As the Discovery Group matures, the Seven Questions remain the same, but we might ask them differently to adapt to what is fast becoming more of a House Church setting.

Question 1: What are we thankful for? might now become:

Question 1: Let’s spend some time thanking God for his goodness toward us.

Question 2: What are we struggling with? might now become:

Question 2: Let’s spend some time asking God to help us with our struggles.

Question 3: How can we help people with their struggles? might now become:

Question 3: Let’s bring to God the needs of the believers and the nonbelievers in our lives.

Question 4: How did we do with our action steps from last time? stays the same.

Question 5: What does this teach us about God and about people? stays the same.

Question 6: What do we feel led to change after reading this story? might now become:

Question 6: What will you do differently in order to obey what God just said to you?

Question 7: Who will we share with this week? stays the same …

… although people now have a much bigger bank of Scripture stories they can share with people. At first, we encourage people to share the story they have just read with people. Over time, we can encourage them to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as they decide which of the stories they have read would be the best story for them to share with each individual.

Because every Discovery Group and House Church is different, there is no hard-and-fast rule as to which story set they should use when they have finished the Creation to Christ stories. Some new churches are eager to read through the whole of Creation to Christ again, because they were not-yet-believers when they began reading through them for the first time. People in many churches decide to read them again as believers in order to understand the full story. Other groups choose to read through one of the gospels, or the book of Acts, or Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Think of it being a bit like asking “what book of the Bible should a new believer read first?” There are definitely some bad places for them to start, but there isn’t only one good place. If you choose wisely and prayerfully, then the Holy Spirit will speak to you and strengthen your new church through whichever story set you choose to follow next.