In an ongoing thought process concerning the role of relational discipleship in biblical community, I pose a new thought for you to consider, expand upon, disagree with, or take into account as you work the harvest fields in your neck of the woods.
I read a lot of books about (and have personally visited) churches around the world who are growing with conversion growth that sticks... in other words, their back door is smaller than their front door and they do a fair to excellent job of reaching people for Jesus, baptizing them, and helping them find spiritual maturity and a strong sense of purpose in life.
These churches report that their growth comes primarily through relationships formed at the small group membership level. While their stadium-sized services draw huge crowds, many of those first time visitors are friends of small group members who were most comfortable coming to a stadium vs. an unfamiliar residential home where a group might meet.
Because of this highly relational entry point, discipleship is much easier to do. In these churches, every incoming group member is shown a pathway to spiritual maturity that everyone before him or her has walked and everyone after him or her will walk as well. They very quickly see that everyone is being led down a pathway and they too will lead people down that pathway.
I'm looking for churches in the US who understand this and have actually set it in place and are making it work. Most are just trying to get people to join a group and be faithful to the relationships in that group, then move them into an opt-in discipleship program or process... this poses a problem that is hard to undo. People want community, but unless there is spiritual growth and sustained, increased levels of maturity, one could easily argue that it's the man-made creation of pseudo biblical community, not true, Christ-centered, bibical community.
If your church has a discipleship pathway on which every incoming small group member is walking, I sure would like to know about it so I could study your model. I know of a couple of big churches (6000+ members) doing it, but I want to know how average sized churches of 200 or less are making it work and what they're using.
Inside-Out Personal Transformation
This morning, I'm blogging from a hospital waiting room. I'm happy to report that my 78 year old father just had bladder and prostate surgery and came through it just fine. The doctor came out with color pictures showing the work they did with laparoscopic laser surgery. He'll be out and home tomorrow.
After they wheeled him into surgery, my mom, a pastor friend and his wife, and I went down to the cafeteria for some breakfast. As we ate our overpriced-yet-sumptuous powdered eggs and turkey sausage breakfast, the pastor friend told us about a 14 year old mainland Chinese girl who came to Christ shortly after she immigrated to the USA. His comment was powerful: "She didn't change from the outside-in as is the case with so many who make a profession of faith. She was radically transformed into a new creature from the inside-out!" What a great way to explain how she was changed by her introduction and life with Christ.
As I consider the kind of life-change I want to see in those who come to Christ as a result of the small groups in my care, I want inside-out life transformation that doesn't fade away or degrade into rote religious activity (going to Sunday services, showing up for small group, and basically becoming part of the establishment). Some might say that there are two kinds of conversion experiences... big, bold and rapid, and small, incremental change over a much longer period of time. One might even argue that the bold and rapid approach fades too quickly, favoring a slower transformation.
Regardless of the length of time it takes to see visible signs of transformation due to personality type, emotional health, or willingness to change, the process must be from the inside-out and not the outside-in!
For the last few weeks I've been blogging about discipleship, but dad's surgical procedure and the pastor's comment have me chewing on a new aspect of helping new believers just after conversion with deliverance. While this term has been used in a far more pentecostal, "scare the demons out of a person with Holy Ghost power" it not a bad term if defined properly.
When a person first comes to Christ, they may confess a number of sins, which is an excellent practice. Heck, I'm still confessing them myself after 38 years of walking with Christ! However, what most believers from a traditional church background never come to understand is the difference between a fruit sin and a root sin. One can confess fruit sins all day long and he or she will continue to sin in that area. Now if one digs deep to expose the root of a sinful action or attitude and allows Christ to remove it and bring healing to that area of their heart and mind, it bears no more fruit.
Both my wife and I have been through Living Waters, a program from Desert Streams Ministry. It's an intensive, six-month process of examining mother and father wounds, narcissism, etc. Basically, it helps a believer examine and process through their relational and sexual brokenness, bringing each issue to the cross for Christ to deal with and heal (theophostic ministry).
While this intensive program was life changing for both of us, few commit to moving through it because it is so time intensive. Three hours a Sunday for half a year plus a couple of hours of homework per week is just too much for most to imagine moving through. Of course, if you see the depth of your brokenness, it's a lot easier to commit, eh?
This is why I believe it's so important for churches to have a freedom weekend once a quarter for new believers and incoming small group members from other churches or the congregation. They need to see that becoming a new creature is something they allow Christ to do from the inside out. There are a bunch of good materials for this, but far too few churches with small group ministries employ them as a first step for small group membership.
