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108. Plans with Friends: Scripture as a Shared Experience
Plans with Friends allows people to complete a Plan together—reading the same Scriptures and devotional content every day, sharing their thoughts, and growing together.
This is a powerful discipleship tool. Using Plans with Friends creates natural accountability, increases the likelihood that people will complete the Plan, and promotes discussion throughout the week.
How Churches Use This
Before you launch a Plan with Friends to your church, try completing one together with your staff team. Then, you can encourage others to join based on your actual experience of it. Then, have one small group try it out as a test and ask for feedback.
Train your small group leaders on how to set up a Plan with Friends, invite others, and facilitate conversations. Have all your small groups use Plans with Friends during the week to spend time in Scripture together.
Here are some specific ways to use this feature:
- Small group integration. All your small groups start the same Plan with Friends at the beginning of the semester. Group discussions now have a shared Scripture foundation, and leaders can see who’s reading throughout the week.
- New believer pathway. Someone gives their life to Christ at your church. As part of their next steps, they’re invited into a Plan with Friends group with a mentor and a few other new believers. It’s structured, relational, and low pressure.
- Church-wide series. Your church launches a series around “21 Days of Prayer.” Everyone is invited to join a Plan with Friends with groups of 5-8 people. The shared experience creates excitement, accountability, and momentum.
Transformation Church in Tulsa, OK found that Plans with Friends naturally became a part of their weekly rhythms, saying, “Plans with Friends is something people pick up on their own once they see others doing it. We didn’t have to push it hard—it spread naturally through our community.”
Operational Guidance
- Who owns this? Small group pastor, discipleship director, or group leaders—this is a relational tool, not a content tool.
- Frequency: Ongoing. Plans with Friends is meant to be a rhythm that you’re building, not a one-time campaign.
- Time: 15 minutes to set up the Plan and identify who will invite and lead for each group.
Best Practices
- Train your leaders. Teach them how to invite people into a Plan and how to lead through it in its entirety.
- Share real stories. When someone sees how a Plan with Friends has impacted others around them, they will want to try it out.
- Build it into pathways. Don’t treat Plans with Friends like an add-on—build it as an integral part of your discipleship pathway.
Want to get started? Check out these Help Docs to help you start and sustain this discipleship pathway:
