DiscipleGo: Initial Product Brief

Status: Working draft

Purpose

DiscipleGo helps me organize and carry out my disciple-making practice, then equips others to do the same.

It connects prayer, gospel conversations, discovery Bible studies, training, and Ekklesia. The initial version is private to me, with a foundation that can later support shared participation.

Guiding Principles

• Relationships and obedience matter more than content completion.
• Simple, repeatable practices should help people become disciple-makers.
• People can be recorded before they have accounts.
• Private notes remain private when someone later joins.
• Existing training materials inform the app; the old application does not dictate its design.

First Milestone: Manage a Real DBS Meeting

Create a group -> choose a series or training -> schedule recurring meetings -> select the lesson studied or record an ad hoc study-> record attendance, responses (red, yellow, green), level (interested, disciple, assisting, disciple-maker), and notes -> prepare for the next meeting.

DBS and Training Library

• Browse series and their lessons in order.
• Open Scripture references, discovery questions, graphics, and supporting content.
• Create and edit series and lessons.
• Use existing Markdown, Ulysses, and graphic materials as source content.
• Reuse lessons across groups while keeping each group's history separate.
• Begin the disciple-making training pathway with 411.
• Support private and public series when sharing becomes available.
• Track meeting-driven MAWL activity and quantities for 3 Circles, 15 sec Testimony, 411, 911, and DBS lessons, making each disciple's experience and skillsets visible.

Groups and Meetings

• Maintain groups with regular participants.
• Schedule recurring meetings with the same group.
• Record new participants brought by existing members.
• Assign a lesson to each meeting. Give option to defer lesson if meeting dictates.
• Start tracking with attendance and notes.
• Review previous meetings and identify the next lesson.
• Support Apple Calendar first, initially through calendar export rather than two-way synchronization.

Meeting-Driven MAWL

MAWL means Model, Assist, Watch, Launch. Activity is recorded in the context of a meeting and the particular lesson or skill practiced, with the people involved.

• The meeting recorder identifies who modeled, assisted, watched, and observed each lesson or skill.
• Modeling is directional: M-> means "I modeled to another"; ->M means "it was modeled to me."
• When someone models, the app records M-> for that person and ->M for the participants who observed that modeling. Attendance alone does not establish that someone observed every activity.
• If a participant assists the leader, record the Assist instance for that participant. The leader's modeling and the observers' received modeling are derived from the same activity.
• When that participant models to others, record their M-> and the observers' ->M. Their trainer may Watch, linked to that participant and lesson or skill.
• Quantities are derived from recorded activity, rather than separately entered counters. A person can receive and provide modeling in different relationships.
• Launch is an explicit recognition that the person can carry the practice forward independently, like a child who can ride a bicycle on their own. It is not awarded automatically after a fixed number of meetings.
• The initial private version lets me record these activities on behalf of participants. Participant accounts and collaborative recording come later.

People

• Store contact information and preferred contact method.
• Record people without requiring them to register.
• Associate people with groups, meetings, and private notes.
• Later link or merge contact records with registered accounts while preserving history and privacy.
• Later track location by city and neighborhood

Next Milestone: Daily Prayer and Scripture

Harvest Prayer

One daily scheduled calendar appointment, with four prayer sections:

1. Person of the day: a repeating 31 person list. Repeats by day of month. Short months stack people for end dates.
2. Far From God: people in my circle of influence. Daily - Weekly - Monthly levels for people.
3. Followers Not Fishers: existing Christians in my circle of influence. Daily - Weekly - Monthly levels.
4. Disciples: people in weekly or regular disciple-making relationships. Daily - Weekly - Monthly - Quarterly levels.

Provide several editable message templates that open the person's preferred text or email channel.

Record prayer requests, answered prayers, and reflections using the P.R.A.Y.E.R. guide:

• Put it on your calendar.
• Remove distractions.
• Acknowledge our Father.
• Your requests.
• Empty and arm yourself.
• Reflect and write it down.

Daily Scripture

• Follow the 260 Bible reading plan.
• Include memory verses and a Jesus Said command.
• Track progress and record reflections.

Disciple-Making Framework

The app should support these connected practices:

Meeting-driven MAWL tracking is included in the first milestone. Detailed GOALS tracking and participant collaboration follow later.

Later Capabilities

• Participant accounts and shared group experiences.
• Comments, chat, and disciple-maker networking.
• Shared commitments and participant contributions to MAWL records.
• Public discovery and training entry points.
• Reading-plan subscriptions and sharing.
• Church-branded reading content for churches and other websites.
• Broader support for Ekklesia, from house churches to legacy churches.
• Additional calendar providers and possible two-way synchronization.
• A web-based mobile app packaged for iOS and Android.

Proposed Technical Direction

• Project home: /Users/aubrey/Code/dgoapp.
• Laravel backend with Filament for administration and content authoring.
• Install Laravel Boost
• A dedicated, mobile-first interface for everyday use.
• Frontend and mobile packaging choices finalized before substantial UI development.
• Remove unfinished 3r package dependencies.
• Keep dgosocial and platform available as historical references.
• Keep training source materials in the Dropbox DiscipleGo collection.
• TDD Pest testing best practices

Success for the First Release

I can use DiscipleGo to run a real recurring DBS group: find the lesson, schedule the meeting, record who attended and what happened, and return prepared for the next gathering.

Decisions Still Open

• What constitutes a lesson being "covered," especially when participants miss meetings.
• How rescheduling or skipping one recurring meeting affects later meetings.
• The exact permissions for shared notes and participant access when accounts are introduced.