Of course, I do not believe one weekend event is enough, but it raises a permanent flag within the hearts of those who move through it and see they have far more healing to experience. This in turn would create a sense of urgency to go through something much more intense such as a Living Waters program.
Oh what heartache this would save if every incoming small group member, recently saved or brought to Christ as a child, had the opportunity to find freedom from satanic strongholds! If your new small group member assimilation process does not include deliverance, you better get it integrated sooner than later... or you won't have much of a small group ministry.
When the doctor came out to see us and tell us dad's surgery and to show us the before-and-after pictures, he said he used a laser to blast away at the nodules that were causing blockage in dad's bladder. That's just what believers in our small groups need... the time and place and permission for Christ to do a work deep within us to blast away at the strongholds that keep us from walking free of hurt, guilt, and sin!
After they wheeled him into surgery, my mom, a pastor friend and his wife, and I went down to the cafeteria for some breakfast. As we ate our overpriced-yet-sumptuous powdered eggs and turkey sausage breakfast, the pastor friend told us about a 14 year old mainland Chinese girl who came to Christ shortly after she immigrated to the USA. His comment was powerful: "She didn't change from the outside-in as is the case with so many who make a profession of faith. She was radically transformed into a new creature from the inside-out!" What a great way to explain how she was changed by her introduction and life with Christ.
As I consider the kind of life-change I want to see in those who come to Christ as a result of the small groups in my care, I want inside-out life transformation that doesn't fade away or degrade into rote religious activity (going to Sunday services, showing up for small group, and basically becoming part of the establishment). Some might say that there are two kinds of conversion experiences... big, bold and rapid, and small, incremental change over a much longer period of time. One might even argue that the bold and rapid approach fades too quickly, favoring a slower transformation.
Regardless of the length of time it takes to see visible signs of transformation due to personality type, emotional health, or willingness to change, the process must be from the inside-out and not the outside-in!
For the last few weeks I've been blogging about discipleship, but dad's surgical procedure and the pastor's comment have me chewing on a new aspect of helping new believers just after conversion with deliverance. While this term has been used in a far more pentecostal, "scare the demons out of a person with Holy Ghost power" it not a bad term if defined properly.
When a person first comes to Christ, they may confess a number of sins, which is an excellent practice. Heck, I'm still confessing them myself after 38 years of walking with Christ! However, what most believers from a traditional church background never come to understand is the difference between a fruit sin and a root sin. One can confess fruit sins all day long and he or she will continue to sin in that area. Now if one digs deep to expose the root of a sinful action or attitude and allows Christ to remove it and bring healing to that area of their heart and mind, it bears no more fruit.
Both my wife and I have been through Living Waters, a program from Desert Streams Ministry. It's an intensive, six-month process of examining mother and father wounds, narcissism, etc. Basically, it helps a believer examine and process through their relational and sexual brokenness, bringing each issue to the cross for Christ to deal with and heal (theophostic ministry).
While this intensive program was life changing for both of us, few commit to moving through it because it is so time intensive. Three hours a Sunday for half a year plus a couple of hours of homework per week is just too much for most to imagine moving through. Of course, if you see the depth of your brokenness, it's a lot easier to commit, eh?
This is why I believe it's so important for churches to have a freedom weekend once a quarter for new believers and incoming small group members from other churches or the congregation. They need to see that becoming a new creature is something they allow Christ to do from the inside out. There are a bunch of good materials for this, but far too few churches with small group ministries employ them as a first step for small group membership.
Of course, I do not believe one weekend event is enough, but it raises a permanent flag within the hearts of those who move through it and see they have far more healing to experience. This in turn would create a sense of urgency to go through something much more intense such as a Living Waters program.
Oh what heartache this would save if every incoming small group member, recently saved or brought to Christ as a child, had the opportunity to find freedom from satanic strongholds! If your new small group member assimilation process does not include deliverance, you better get it integrated sooner than later... or you won't have much of a small group ministry.
When the doctor came out to see us and tell us dad's surgery and to show us the before-and-after pictures, he said he used a laser to blast away at the nodules that were causing blockage in dad's bladder. That's just what believers in our small groups need... the time and place and permission for Christ to do a work deep within us to blast away at the strongholds that keep us from walking free of hurt, guilt, and sin!
The Senior Pastor
This week, I'm developing a chapter about the pastoral observations I have made when visiting world-class churches who are small group-driven.
