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Identifying Potential Leaders Within Your Small Group

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by Brian Phipps

Moses identified and developed Joshua. 

Elijah identified and developed Elisha. 

Jesus identified and developed Peter. 

Paul identified and developed Timothy. 

Who have you identified and developed to lead in your group?

Identifying and developing new leaders can be one of the most exciting and fulfilling practices for a small group leader. Yet based on my experience and the experience of many others I have spoken to, developing new leaders seems to be a lost art that only a few enjoy. Current leaders simply are not raising up new leaders. It does not need to be this way. 

The process of developing new leaders is simple: 

Identify your new leader.

Partner with your new leader.

Release your new leader.

This article’s focus is on identifying potential leaders. Many leaders falter at this step because they start by looking for a person’s group-leading competency. I often hear leaders say, “No one in this group is ready to lead.” While that statement may be true, it is partly true because they have never been given a chance to lead or they were asked to lead without adequate preparation. 

If you want to see more potential leaders in your current group, don’t start by looking for their competency. Start by looking for the following four criteria: 

Character 

Is this person growing? Are they taking next steps in their faith? If so, they have character. They do not need to have “arrived” at a certain level to begin developing their leadership ability.

Consistency

Does this person regularly show up for group? Are they consistently prepared for the conversation? Do their actions correlate with their words? If so, they are consistent.

Chemistry 

Does this person get along with most everyone else? If so, they have favorable chemistry. I do not know anyone who gets along with everyone, but I do know some who do not get along with many. Good group leaders are generally those who get along with most people.

Charisma

Do you and other people in the group listen when this person speaks? Does this person have people hanging around them before and after the group? If so, this person has charisma.

The ICNU (I see in you) Conversation

If a person meets these four criteria, it is time to initiate an “I see in you” conversation with them. Invite this person to come 15 minutes early to a group meeting to share what you see in them. This is such an encouraging exercise! After sharing the specific ways you see character, consistency, chemistry, and charisma in them, tell them that these are the four most important qualities you look for in a new group leader. Before they have a chance to respond, let them know that you want to work with them over the next few weeks to prepare them to lead the group. It is during this process that you will measure their competency.

If a person meets three of the four criteria, you can have a similar conversation with them. Have the ICNU conversation and how the three criteria you see are three of the four you look for in a new leader. The only difference in this conversation is that you will encourage them to consider asking Jesus to develop the one criteria that is missing. 

For example, if consistency is missing encourage them to ask Jesus to give them a desire and commitment to be more consistent. If they are missing the chemistry element, you can encourage them to pray for Jesus to bear more spiritual fruit in them. Developing this fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control goes a long way in developing chemistry with more people. The most difficult of these criteria to develop is charisma. Even so, God can develop confidence and vision in them that can elevate their potential to lead. If they develop that forth criteria, they too are ready to begin the process that will help you measure their competency.

Four Progressive Steps to Measuring Competency

1.  I do. You watch. We talk.

2.  I do. You help. We talk.

3.  You do. I help. We talk.

4.  You do. I watch. We talk.

Much has been written about these four steps of leadership development.  The brilliance of this process is the ability to measure person’s competency incrementally, minimizing embarrassment and perceived failure by thrusting them into a leadership situation prematurely. If a person moves through all four phases of this process successfully, it is time to enter the second phase of developing a leader, partnering with a new leader. I will cover that exciting topic in a later blog.

A Simple Tool

Identifying a new leader is not difficult, but it does take intentionality. One helpful tip for keeping this a priority is to have a notepad that you keep with you while leading your group. List out the four criteria on that notebook with space between each of them. When you notice someone demonstrating a given criteria, put their initials under that heading. When they get their initials under three or four of them, it is time to have those conversations.

A Promise

Over and over I hear how awesome it is to be a grandparent.  Almost every grandparent I know says it is WAY better than being a parent! Currently, I have three kids but no grandchildren. If these people are correct, my wife and I have some awesome days ahead because being a parent has been awesome! 

