If you plan to use this guidebook in a course on personal Bible study, remember that DBD must be experienced in order to be really appreciated, and it must be practiced in order to become a usable skill.  Thus, any course in personal Bible study should be taught with a minimum of lecture and a maximum of student practice.  Here are some suggestions for using this guidebook in a course in your local church or school.

1.  It is important for the students to gain an overview of the entire DBD approach before they try to apply it in actual Bible study.  Thus, the students should be asked to read this entire guidebook early in the course.  Unless the students grasp DBD as a unified and reasoned way of studying the Bible, their use of the procedures could be quite mechanical and meaningless.  As pastor or teacher, you should evaluate your students' comprehension of the basic DBD approach, principles, and procedures.  Feedback from your students (including, perhaps, discussions, quizzes, etc.) will allow you to diagnose any weaknesses in their understanding of DBD.  You can then deal specifically with whatever misunderstandings you uncover.  This can forestall problems which would arise later when the students attempt to put the principles and procedures to use in the actual study of the Bible.

2.  During the first several sessions, while students are reading this guidebook outside of class, you should supplement this material with your own ideas.  Also, during these first several sessions, you should give the students exercise (on short, isolated Bible passages) in the most basic skill of DBD, namely, systematic observation.

3.  After the students understand the basic principles and procedures, and after they have had experience in systematic observation, the greater part of the course should be devoted to the actual use of DBD procedures on at least one short Bible book and at least one simple Bible topic.  Avoid the temptation to teach that book or topic.  Instead, teach your students to use the principles and procedures so that they teach themselves the book or topic.  Your goal should be to teach them to discover on their own and to think on their own so that they will be able to carry out meaningful Bible study without your help in the future.  Through the careful use of questions, stimulate and guide your students.

4.  Introduce the skills gradually.  For example, after the students have surveyed and divided a book, do not assign all twelve operations in step 4 at one time.  Instead, allow the students to focus on two or three of the skills in each assignment.  This is most crucial when the students are first learning to carry out these operations.  Students can easily become discouraged unless they feel a sense of satisfaction which comes with some degree of mastery of each skill.  After the students have gained confidence in their ability to perform each operation, more (or perhaps all) of step 4 can be assigned at one time.