Reading the Bible together — Ryan and the Discipleship Bible School coming to Perth

Gen Z is one of the most spiritually hungry generations in recent memory. Bible sales are up. Young people are asking big questions. But passion without grounding can only take someone so far. I sat down with Ryan to talk about what he's doing about it — and what Perth is about to get.

Ryan didn't set out to run a Bible school. He was part of a training team that had been praying for one for years. Then, in one of those prayer times, he felt a quiet prompting — that he could lead it. So he said yes.

The school he's launching is a Discipleship Bible School (DBS) — a structured, community-based approach to reading and understanding scripture. It's not designed to produce scholars. It's designed to give everyday followers of Jesus a solid foundation in how the Bible fits together and why it matters.

Passion without grounding

Ryan has been around YWAM for a long time. He's watched a generation of young people come through DTS — passionate, on fire, genuinely sold out — and then struggle to ground that passion in scripture. That gap is part of what drives this.

The DBS doesn't walk through every book of the Bible individually. Instead, it traces the major themes — Origins, Pentateuch, David, the Prophets, Jesus, Paul, John — asking a single through-line question at every stage: what is God doing here, and how does it fit the bigger story?

The goal is simple: can you hold the whole Bible together? Can you see how each part plays its role in what God is doing across all of history?

Not alone — in community

One of the things Ryan cares most about is that this doesn't happen in isolation. Every afternoon, students spend three hours in small groups — reading the same passage together, discussing it, asking questions, bouncing ideas off each other. Different perspectives. Shared discovery.

In an age where you can access incredible Bible teaching from anywhere in the world, Ryan still believes there's something irreplaceable about learning together in the same room, in the same book, at the same time.

What a successful student looks like

Ryan has a clear picture of what he hopes students walk away with. Three things:

• An understanding of God's redemptive plan — from Genesis to Revelation

• The ability to do inductive Bible study themselves

• The ability to teach it to someone else

  
  

Not scholars. Just followers of Jesus who know how to open their Bible, understand what they're reading, and pass it on.

Mission flows from God's mission

This is also deeply connected to the mission. As students trace God's redemptive plan through scripture, something shifts. Mission stops being a program or a calling that only a few receive. It becomes something God has always been doing — and we get to join in.

Mission doesn't start with us. It starts with God — reaching out to redeem all of humanity, every tribe, every tongue. Some are called to do that specifically. All of us are already part of the story.

"Gen Z is passionate. We just need to help direct that passion towards his word and towards who He is. That's the hope and the prayer and the goal." — Ryan

How to pray for DBS

I asked Ryan at the end of our conversation how people could pray for him. Here's what he shared:

• Wisdom in pulling the school together — the logistics, the structure, the details

• That working with the school leader from another base goes well as they build their rhythm together
  

To everyone who reads these updates, prays, and partners with this work financially — thank you. You make it possible for me to show up in spaces like this interview, walk alongside people like Ryan, and stay present to what God is doing in this city. This ministry doesn't happen without you.