While I am not a grandparent physically, I am a grandparent spiritually. I know the joys of watching those I have invested in turn and invest in others. Their spiritual growth went into in hyper-drive when they started leading just like mine did when I was first asked to lead a Sunday school group many years ago. Their joy went up and my delight in them went up. I believe God smiled too. His kingdom just made room for more people to join and grow.

Start identifying a new leader today!

Brian Phipps is the founder of Disciples Made, a Not For Profit 501c3 Ministry that provides turn-key and custom disciple-making tools that integrate online and in person experiences. Brian coined the “Outcome Focused, Habit Fueled, and Content Flavored” language of the intentional disciple-making environment which provides increased spiritual effectiveness in traditional small group systems. Brian’s vision is to leverage the small group strategy to catalyze 50 Disciple-Making Movements in 50 Cities by 2040. 
Brian served for nine years as the Next Steps pastor at Westside Family Church in Kansas City, KS. Brian is also experienced as a church planter and senior pastor. Brian received his BA in religion from the University of South Carolina, and a Masters of Divinity and M.A. in Counseling from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. Brian and Carol were married in 1994 and have three children, Hannah, Sam, and Caleb. 
Church Leadership

Political Conversations With Your Group

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by Will Johnston

Abortion. Gun ownership. Immigration. Global warming. Tax cuts. Gender identity. Race relations.

These are critical issues facing our society and our country today, and as such, they are critical issues facing followers of Jesus.

Here’s another one, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35, ESV).

You notice that Jesus didn’t say, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love those who agree with you, look like you, act like you, talk like you, vote like you, think like you, and live like you.”  If he wanted us to do that, he needn’t have said anything.  It’s usually pretty easy to get along with the people who are just like us.

I spent a decade living and working in Washington DC.  My career began in the political world before ending up in the pastorate, and during that time I got to know gay Hispanic liberals, white conservatives from the heartland, and African-Americans from the inner-city.  I knew wealthy and powerful people, and I knew the down and out.  On any given weekend the church I attended (and later joined the staff of) could have elected officials and people who spent the night on a park bench worshipping in the same service.

When you’re digging into life with people, when you’re opening up yourself, and they’re opening up to you, there really aren’t any off-limits topics.  And politics are likely to come up.

But as small group members, leaders, and pastors, it’s incumbent on us to remember that Jesus’ command was not for us to hold a particular perspective on a given issue or to vote for a particular political party but rather to love one another.  And as important as all of those issues mentioned above might be, they’re not as important as Jesus’ command to love.

Here are a few ways we can show love to one another when political conversations arise at small group… or family gatherings, workplace lunches, and social outings for that matter.

Don’t assume.

There are people who love Jesus on just about every side of a given issue and certainly in both major political parties.  So don’t assume that everyone else in your group agrees with your perspective.  Avoid comments like, “I’m just praising God that so-and-so is our next Senator.” or “Maybe now we can finally get that law overturned.”  Statements like this tend to cause people who disagree to either lash out or to seethe silently.

In the first statement, you’re assuming your will is God’s will regarding a particular candidate, and most of the time it takes a whole lot of pride to presume to know exactly what God’s preferred election outcome is.

In the second statement you’re assuming that the others in the group agree with you that a particular law should be overturned.  They may have a totally different perspective.  At the worst, you can make people feel like they’re not welcome in the group because they don’t agree with you.

Don’t attack.

I’ve got a couple of good friends whose political perspectives have changed somewhat significantly over the past several years, and my own have shifted a bit as well.

In no case were these changes brought about because someone berated or belittled us.  They didn’t happen because someone told us we were defying God or that all good Christians think a particular way about a particular issue.

If you want to change someone’s mind, a full frontal assault is rarely productive.  When you’re offensive, it makes people defensive.

Don’t debate.

Participants in a debate have one goal in mind: to win.  The audience might watch a debate to gain perspective on an issue or learn about candidates, but the debate participants are rarely trying to get to the truth.  They’re trying to prove their point, to show that they’re better.

I can often win debates because I’m good at debating.   I can know I’m wrong and still win a debate.  If you’re having a conversation about politics at small group and your desire to win is greater than your desire to arrive at what is right (even if it means you’re wrong), then you’re not doing a very good job of loving the other people in your small group.

Do listen.