What I've discovered is most interesting. If you were to interview any of the pastors of churches over 100,000 members around the world (and there's a good half dozen of them) they would tell you they are confident in their ability to hang on for dear life when it comes to pastoring their churches. You see, their church members, who are formed into relational teams called cells or small groups, are on fire for God and moving in all sorts of ministry directions. The pastor's role is to encourage, equip, and steer the small groups in the right direction so they don't find themselves in the wrong place. He does this through his sermons and interaction with leaders at small group leader gatherings and new leader training and one-on-ones with people throughout the calendar year.
He is the helmsman with his hand on the rudder and his church is the ship. God is moving the ship and providing the wind for the sails. In other words, theses senior pastors are not shouting to the people below deck, "Row harder or we'll never get there!" They're investing their time to make small course corrections and look at the current weather to see climate changes that might slow the boat down or cause it to hit high seas.
Therein lies the difference between many pastors I've encountered through ministry. They see small group ministry as a tool at their disposal, and a tool specifically designed to do something lacking in the big church services each week. Contrast this mentality with the senior pastor whose small group ministry is the focus of mission and ministry, and the weekend service draws the small groups together for corporate worship, instruction, and vision and mission reinforcement.
This is not a simple issue of focusing on what's most important because both the small group and the big group are indeed important. However, I firmly believe that if one must serve the other—if it has to be that way—the corporate weekend service should support the mission and ministry going on in small groups where the relational, "Christ in the midst" stuff is happening.
Here's something to chew on until next week: Is your small group ministry headed in a direction with trimmed sails that requires some course correction, or are you constantly finding yourself saying, "Row harder! There's no wind for the direction I'm trying to steer this ship!"?
What I've discovered is most interesting. If you were to interview any of the pastors of churches over 100,000 members around the world (and there's a good half dozen of them) they would tell you they are confident in their ability to hang on for dear life when it comes to pastoring their churches. You see, their church members, who are formed into relational teams called cells or small groups, are on fire for God and moving in all sorts of ministry directions. The pastor's role is to encourage, equip, and steer the small groups in the right direction so they don't find themselves in the wrong place. He does this through his sermons and interaction with leaders at small group leader gatherings and new leader training and one-on-ones with people throughout the calendar year.
He is the helmsman with his hand on the rudder and his church is the ship. God is moving the ship and providing the wind for the sails. In other words, theses senior pastors are not shouting to the people below deck, "Row harder or we'll never get there!" They're investing their time to make small course corrections and look at the current weather to see climate changes that might slow the boat down or cause it to hit high seas.
Therein lies the difference between many pastors I've encountered through ministry. They see small group ministry as a tool at their disposal, and a tool specifically designed to do something lacking in the big church services each week. Contrast this mentality with the senior pastor whose small group ministry is the focus of mission and ministry, and the weekend service draws the small groups together for corporate worship, instruction, and vision and mission reinforcement.
This is not a simple issue of focusing on what's most important because both the small group and the big group are indeed important. However, I firmly believe that if one must serve the other—if it has to be that way—the corporate weekend service should support the mission and ministry going on in small groups where the relational, "Christ in the midst" stuff is happening.
Here's something to chew on until next week: Is your small group ministry headed in a direction with trimmed sails that requires some course correction, or are you constantly finding yourself saying, "Row harder! There's no wind for the direction I'm trying to steer this ship!"?
Have you hammered on your discipleship process lately?
Someone once told me that when the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I looked in my small groups toolbox over the weekend and I have a bunch of tools... but the hammer needs to strike the head of the discipleship nail once again because it's still sticking out of the wood. In fact, I'm confident that some churches have never even attempted to strike the nail ( because there is no nail to be found) while others have tried but failed (considering all the marred wood surrounding the nail).
Another wise person once told me that if you ask the right questions, you'll get the right answers. So, here's some of the best questions I can find to help develop a discipleship path that actually moves people from spiritual immaturity to maturity and into leading others along the same path.
Where am I?
A couple of weeks ago, I bought a GPS unit. What an amazing little gadget and time-saver. However, as nifty as it is, the thing is worthless for providing direction to the driver if it cannot obtain the requisite satellite signal to inform the GPS unit where it is on planet Earth. Without a point of origination, it's a very expensive road map that's cumbersome and not worth the time to use over a printed map from the gas station.
Many church discipleship programs/processes have no instrument in place to help people determine a point of origination. Without some process or tool to discover where one finds himself or herself on the giant map of Christian maturity, one can never move in any direction with confidence knowing he or she is progressing toward a destination.
