When the government of Papua New Guinea restricted group gatherings to a maximum of ten people in March 2020 because of the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, most churches in Papua New Guinea were not able to meet or worship together in their buildings.
Kelvin Waukave, as an elder in the large district church, worshipped on the first restricted Sabbath with his family in their house. Kelvin was not a preacher, but he had recently learned how to run small groups using the Discovery Bible Reading method. This is a simple reproducible method that anyone can do. It begins with a simple prayer and then two different people reading the Bible passage that will be discussed, all the way through. Then someone retells the Bible passage. Then Kelvin, as the leader of the group, asks five basic questions for the participants to answer. What is new? What surprises you? What don’t you understand? What will you obey or apply? What will you share with someone this week? (The church in the South Pacific has recently created new open-ended questions for Discovery Bible Reading.) Most of the time is taken up with the biblical discussion as people share their thoughts answering the non-confronting and easy-to-answer questions. The group finishes with a prayer.
The Waukave family enjoyed the discussion and listening to each other’s perspectives. The children were so excited by their experience—they were really understanding God and how to live for Jesus—that they invited their friends to come. The group grew from eight to eighteen. Thankfully the number of people permitted in groups as the pandemic progressed increased. Some of the neighbors were invited and joined in, and before long there were more than twenty-five youth and adults in their small group, each week reading through the Gospel of Mark and applying it to life. Kelvin built a temporary shelter outside the home because there was no space inside the house. Some of the people were wanting to follow Jesus, and they had more personal and group Bible studies. The local district pastor helped in this process and there were baptisms—eleven in the first year and four in the second. Now the group averages thirty to forty each Sabbath. Kelvin says there are still more new people from the nearby village who come to their small group.
COVID restrictions have long since gone and people are free to worship where they want to. Neither Kelvin nor his family want to go back to their large district church. They like knowing each other and learning about Jesus together. They like being able to invite people to their home and learn how to do life together with Jesus. As an elder of the large district church, Kelvin has attached his new Sabbath Bible Discovery Group as a “hand church,” or a new sponsored church from the large organized or mother church. The district church has eight new “hand churches.” I have visited the district, seen the district church and many of the new churches. These churches were all started with the Discovery Bible Reading method by elders, deacons, or deaconesses during the COVID restrictions. They are within two to three kilometers of each other in a very densely populated area of the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea.
The Discovery Bible Reading method is effective not only because it is simple and anyone can do it, but because it is based on solid biblical concepts. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit is the teacher. Humans are not the teachers; they are the facilitators. “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).1 No one acts as the Bible knowledge expert or teacher; all are humble and teachable and allow the Holy Spirit to be the teacher. The Holy Spirit promises to “guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit is God and has the power to lead a person to Jesus and conviction to change their life. No human can change anyone else—we can only choose to change ourselves under the leading of the Holy Spirit. Because no one is the teacher, the Holy Spirit can be the teacher in the group and guide all who are open into the truth about Jesus.
Simon, a newly baptized member, lost his job at the airport when COVID started. This was devastating to him, his wife, and their young family—they could not afford to complete building their new house even though he now had time to build it. However, Simon had just learnt how to give group Bible studies, and he now had time to see if they would work in his village, which is located in a city. He asked his close relatives and their children to join them. They liked what they heard, and they told other village people about the joy they had learning about God together. Now in the uncompleted two-story home, a group of forty adults and children meet each Sabbath for worship with Simon and his family.
Discovery Bible Reading is also effective because of the prominence of the Holy Scriptures. Paul reminds Timothy, “And how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:15–17, emphasis supplied). The Scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit and have a spiritual power that can change lives. They reveal Jesus and His full and free salvation and the basis for growth of any disciple of Jesus (see also John 5:39–40; Heb 4:12). If they are read, discussed, and applied, the Scriptures will change lives from within (1 Thess 2:13).
A leading businessman, who is an elder in one city church, was concerned with the amount of crime, which historically came from the local settlement. When visiting the settlement one day he discovered it had slippery clay paths and poor drainage. He cemented the paths and made drains. The people were overwhelmed with the kindness. They wanted to know the God he served. But the businessman was not a preacher. He offered Discovery Bible Reading groups. Young men and women joined the group, and as they read and discussed the Bible together, the Holy Spirit changed them from the inside out. Today at the place they used to drink, smoke, take drugs, gamble, and plan the next crime, they have a place of worship where they run their Discovery Bible Reading group.
In my personal reading of the gospels this year I rediscovered Jesus’ methods of developing faith. Jesus preached and told stories to large crowds; but one-on-one or in small groups, although He still told stories, He asked questions. More than four hundred questions! From my perspective there are four types of questions Jesus asked.
1. Jesus asked questions to start a conversation with a person. For example, in a crowd Jesus asked who touched Him. He knew who had touched Him, but He asked the question to have a conversation with a woman who had shown great faith (Luke 6:3).
2. Jesus asked the Pharisees if they had read the Scriptures about David eating the bread from the temple (Matt 12:1–12). This kind of question asks the person if they are aware of biblical facts.
3. When talking to the young lawyer Jesus asked him, “What is written in the Law?” (knowing the facts) but then asks, “How do you read it?” (Luke 10:26). In other words, what do you think the Scripture means? Such questions challenge people to reflect on the message and apply it in their life.
4. Finally, Jesus asks questions to challenge people to faith. That is exactly what He did with the twelve disciples in CaesareaPhilippi. “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” and then, “Who do you say I am?” (Matt 16:13– 16). Jesus asked questions about relationships, biblical facts, Bible interpretation, and possible faith application. Asking questions was Jesus’ method of building faith in Him. The questions in the Discovery Bible Reading method can do the same thing.
I could take you to homes, fields, businesses, orange groves, parks, gardens, building yards, and offices all over Papua New Guinea where lay people have faithfully invited family, neighbors, and friends to small groups and simply conducted a Discovery Bible Reading. They have trusted the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and asked questions like Jesus did, to make disciples. This simple process has led to more than six thousand new churches being planted in Papua New Guinea in the past three years. All of them started with four to twelve people and now have between thirty and 180 participating. This is explosive growth in a country of about ten million people.
1 All biblical quotations are from the New International Version.
Glenn Townend is the president of the South Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists, Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia.
