EMQ » April – July 2025 » Volume 61 Issue 2
Topic: New Models of Mission
Summary: Many strongly recommend a particular method of inductive Bible study – Discovery Bible studies (DBS) –for work among Muslims. Based on many years of personal experience and interviews with others working with Muslim women in the Middle East, Spyker queries whether this is the best approach for discipling Muslim women. She promotes developing discipleship tools which are specific to needs rather than relying on a pre-developed program.
By S.J. Spyker
Many gospel workers serving in the Middle East today earnestly desire to see movements of Muslim peoples coming to faith in Christ. Disciple making movements (DMMs) are widely promoted as one of the most effective means of catalyzing such movements.[1] Helpfully, DMMs emphasize making disciples who make disciples, expectant prayer, and wide sowing of gospel seeds. However, DMMs have also been criticized for elevating methodology over obedience to Scripture[2] and misinterpreting the data regarding the number of churches planted using this approach.[3]
At the heart of DMMs is an approach to studying God’s Word that is obedience-based and inductive. There are several forms of obedience-based inductive Bible studies but perhaps the best known is Discovery Bible Studies (DBS). DBS repeat set questions each time a group meets. The questions prompt those attending to draw meaning from a single text, commit to obeying it in concrete ways, and share what has been learned with others. This approach reduces the need for trained leaders and allows groups of disciples to reproduce rapidly thus, in theory, enabling a movement to multiply. Trousdale and Watson, in their respective books, give testimonies of many places where DBS have been used resulting in movements of tens of thousands of people coming to faith in Christ.[4]
Yet, as someone involved in discipleship in the Middle East for many years, my observation has been that DBS fall short of meeting the needs of the refugees, second wives, and marginalized women I serve. Gathering new believers and seekers into discovery groups to do DBS is enormously challenging. The studies proved to be far too complicated for those with limited education, and the lack of agency experienced by many of the women I met made it very challenging for them to share their faith with others.
In this paper I want to explore the challenges of discipling Muslim women in the Middle East and consider whether DBS is the best approach to discipleship in this context.
To broaden my understanding of the issues I interviewed ten gospel workers serving long term amongst Muslim women, most of whom were living in rural contexts across the Middle East.
Those interviewed were asked:
- What does discipleship look like in your context?
- What challenges do you face?
- How does discipleship look different for women?
- Can you tell me a story of a discipleship relationship you have seen?
While the sample size was admittedly small, several common themes emerged from their responses.
Gathering Is Hard
DBS are intentionally group-based. Watson argues that this is because groups remember more, replicate faster, self-correct and keep one another accountable.[5] This preference for groups does, in theory, provide community for individuals on a very difficult spiritual journey. However, those interviewed reported that the lack of agency experienced by many women in Middle Eastern contexts makes it very challenging for them to gather with others regularly outside of their home.They explained that:
“Women need to give family members an explanation of what they’re doing if they want to go to Bible study.”
“Women generally have much less freedom with where they can go, so regular commitment and scheduling is difficult.”
Discovery groups often follow a predetermined curriculum. For example, many groups begin with a Creation to Christ overview. One DBS curriculum currently used in the Middle East is 33 studies long.[6] Regularly attending so many meetings outside of the home would be impossible for many women in rural areas of the Middle East as their movements are carefully monitored by family members. This highlights the need to engage whole families in discipleship. Yet, as many of those interviewed reported, women often risk physical harm from family members for exploring the Bible, making it very hard for them to invite those in their closest networks to study with them. As one woman interviewed observed:
“Trust issues make it difficult for Muslims from the same community to meet together to explore the Bible.”
Gospel workers in this context must recognize that gathering women into discovery groups may be very difficult. Gospel workers may need to instead remain satisfied with one-to-one discipleship meetings or develop creative and culturally plausible reasons for those they are discipling to meet together. The women interviewed were currently using English classes, exercise groups, or community health programs in this way.
Women’s Chaotic Lives Make Long Studies Challenging
DBS claim to be simple studies that anyone can do. One DBS program frequently used in the Middle East today takes over an hour and requires groups to respond to 13 set questions based on passages which are 10–20 verses long.[7] These studies may be much simpler than a typical Western Bible study, however those interviewed observed that the women they discipled:
“Sometimes have a very short attention span because they are always home with their kids and face lots of burdens and pressures.”