My father discovered this fundamental discipleship principle in the 1980's. He developed a little booklet entitled The Journey Guide For New Christians that is still for sale today and does a good job of helping a new believer—with the help of a mentor—determine where they are with a knowledge of God, God's values, their own learning style, and basic milestones for a road to spiritual maturity.
When I turned it on my new GPS for the first time, I was forced to walk outside so it could find out where I was. When a satellite signal was found, the gizmo came alive with features. It changed screens and said aloud, "Where do you want to go?"
A self-assessment tool will help a believer see where they are and where they can go with Christ. It also shows the believer how important their small group is in the process of working out your (plural use of the word) salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). If you don't have an initial interview piece like this in your discipleship process, you no longer need to wonder why people don't start down your discipleship path in the first place or why folks don't make it through it ... they have no idea they need to make a move in the right direction. Self-assessment is an excellent inoculation for spiritual alzheimer's.
Where am I supposed to go?
I have a confession to share here. For many years, I believed (and taught) that it was vital to the small group ministry's success that we disciple new believers into strong group leaders. In other words, the core motivation was to train believers to a point to where they could expand a man-made structure inside a local church.
Friends, there are only two reasons to disciple others into spiritual maturity:
1. We're called to do it by Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18-20.
2. It's heathy for everyone involved in the process.
Today, I firmly believe we are to make disciples to build the kingdom of God and provide individuals with a strong, driving sense of personal and corporate purpose in life. If we do this well, the church gets an endless number of people who can be mobilized as small group leaders as one of their first leadership responsibilities. You read that right. Small group leadership isn't a big thing really, and it should be the first of many leadership roles a believer embraces.
So, to answer the question, Where am I supposed to go?, a church must examine its mission and vision and create an end-goal that is in perfect alignment.
My mom was brought up in the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination. With great regularity, her pastor invited CMA missionaries to come and share about their missions work in Africa, Asia and South America. As she aged and matured in Christ, she felt that winning the prize (Phil. 3:14) was to serve the Lord as an overseas vocational missionary.
The CMA continues to cast a strong vision for vocational missions, and they use their small groups as a support structure to raise up missionaries. What does your discipleship path reflect? Does it answer the question for the disciple, "Where am I supposed to go?"
How am I to get there?
I no longer teach there is a superior way of helping a believer get from point A to point Z. There are many learning styles and methods. However, I will say this about myself—I do not learn in classrooms or by reading books. I learn by interacting with someone who loves me deeply and is willing to walk with me into whatever I need to experience so I can learn verbally. (There are actually seven types of learning styles. Check out this web page for more information about them.
I don't profess to be a discipleship expert by any means. But I do know that offering a discipleship class ain't gonna cut the mustard. It will require small group members taking responsibility for other small group members to get the job done.
I love the analogy of hiking up a sizable mountain with a guide. The mountain is so large that part of the mountain rises above the clouds and I can't see the summit. However, I'm confident I'll make it to the top. Why? I am motivated by my senior pastor, who has been to the summit many times. Moreover, I am not alone... I have a friend who's been much higher in elevation on this climb than I have ever been, and he's come back down the mountain to show me the way.
As we hike along a steep path, I know the climb won't happen fast and we're not in a hurry. Each day, we consider the day's pace and how long it will take us to get from the base camp to the camp found at 1,200 feet. There, we will learn about the rock formations ahead and learn techniques for climbing those rocks. We'll get tools for that part of the journey, and build upon what we learned when we were hiking in the days before on lower elevations.
Where will we camp along the journey?
Most of the discipleship paths I have examined carefully have covered ground in the areas of basics of the faith such as the depravity of man, the true nature of God, the life of Jesus Christ, the work of the cross, salvation by grace, water baptism, the Trinity, tithing, avoiding sin, developing spiritual disciplines, and the inerrancy of the Bible. I'd want all this in my church's discipleship path for sure.
Yet much is missing. What about freedom from satanic strongholds and the need for deliverance? How about training for relational evangelism and mentoring/discipling a new Christian effectively? There are many other areas along the spiritual path to maturity that may not be easy for a mentor-guide to help a believer move through. That's where the church must rise to the occasion with corporately implemented events. At strategic places in every discipleship process, there must be events (camps) where the local church helps believers move to the next level.
The Vineyard church where my wife and I serve has a six month intensive program to help people walk through and out of relational and sexual brokenness called Living Waters. While I've been through this process, I am also a big fan of weekend events like Encounter God, which help the believer see the need for something much deeper.
