I’m taking my annual trip through C.J. Mahaney’s Why Small Groups and came across this rather spectacular piece of history I’ve missed before. If you are familiar with church history, you probably have heard of the Wesley brothers. John may be the larger figure in history, but Samuel Wesley is our focus today. Most small group fanatics know Samuel Wesley is basically the architect of what we now call “accountability groups.” He started groups called ” Band Societies that Mahaney refers to in calling small groups towards a correct understanding of how the community of saints is involved in the sanctification process of each individual in the community. Check out the questions you had to answer “yes” to if you were going to join one of these small groups:
1. Have you peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ?
2. Do you desire to be told of your faults?
3. Do you desire that every one of us should tell you, from time to time, whatsoever is in his heart concerning you?
4. Consider! Do you desire that we should tell you whatsoever we think, whatsoever we fear, whatsoever we hear, concerning you?
5. Do you desire that, in doing this, we should come as close as possible, that we should cut to the quick, and search your heart to the bottom?
6. Is it your desire and design to be on this, and all other occasions, entirely open, so as to speak everything that is in your heart without exception, without disguise or without reserve?
Whoa. Down to business hu? The reality is, if God’s plan A for how we grow in Christ’s likeness is through the collective ministry of the saints to one another, then these questions are not so far off are they? The primary way the gospel is going to reach into the deep recesses of your life is if you are open to allowing others to peer in and show you, through the scalpel of scripture, what it really looks like in there. So get serious in your small group…if you can take it.
Showing posts with label small groups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label small groups. Show all posts
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Summit Church on Small Groups
This year we have collectively taken up two prayers as small group leaders for each of our small groups here at the Summit in 2010. They are:
1.Every group would witness at least one person come to know Christ in 2010.
2.Every group would plant a new small group by the end of the year.
These are not ministry “goals,” these are our expressions of God’s mandate to the church: make disciples.
I imagine this not being received all that well, but the scriptures are clear. Jesus looked at his disciples after he conquered death and commissioned them to one thing: make disciples. So this is what we will aim for in 2010, making disciples.
If we are honest and really pray these prayers, some of us and some in our groups are going to start getting uncomfortable as God begins to put non-christians increasingly in our path that we can tell them the great news of the gospel. But when the group actually walks alongside someone who comes from death to life, I promise the joy of sharing Christ will become infectious in that group. I believe a big reason our people don’t share Christ is because they don’t actually believe God will bring salvation to those they know. We are fickle in our humanity in that way. But when we see God go to work on an atheist and turn him into a worshipper of Jesus, our own faith is bolstered and we share with renewed boldness.
On the other prayer, we don’t just want to make converts, but make disciples. And disciples are ones who make other disciples. That means the community of the local church, when healthy, is ever growing. So if we want people in our small groups to become “disciples” and not get stuck at “convert” we want to empower them to make disciples. That means encouraging their own evangelism and opening our church community to those people. Again this will be uncomfortable to some who’ve become more inward focused than they realize. But once the leader guides the group over that awkward hurdle, a fresh flame of disciple making will have room to grow into a white hot disciple making movement in our church!
1.Every group would witness at least one person come to know Christ in 2010.
2.Every group would plant a new small group by the end of the year.
These are not ministry “goals,” these are our expressions of God’s mandate to the church: make disciples.
I imagine this not being received all that well, but the scriptures are clear. Jesus looked at his disciples after he conquered death and commissioned them to one thing: make disciples. So this is what we will aim for in 2010, making disciples.
If we are honest and really pray these prayers, some of us and some in our groups are going to start getting uncomfortable as God begins to put non-christians increasingly in our path that we can tell them the great news of the gospel. But when the group actually walks alongside someone who comes from death to life, I promise the joy of sharing Christ will become infectious in that group. I believe a big reason our people don’t share Christ is because they don’t actually believe God will bring salvation to those they know. We are fickle in our humanity in that way. But when we see God go to work on an atheist and turn him into a worshipper of Jesus, our own faith is bolstered and we share with renewed boldness.
On the other prayer, we don’t just want to make converts, but make disciples. And disciples are ones who make other disciples. That means the community of the local church, when healthy, is ever growing. So if we want people in our small groups to become “disciples” and not get stuck at “convert” we want to empower them to make disciples. That means encouraging their own evangelism and opening our church community to those people. Again this will be uncomfortable to some who’ve become more inward focused than they realize. But once the leader guides the group over that awkward hurdle, a fresh flame of disciple making will have room to grow into a white hot disciple making movement in our church!
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