“[During Bible studies] there are often competing responsibilities and interruptions by young children.”
In this context, DBS may be something gospel workers aim to use in the long term. However, it may be necessary to begin with a much shorter and more concrete way of engaging with God’s word such as a story or a single Bible verse.
Illiteracy Impacts Discipleship
Literacy significantly impacts discipleship in this context. As one gospel worker interviewed observed:
“Women are less likely to be educated and able to read.”
While some forms of DBS make concessions for studying the Bible orally, the reality is that higher order tasks like comprehension, analysis and application are much easier for those who have participated in formal education. DBS rely on an inductive method of Bible study. In practice, this means that when groups come together there is no teacher, instead the group studies a text and together extracts answers and applications from within the text. Watson explains that this is because, “when working with lost people, we have to avoid falling into the role of explaining Scripture. If we do, we become the authority rather than allowing Scripture to be the authority. If we are the authority, replication is limited by our leadership capacity and the time we have to teach every group.”[8] For Watson, inductive learning is essential to enable rapid replication of discovery groups. Yet, to take a text, and extract concrete principles to obey, is a skill that is much more straightforward for those from Western backgrounds where education systems preference this. Many women in Middle Eastern contexts don’t decide whom they marry, what they cook for dinner or when they leave the house. For these women deciding how to apply Scripture for themselves may be overwhelming, as one woman interviewed noted:
“People here are coming from a society telling them what to do and we come from a culture where you make your own decisions. They want to be told what to do, for example some women ask us, ‘how should I pray, just tell me the method and everything will just be fine.’”
The skills needed to participate in DBS may need to be developed slowly over time through scaffolding and explicit training so women in such contexts can gradually learn to read and apply God’s word for themselves.
Agency and Risk
DBS require participants, at the end of each study, to commit to specific ways they will obey a passage and to decide with whom they will share it. Both of these tasks promote the rapid multiplication of disciples needed to catalyze a DMM. However, those interviewed suggested that the act of choosing how to obey Scripture requires agency unfamiliar to many in this context:
“Fasting (or choosing not to fast during Ramadan) is a very public action and is a choice that is easier for men to make than women.”
“My friend wants to go to church and read her Bible but her family won’t allow it.”
In many Muslim contexts women may not have the freedom to radically change their behaviors or share their new faith without great risk. Women I have met have been divorced by their husbands or beaten for turning to Christ. While it must be acknowledged that persecution is normative for believers, DBS call participants to obey God’s word in visible ways right from the very beginning of their faith journey and to share what they have learned from their very first study – perhaps even before a confession of faith. In such contexts it may be unreasonable to expect women who are already vulnerable in many ways to broadcast their emerging Christian faith immediately.
Instead, those discipling in this context may need to patiently walk alongside new believers and present a vision for transformative obedience. The lack of agency women experience, paired with the increased risk they face, may mean it takes years of quietly following Jesus before someone is ready to live openly as a follower of Christ. Gospel workers should not hurry this process in order to further their own movement agenda or because a particular method of discipleship prescribes it.
A Worldview Radically Shaped by Islam
One of the hidden dangers of DBS is an overstated emphasis on our own obedience and an under emphasis on grace. Discovery group members are encouraged, often from the first time they engage with God’s Word, to answer questions such as: “What are the things that you have decided to change in your life as a response to the story that we listened to today? How will you obey?”[9] While teaching obedience to God’s Word is certainly part of discipleship, using questions like these with Muslim women at the beginning of their faith journey may be problematic. Their worldview is so pervasively shaped by Islam, a works-based religion, that they are likely to misunderstand the gospel if obedience is emphasized over grace. As one woman interviewed observed:
“The big danger is the cart will come before the horse, so you think you are talking about changes in life or behavior, and, because of their worldview, they don’t understand that grace comes first, so that is very challenging.”
Gospel workers in this context may need to consider avoiding the obey questions present in DBS until they are sure participants have a solid understanding of grace.
Women Need to See How the Bible Speaks to the Crises of Their Lives
DMM training often suggests discovery groups begin by working through a series of DBS from Creation to Christ. Doing so, in theory, enables new believers to understand how Jesus fits into a larger biblical narrative.[10] This is often considered especially useful in Muslim contexts where Jesus’ death on the cross is thought of as an offensive barrier to faith.