The combination of weekend events in the form of retreats and mentoring makes for a powerful and transformational process.
Who else is going along?
I have a lot of axes to grind when it comes to the way people do church, but none needs grinding more than what I'm about to share. If the church was commanded to make disciples, why does it so often fall short of the mandate by discipling only those rare individuals who want to sign up for it? Discipleship is something every small group member should be involved with, and they should know their current position on the path. Any discipleship process for a small group ministry that's worth its weight in salt involves everyone in the disciplemaking process.
This is an easy thing to conceptually agree with in theory, but a much harder thing to do in reality. My grandfather would shout, "There's a fly in the ointment!"
Many a small group ministry has zero discipleship going on beyond what is heard from the pulpit. Even if a stellar discipleship pathway were set in place, many existing small group members would say they are already mature Christians and don't need to go through it.
One in five would be correct by my estimation. And that 20% aren't that mature in Christ. If they were, they'd instantly see the opportunity to mentor others.
Implementing a new discipleship process must be done very carefully. Donning my strategic hat, I'd say that the latter portions should be implemented first with the so-called "mature" believers in the small group ministry... spiritual gift assessments and relational evangelism training would be two higher milestones I'd want to move through first, after accountability partnerships have been established among the members.
I am certain of one truth about small group ministry: everyone must be personally involved in the Great Commission. When this is happening, the small group structure is welcomed by everyone involved because it supports the lived-out values of the disciple makers. Let me repeat a small group truth here to insure it's caught through repetition: Small groups will not move lazy consumer Christians into action. Structures don't motivate anyone who isn't already motivated.
[End Note: I cannot take credit for many of the principles and concepts in this blog entry. That credit belongs to my dad, who was one of the first pastors I know of who create a systematic equipping system for small group members which I have moved through numerous times with new believers.]
Another wise person once told me that if you ask the right questions, you'll get the right answers. So, here's some of the best questions I can find to help develop a discipleship path that actually moves people from spiritual immaturity to maturity and into leading others along the same path.
Where am I?
A couple of weeks ago, I bought a GPS unit. What an amazing little gadget and time-saver. However, as nifty as it is, the thing is worthless for providing direction to the driver if it cannot obtain the requisite satellite signal to inform the GPS unit where it is on planet Earth. Without a point of origination, it's a very expensive road map that's cumbersome and not worth the time to use over a printed map from the gas station.
Many church discipleship programs/processes have no instrument in place to help people determine a point of origination. Without some process or tool to discover where one finds himself or herself on the giant map of Christian maturity, one can never move in any direction with confidence knowing he or she is progressing toward a destination.
My father discovered this fundamental discipleship principle in the 1980's. He developed a little booklet entitled The Journey Guide For New Christians that is still for sale today and does a good job of helping a new believer—with the help of a mentor—determine where they are with a knowledge of God, God's values, their own learning style, and basic milestones for a road to spiritual maturity.
When I turned it on my new GPS for the first time, I was forced to walk outside so it could find out where I was. When a satellite signal was found, the gizmo came alive with features. It changed screens and said aloud, "Where do you want to go?"
A self-assessment tool will help a believer see where they are and where they can go with Christ. It also shows the believer how important their small group is in the process of working out your (plural use of the word) salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). If you don't have an initial interview piece like this in your discipleship process, you no longer need to wonder why people don't start down your discipleship path in the first place or why folks don't make it through it ... they have no idea they need to make a move in the right direction. Self-assessment is an excellent inoculation for spiritual alzheimer's.
Where am I supposed to go?
I have a confession to share here. For many years, I believed (and taught) that it was vital to the small group ministry's success that we disciple new believers into strong group leaders. In other words, the core motivation was to train believers to a point to where they could expand a man-made structure inside a local church.
Friends, there are only two reasons to disciple others into spiritual maturity:
1. We're called to do it by Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18-20.
2. It's heathy for everyone involved in the process.
Today, I firmly believe we are to make disciples to build the kingdom of God and provide individuals with a strong, driving sense of personal and corporate purpose in life. If we do this well, the church gets an endless number of people who can be mobilized as small group leaders as one of their first leadership responsibilities. You read that right. Small group leadership isn't a big thing really, and it should be the first of many leadership roles a believer embraces.
So, to answer the question, Where am I supposed to go?, a church must examine its mission and vision and create an end-goal that is in perfect alignment.
