. They could be believers or non-believers. They should not currently be in a Bible study or D-Group. Go over your plan with you group.
Transition your Bible study to an FDG within the next 3 months
- Take some time as a group to come up with a plan moving forward. What kind of conversations do you need to have with those that you are leading in a Bible study in order to enter into a formal discipleship relationship with them? Process and plan accordingly with your group.

Action Steps and Prayer (15 Minutes)

Listen to the Holy Spirit as He encourages you to create action steps based on what you confessed and repented and/or what you learned during the Intentional Learning time. Pray that each member would walk in obedience to what Jesus is prompting!

Conclude

NOTE: If you are the leader of this group and this is the last session that your D-Group will be meeting for, please fill out the Close Out your D-Group form! Thank you for your help in shepherding the flock at Fielder Church!