However, those interviewed described that the women they served lived lives shaped by domestic violence, uncertainty, arranged marriages, polygamy, and loneliness. Those they discipled were dealing with complex issues such as:
“Who do I marry? What do I do during Ramadan? How do I raise my kids? How do I talk to my kids about being taught the Qur’an at school when I want them to follow Jesus?”
Interviewees explained that these women needed to see how the Bible brings light and hope into the mess of daily life. Yet, the prescriptive curriculum presented in many DMM programs simply failed to do so. This echoes what Hibbert and Hibbert assert is true of many cross-cultural discipleship situations: “Our [discipleship] choices should be based on the issues disciples are wrestling with at any time. We may often have to leave aside what we have prepared in order to deal with issues that are more pressing ….”[11]
In this and potentially other contexts, a one-size-fits-all curriculum for discipleship falls short on many levels. Instead, what is needed is discipleship material that responds to and engages with the felt needs of individuals, working gradually to give them a bigger picture of who God is and what he has done.
Modelling Matters
DMMs occur when discovery groups rapidly reproduce. During one DMMs training, I was told that foreign gospel workers should lead a DBS with a group no more than three times before extracting themselves. This was to ensure the gospel was free from cultural baggage and spread without dependence on external resources. Watson and Trousdale argue something similar in their books.[12] However, the gospel workers interviewed observed that the women they served often needed to see life lived in obedience to Jesus as well as engaging in a formal Bible study. They reported:
“I have heard of various kinds of methods being used with new believers … But often times, it is less tools and more just being intentional in investing in someone else’s life and also how we model Christ as we read and pray and live life with them.”
“We started praying with Aysha. I would pray for her each visit. One day she told me that she prayed for her neighbor’s headache to be healed … and it was healed! I asked her how she prayed. She said, “Just like you pray …. Jesus, thank you for my friend. Thank you that you love her so much. Please heal her headache. In Jesus’ name. Amen.” And she was healed. I smiled. This prayer sounded very much like me. I didn’t even realize I was teaching her to pray for healing. But she learnt by example.”
The Apostle Paul’s example was to preach an embodied gospel. His care for the Thessalonians overflowed in a delight to share not only the gospel but his life as well.[13] Gospel workers in this context would do well to understand that modelling their faith is a significant part of the discipleship process and that DBS alone may not be sufficient to grow mature disciples.
Conclusion
DBS can be very useful in many contexts. There are, however, significant challenges in using them with women in the Middle East. The challenges observed reflect the need for a broader discussion about the universal usefulness of discipleship methods like DBS. The challenges suggest that discipleship should not begin with a program, but rather with an assessment of the spiritual, educational, and social needs of individuals in a particular context. Only then should discipleship tools be developed or selected which meet these needs. Doing so may mean men and women, in even the most remote contexts, can understand the gospel and see their immense worth in the sight of their heavenly Father.
S.J. Spyker has served and continues to serve with her family in the Middle East, discipling both refugee and local women in rural and urban areas.
[1] David Garrison, Church Planting Movements (WIGTake Resources, 2004), 28.
[2] Matt Rhodes, No Shortcuts to Success: A Manifesto for Modern Missions Crossway, 2022), 55.
[3] Rhodes, No Shortcuts, 57.
[4] Jerry Trousdale, Miraculous Movements (Thomas Nelson, 2012), 106–107. David Watson and Paul Watson, Contagious Discipleship (Thomas Nelson, 2014), xiii.
[5] Watson and Watson, Contagious Discipleship, 142.
[6] “Darb al Wosoul,” The DMM Platform, accessed June 17, 2023, https://darb.thedmmplatform.com.
[7] “Darb al Wosoul.”
[8] Watson and Watson, Contagious Discipleship, 149.
[9] “Darb al Wosoul.”
[10] Trousdale, Miraculous Movements, 201.
[11] Evelyn Hibbert and Richard Hibbert, Walking together on the Jesus Road: Discipling in Intercultural Contexts (William Carey Library, 2018), 170.
[12] Watson, Contagious Discipleship, 17, 146–147. Trousdale, Miraculous Movements, 183.
[13] 1 Thessalonians 2:8.
EMQ, Volume 61, Issue 2. Copyright © 2025 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