My mom was brought up in the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination. With great regularity, her pastor invited CMA missionaries to come and share about their missions work in Africa, Asia and South America. As she aged and matured in Christ, she felt that winning the prize (Phil. 3:14) was to serve the Lord as an overseas vocational missionary.
The CMA continues to cast a strong vision for vocational missions, and they use their small groups as a support structure to raise up missionaries. What does your discipleship path reflect? Does it answer the question for the disciple, "Where am I supposed to go?"
How am I to get there?
I no longer teach there is a superior way of helping a believer get from point A to point Z. There are many learning styles and methods. However, I will say this about myself—I do not learn in classrooms or by reading books. I learn by interacting with someone who loves me deeply and is willing to walk with me into whatever I need to experience so I can learn verbally. (There are actually seven types of learning styles. Check out this web page for more information about them.
I don't profess to be a discipleship expert by any means. But I do know that offering a discipleship class ain't gonna cut the mustard. It will require small group members taking responsibility for other small group members to get the job done.
I love the analogy of hiking up a sizable mountain with a guide. The mountain is so large that part of the mountain rises above the clouds and I can't see the summit. However, I'm confident I'll make it to the top. Why? I am motivated by my senior pastor, who has been to the summit many times. Moreover, I am not alone... I have a friend who's been much higher in elevation on this climb than I have ever been, and he's come back down the mountain to show me the way.
As we hike along a steep path, I know the climb won't happen fast and we're not in a hurry. Each day, we consider the day's pace and how long it will take us to get from the base camp to the camp found at 1,200 feet. There, we will learn about the rock formations ahead and learn techniques for climbing those rocks. We'll get tools for that part of the journey, and build upon what we learned when we were hiking in the days before on lower elevations.
Where will we camp along the journey?
Most of the discipleship paths I have examined carefully have covered ground in the areas of basics of the faith such as the depravity of man, the true nature of God, the life of Jesus Christ, the work of the cross, salvation by grace, water baptism, the Trinity, tithing, avoiding sin, developing spiritual disciplines, and the inerrancy of the Bible. I'd want all this in my church's discipleship path for sure.
Yet much is missing. What about freedom from satanic strongholds and the need for deliverance? How about training for relational evangelism and mentoring/discipling a new Christian effectively? There are many other areas along the spiritual path to maturity that may not be easy for a mentor-guide to help a believer move through. That's where the church must rise to the occasion with corporately implemented events. At strategic places in every discipleship process, there must be events (camps) where the local church helps believers move to the next level.
The Vineyard church where my wife and I serve has a six month intensive program to help people walk through and out of relational and sexual brokenness called Living Waters. While I've been through this process, I am also a big fan of weekend events like Encounter God, which help the believer see the need for something much deeper.
The combination of weekend events in the form of retreats and mentoring makes for a powerful and transformational process.
Who else is going along?
I have a lot of axes to grind when it comes to the way people do church, but none needs grinding more than what I'm about to share. If the church was commanded to make disciples, why does it so often fall short of the mandate by discipling only those rare individuals who want to sign up for it? Discipleship is something every small group member should be involved with, and they should know their current position on the path. Any discipleship process for a small group ministry that's worth its weight in salt involves everyone in the disciplemaking process.
This is an easy thing to conceptually agree with in theory, but a much harder thing to do in reality. My grandfather would shout, "There's a fly in the ointment!"
Many a small group ministry has zero discipleship going on beyond what is heard from the pulpit. Even if a stellar discipleship pathway were set in place, many existing small group members would say they are already mature Christians and don't need to go through it.
One in five would be correct by my estimation. And that 20% aren't that mature in Christ. If they were, they'd instantly see the opportunity to mentor others.
Implementing a new discipleship process must be done very carefully. Donning my strategic hat, I'd say that the latter portions should be implemented first with the so-called "mature" believers in the small group ministry... spiritual gift assessments and relational evangelism training would be two higher milestones I'd want to move through first, after accountability partnerships have been established among the members.
I am certain of one truth about small group ministry: everyone must be personally involved in the Great Commission. When this is happening, the small group structure is welcomed by everyone involved because it supports the lived-out values of the disciple makers. Let me repeat a small group truth here to insure it's caught through repetition: Small groups will not move lazy consumer Christians into action. Structures don't motivate anyone who isn't already motivated.
[End Note: I cannot take credit for many of the principles and concepts in this blog entry. That credit belongs to my dad, who was one of the first pastors I know of who create a systematic equipping system for small group members which I have moved through numerous times with new believers.]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)