Rather than assume others agree with you, make space for them to disagree with you.  Say things like, “I know some of you may disagree with me on this, but I think this law is going to make our city a better place in three particular ways…”  That’s a rational and reasonable statement, and you’ve opened up the conversation for others to disagree rationally and reasonably.

Do ask questions.

Questions are far more powerful than statements.  When someone expresses a political view you disagree with, you can say, “I think you’re wrong, and here are three reasons why.”  Or you can say, “That’s interesting.  Why do you think that?”

The first puts the person on the defensive.  The second opens them up.  In listening to their reasons, you might actually learn something you didn’t know or have your own perspective changed.  If not, others will likely be more open to your opinion since you’ve been willing to listen first.  You’ll also be able to make a better case for your perspective if you know more about their reasoning.

Do engage.

Don’t be afraid of political conversations, and don’t feel like you need to avoid disagreeing with someone in the group.  Just be sure to disagree without being disagreeable.  We all have rough edges, and part of how those get smoothed down is when others lovingly engage with us.

Let us keep the words of Jesus, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” in mind in the midst of all of our conversations, because as critical as any particular political issue or race may be, none is as important as Jesus’ command to love.

Will Johnston is the Director of Build Community at Eastside Community Church in Anaheim, California. Will graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in theology, did a two-and-a-half year stint on Capitol Hill, and then joined the staff of National Community Church in Washington D.C., where he oversaw small groups.

Church Leadership

Remove Your Masks

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by Tyler Quillet

It’s that time of year when kids (and some sugar-craved adults) are running around your neighborhood in crazy costumes to collect candy. Each Halloween, we all think to ourselves at some point, “I wonder who is under that mask?” If you are a small group leader, you’ve probably asked that question about folks in your group as well. They may not be wearing a Spiderman mask to small group, but they certainly aren’t revealing their hearts either. So, how do we as small group leaders create an environment where the masks come off? It’s an important question, because masks hide important issues and struggles.

Nine years ago, my wife and I experienced our first of many miscarriages. We were broken. As much as we wanted to cancel small group that week, we knew that as leaders we had an opportunity to be vulnerable with our group. This could go a long way toward us all doing life in Jesus together in the years ahead. We were done with our study and it was time to share prayer requests, so we shared our news from that week. We wept as we opened ourselves up and shared our hurt, our anger and our confusion. The group’s response was something we could have never imagined. Crickets. Nobody said a word. They just sat there and stared at us. It took awkward to new levels. They didn’t know what to do or say, so they did and said…nothing. I finally broke the prolonged silence by praying a general prayer and as people left that evening, a few of the ladies gave my wife a hug to say they were sorry. That was it.

It would be really easy for me to get angry with our group for this. Clearly, we were hurt. We were a newer group of young couples and people weren’t totally comfortable with each other quite yet. However, do you know where the blame lies for that awkward evening? Right at my feet. As the leader, I hadn’t created an environment of transparency. I hadn’t yet modeled vulnerability. To that point, our new group was a bunch of people wearing masks who got together to eat good food and read the Bible together. We didn’t yet trust one another, and so everything shared up to that point as a group was fluffy and superficial. I had failed them, and so when we opened our hearts up, it was something they hadn’t experienced before and they didn’t know what to do.

A good friend of mine who I co-led a group with years ago often jokingly used the phrase, “It’s time to get naked.” Now, please don’t take this literally at your next small group meeting. It won’t go over well and you’ll end up in jail! But I love what that entails when it comes to our hearts. It’s time to strip away the pride, the embarrassment, and whatever else you are trying to cover your heart up with. It’s time to take the mask off of your heart and allow those you are in community with to see your struggles, your hurts, your emotions, your flaws, and your desperation for Jesus.

Doing this once isn’t going to make you a transparent group (see story above). However, modeling a transparent heart, asking transparency of your group each week, and loving and encouraging each other through the transparency is, over time, going to bring you all closer to one another. More importantly, it’s going to bring you all the closer to Jesus.

It’s up to you to ask the Lord for discernment in what to share with your group and when. As group leaders, we have to lead the way in bringing our people to a place of transparency. It may be difficult at first, but true discipleship begins to happen when we are doing life together, sharing our hearts and pointing one another towards Jesus each step of the way.

