Christian Swartz got it right

I re-discovered a really powerful quote on page 32 of Natural Church Development by Christian Swarz...

“Holistic small groups are the natural place for Christians to learn to serve others—both inside and outside the group—with their spiritual gifts. The planned multiplication of small groups is made possible through the continual development of leaders as a by-product of the normal group life. The meaning of the term ‘discipleship’ becomes practical in the context of holistic small groups: the transfer of life, not rote learning of abstract concepts.”

A number of things jumped out at me after I read it a couple of times:

HSG's are a natural place to learn to serve others with spiritual gifts. So often, church members take a class on spiritual gifts and it's based on personal observation and areas of interest or comfort. Practicing those gifts and refining their use to be powerful for God is not easily done after the class is concluded.

Multiplication is made possible through the continual development of leaders as a by-product of normal group life. Wow. Just read that a couple of times and let it seep into your heart, not just your mind! Normal HSG life should produce leaders, not followers. This undoubtedly requires that every member look in the mirror and see a minister, not a member of a group.

Discipleship is the transfer of life, not the rote learning of abstract concepts. Couldn't have stated it better myself! Life transfer requires one-on-one mentoring and members taking personal responsibility for other members. The leader of a group cannot disciple everyone, and it cannot be done just in the meetings.

Lifeway is sponsoring a free webinar Summit next month in Nashville and bringing me in as well as a number of other voices from the small group world. Please pray that I will be able to communicate the content of Swarz's paragraph above powerfully. There's so much consumer-based small group "ministry" in America going on that most can't even get their head around what the priesthood of all believers looks like any more, let alone lead a church into it through their small group ministry!

Ignorance surrounding Spiritual Gifts

Barna released a study on Americans and spiritual gifts over the weekend that was downright shocking. 68% of Americans who say they are Christians do not know about spiritual gifts... and the ones that do seem to focus on a few public ones that are the safest (teacher, service, faith).

Friends, I am not surprised by this report. The American church has become like WalMart or Costco for the most part. Huge warehouses for worship with a very low cost of membership. They add small group ministry to "compliment" what is not found in the warehouse experience (relationships) but it's a sociological solution, not an answer to a theological mandate.

In the warehouse, teaching will always be the top gift because the guy behind the pulpit practices it (some are really gifted in it and others simply know how to wear a designer suit and blow sunshine up their you-know-what to make them feel warm inside). And "service" will always be next... the warehouse needs a lot of volunteers to greet, work with kids, get the cars parked straight, clean up the facility, work the expresso machines, etc.

I guess you can clearly read my disgust in this sad state of the American church and the lack of spiritual gifts among members!

Spiritual gifts were given to us as believers to edify or build up one another. If you're not living in true biblical community, it's incredibly difficult to learn your gifts and use them powerfully. At the most, you'll attempt to use some of the easier gifts because they're comfortable.

I've been greatly impacted by a six-week small group curriculum piece I edited last year for Dr. Paul Ford. It moves a small group into an understanding of how God wants to use them powerfully in each other's lives with the use of a very unique assessment tool that a person does not take himself, but gives to others for observational feedback on gifting. Wow. What a difference it makes to have others encourage you in the gifts they see you operating in with power vs. the ones you want to maintain because you're comfortable!

I want to encourage you to read Barna's article on spiritual gifts AND DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN YOUR SMALL GROUPS so Barna's report is completely opposite from what is going on among your small group members.

The full article is located here: The Barna Report on Spiritual Gifts

If this article doesn't light a fire under you, I need to check your pulse to see if you are still alive.