Our church is in transition now. Our senior pastor of 15 years has been called to a church 12 hours to our south, so our Minister of Discipleship has taken on the role of Interim Pastor. I have been talking with our Discipleship pastor for two years about developing a small group ministry, and as I said in the last post, he has given me reins to lead as God leads me. I have put on paper the beginnings of a small group handbook, based on our discussions and the readings that he's had me do, along with things that God has convicted me about along the way.
My first conversation yesterday was with our Minister of Discipleship, come Interim pastor, about this document. The ideas that God has drawn me to fit perfectly into his plans for continuing to lead our church into a more evangelistic mindset. The pastor wants us to have four Go Fish Sundays a year, with an emphasis on reaching out. This dovetails perfectly with a conviction I have for having front yard barbecues reaching out to people within walking distance of our small group homes. I believe God is definitely working in our hearts, simultaneously, to reach out to love on others and to teach our church more and more to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
My next conversation was with our Equipping Director. She has a passion for seeing people match their God-designed gifts and passions with service in the church. She also has on her heart to develop a new to the church class, a new Christians class, and to continue offering a Discovery class (for gift, talent, passion discovery and connection to ministries needing those things). This fits perfectly with a "Finding Your Place" class that I feel should be developed to draw people who are not already connected together. Until we know who the unconnected people are, we don't know who needs invited into small groups.
My third conversation was with our Minister of Worship. In this interim time, he is taking over the staff liaison position for small groups. He and I talked about a GroupConnect event (like Andy Stanley's GroupLink) that I thought was a total flop last January. We had more leaders show up than people interested in small groups. There were several reasons for it, including lack of early publicity, timing of the event itself, etc. Our Minister of Worship challenged me to rethink success or failure, especially as he challenged me to realize that there were potential leaders at the event that are not currently leading. No one followed up with them. That is a challenge for me, in the next few weeks, to be honest about losing a possible connection, and to seek forgiveness in that. At that time, I did not feel I had the authority to make the connection, but maybe I just did not yet understand my role. It's in the past, and God has shown me incredible grace as He's grown me in this role. I want to honor Him through authenticity with others, encouraging them to do the same with their small group members, current or future.
In the upcoming weeks, I need to begin to build relationships with those who are currently leading. I need to see their hearts and how I can support them. Also, I need to see how they can contribute to this structure that God is leading me to develop. I know the structure is not set in stone, and I have to elicit their opinions so as to gain their trust and buy-in.
Currently, we have five groups in the church. We have two groups that probably need to multiply, and quickly. One has twelve members, ten of which have been together for over two years. To my knowledge, they are very comfortable, so far, with staying just as they are. The other has about 15 members and at least has begun the discussion of multiplying. I pray for sincere hearts seeking to serve God and be open to bringing others into the beauty that is community.
His will be done.
Lynn
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
What in the world am I doing?
In July of 2006, a friend and I embarked on a journey that has completely changed our way of doing life.
We began meeting with 5 other people to get deeper into Bible study and to build better friendships. We met almost every Sunday evening for two and a half years, digging into the Bible, praying for each other, playing games together, and more. But our interaction did not stop there. What began as a desire to draw closer moved to a way of living where we helped each other with moves, we supported each other with family deaths, we sent a friend off to do missions elsewhere, and the list goes on. We celebrated birthdays together. We watched movies together. We ate meals together. All in all, we did life together. In the course of those two and a half years, God brought nearly thirty people through this group process with us. We saw incredible spiritual growth. It was truly awesome.
A year and a half later, that friend would become my beautiful bride and partner in ministry.
But there was another side to this story. We, in effect, started a small group, but we did not really know what we were doing. I pushed too hard on some people, and I ignored some things in my own life and in others that should have been addressed. We had more authenticity than we ever thought possible, but, as I heard at a conference today, real people bring real messes when they get real authentic with each other.
Through experiencing small group life as a member of another group, and then a leader of third group, God has challenged me to be as authentic as I can with those around me while I ask them to do the same. God has taken the Pharisee that I was three years ago and begun to impress the incredibly important need for grace, both in small groups and in the church as a whole. I need to love on people where they are, just like Jesus did.
Recently, I've been asked to "take the reins" of developing the system and implementation of an intentional small group ministry in our church. I have read all kinds of resources about this in the last few years, including authors such as Bill Donahue, Russ Robinson, Andy Stanley, and others. I have seen group life in action. But what I am drawn back to, each time I really think about what small groups truly mean to me, is in Mark 12:28-34.
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Loving God, and loving others. That is what I need to be about doing, and that's what I need to lead others to do, as well. I want Jesus to be able to say to me that I'm not far from the kingdom of God, either.
I feel strongly convicted that we learn to grow in our faith when we can talk about it, and we need a safe place to do that. Small groups can provide that safe place to try out being right, or even wrong, and lovingly encouraged through sharing our faith in a way that loves on those around us (our neighbors).
I'm hoping to share my thoughts about building group life, hopefully on a weekly basis, as God works His will and His way in and through my life.
Please walk along with me as I share this process and how God works in mighty ways in my life and the lives of those around me.
In Christ,
Lynn
We began meeting with 5 other people to get deeper into Bible study and to build better friendships. We met almost every Sunday evening for two and a half years, digging into the Bible, praying for each other, playing games together, and more. But our interaction did not stop there. What began as a desire to draw closer moved to a way of living where we helped each other with moves, we supported each other with family deaths, we sent a friend off to do missions elsewhere, and the list goes on. We celebrated birthdays together. We watched movies together. We ate meals together. All in all, we did life together. In the course of those two and a half years, God brought nearly thirty people through this group process with us. We saw incredible spiritual growth. It was truly awesome.
A year and a half later, that friend would become my beautiful bride and partner in ministry.
But there was another side to this story. We, in effect, started a small group, but we did not really know what we were doing. I pushed too hard on some people, and I ignored some things in my own life and in others that should have been addressed. We had more authenticity than we ever thought possible, but, as I heard at a conference today, real people bring real messes when they get real authentic with each other.
Through experiencing small group life as a member of another group, and then a leader of third group, God has challenged me to be as authentic as I can with those around me while I ask them to do the same. God has taken the Pharisee that I was three years ago and begun to impress the incredibly important need for grace, both in small groups and in the church as a whole. I need to love on people where they are, just like Jesus did.
Recently, I've been asked to "take the reins" of developing the system and implementation of an intentional small group ministry in our church. I have read all kinds of resources about this in the last few years, including authors such as Bill Donahue, Russ Robinson, Andy Stanley, and others. I have seen group life in action. But what I am drawn back to, each time I really think about what small groups truly mean to me, is in Mark 12:28-34.
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Loving God, and loving others. That is what I need to be about doing, and that's what I need to lead others to do, as well. I want Jesus to be able to say to me that I'm not far from the kingdom of God, either.
I feel strongly convicted that we learn to grow in our faith when we can talk about it, and we need a safe place to do that. Small groups can provide that safe place to try out being right, or even wrong, and lovingly encouraged through sharing our faith in a way that loves on those around us (our neighbors).
I'm hoping to share my thoughts about building group life, hopefully on a weekly basis, as God works His will and His way in and through my life.
Please walk along with me as I share this process and how God works in mighty ways in my life and the lives of those around me.
In Christ,
Lynn
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