May your group continue to grow in heart-level sharing with one another, may you be faithful to care for one another as you share from the depths, and may you pray fervently for those who take off their masks and share what they desperately need from Jesus.

Tyler Quillet is the Discipleship Strategist for the Custom Bible Study team at LifeWay Christian Resources. He lives in the Nashville, TN area with his incredible wife, Cathie and two boys, Cylas and Bowen. Tyler spent 15 years as a pastor in Ohio before moving to the Nashville area and is passionate about serving churches and pouring into church leaders in a variety of ways.
Church Leadership

3 Advantages of Small (groups and the microchip)

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by Dwayne McCrary

The November 15, 1971 issue of Electronic News included an ad that read, “Announcing a new era in integrated electronics.” The ad announced that the first commercially available microprocessor was hitting the market. With that announcement, the Intel® 4004 chip launched a revolution we continue to see unfold today. The 4004 chip reminds us of the advantage of small.

Small also contributes to the effectiveness of a Bible study group. I don’t pretend to know what number makes a group small or large in your context, but for me, once a group exceeds 20, it is no longer small. And remember, 10 couples equals 20. In my experience, something is lost when a group exceeds that number.

So what makes small so powerful? There are at least 3 advantages.

Advantage 1: Teaching Options. The larger the group the more limited our options when it comes to how we can teach. Large groups tend to move us into presentation mode and out of teaching mode (which explains why a professor teaching a class of 100 usually lectures). Presentations are about content. Teaching is about engaging the people in the group; tailoring the group time to fit their experiences, needs, and learning styles. Small makes it possible for us to use a variety of teaching approaches, giving us more tools to use when tailoring the group experience.

Advantage 2: Flexibility. A strength of a large group is mass. That mass is also a weakness, limiting the places they can go as a group. For example, if the focus of a particular study was serving, we might move the group meeting to a local ministry location where we can meet and then serve through that organization. The larger the group, the less likely we will be able to do that. Small makes it possible for us to meet in all kinds of locations without overwhelming the location.

Advantage 3: Trust. Our willingness to share is a function of trust. The greater the trust, the greater our willingness to share. When we feel like we know the others in the group, we are more willing to take the risk of sharing our ideas and experiences. Informal conversations that take place as people arrive, when they are sharing a snack, or gathering their stuff to leave nurture this trust. The larger the group, the less likely these trust-building informal conversations occur on a broad scope which lowers group trust.

When a group becomes large, however you want to define large, we may want to begin the process of starting a new group so we do not sacrifice the items listed above.

What other advantages have you found for creating smaller groups?

Dwayne McCrary is a project team leader for ongoing adult Bible study resources at LifeWay, including the adult Explore the Bible resources. He also teaches an adult group and preschool group every Sunday in the church he attends.

 

Church Leadership

Tuesday Thoughts: The 4 D’s – The Debater

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Okay, we’re having a conversation about the EGRs in your group and that stands for extra grace required people. And Those are just simply people that may take a little bit more of your patience, a little bit more of your time than everybody else in the group. Also refer to these as the four D’s and the first week we talked about the dominator. That’s somebody who just dominates the conversation during the group time. Then you’ve got the dodger, which is the opposite of the dominator, and they’re somebody who doesn’t enter into the conversation. Then you have the debater and the drainer. And today for just a minute, I just want to talk about what do you do if you have a debater or debaters in your group time. So these are people who want to debate the study. They want to debate the conversation. Now, some debate is, okay, and if you’re studying the whole Bible, you’re going to have some controversial topics that are going to require some discussion, but at the end of the night, we want the truth of God’s word to the land. So what do you if you have somebody who always wants to debate it, there are four things that you can do that I think will help as you lead your discussion.

The first thing is to prepare. Be prepared before the group time. Read through the discussion guide, make sure you know where the finish line of the discussion needs to go, so when you have that debate, you can kind of move them towards God’s word.

Second thing that you want to do is study. So make sure that you study the whole passage, the whole scripture that it’s not just one or two verses, so as you studied together with the group, refer to other passages that kind of bring more light to the topic than just one or two verses refer.

Refer to a study Bible like the CSB Study Bible that will help shed a little bit more light on the topic that you’re studying.

And then finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help. If there’s a debate in the discussion and you don’t know the answer or you don’t know where to take it, be okay with saying, you know what? We’re going to stop it right here for tonight. I’m going to ask a pastor this week and then we’ll refer back to it in our group meeting next week, and that’s okay to do so. Make sure that you prepare you study, you refer, and then be okay to ask for help.

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Teams at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN., and Seacoast Church in Charleston, S.C., prior to becoming the Discipleship and Small Groups Specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is the author of  Small Groups for the Rest of Us: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes. You can follow his blog at www.chrissurratt.com.

Church Leadership

Free Bible Teaching: For the Busy Leader

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by Deborah Spooner

Your friend texts with another crisis, yet your group start date-—ust two days away—feels like a crisis since you haven’t had time to prepare.

Your small group resource catalog has cushioned the bottom of your work bag for weeks as you’ve tried to figure out what, how, and when to order, and the process seems complicated.

The people. The time. The money. The hassel.

Why are there so many  barriers to getting to Bible teaching we need?

Life’s daily demands can keep us from what we really want. We want to be good disciples of Christ who are pouring ourselves out to make disciples of others. We want to be good small group leaders, leaders who are following the true Leader.

We want to grow ourselves, but we don’t know how.

We want to grow others, but we don’t see the way this fits into our life’s rhythm.

What if there was a way we could effectively address our over-scheduled and under-resourced challenges? What if we could quickly and easily access content that could catalyze us to be disciples making disciples?

Meet Free Bible Teaching. 

From authors like Jefferson Bethke, Tony Evans, J.D. Greear, Randy Alcorn, and D.A. Horton, you have access to the audio of full Bible Study teaching sessions—for free.

From topics like the power of God’s name to happiness, you can fit this quick, hassle-free learning experience into your schedule.. You can develop yourself as a disciple through the biblical messages and advice for specific real-life challenges.

Barriers removed.

Discipleship engaged.

Lives? Preparing to be changed.

Welcome to your new resource. Free Bible Teaching.

Deborah Spooner is a Minnesota-born analytical creative serving as a Marketing Strategist for LifeWay’s Groups Ministry. As a pastor’s daughter with a background in Digital Communications and Media and Biblical & Theological Studies, you can find her at her local church, in deep conversation, or with a book or pen in hand as she seeks to know Christ more and make Him known.
Church Leadership

Planning for Spontaneity

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Are you a planner, or do you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants?

I’m sorry. That didn’t sound very spiritual. Let me put that in churchy language: Do you make plans, or do you just let the Spirit lead?

Order v. freedom. These two approaches don’t have to live in opposite corners, but unfortunately, the “Orderites” view the “Freedomites” with disdain,  and the “Freedomites” look down their spiritual noses at the “Orderites.”

It’s nothing new. In the 2nd century, the Montanist Movement arose with an emphasis on the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit. They saw the church as becoming too structured; conversely, the established church saw this movement as venturing into heretical territory with too much emphasis on prophetic revelations instead of the written Word of God. There was some validity in the accusations of both groups.

Another example comes from colonial America. The established churches with their rules and order looked down on those who emphasized the “inner light” (to borrow a Quaker term). While schools like Yale and Harvard were still institutions with a Christian emphasis, they had concern over the “spiritual enthusiasm” of students influenced during the Great Awakening.

The tension continues, as churches stare down each other over the question of how much emphasis should we give to the Holy Spirit. Order v. freedom. This should not be an either/or matter. It should be both/and. We need to plan—and we need to let the Spirit lead.

“Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (1 Cor. 14:40).

Confession: I am a planner. I live by this verse. I have a love for to-do lists. My prep for Sunday’s sermon begins on the previous Sunday.

Planning is good, but too much reliance on that plan can be bad. On previous occasions as I’ve prepared to lead a Bible study group, I have created teaching plans I was sure would lead those in my group to (1) bring five more people with them next week, (2) go on the mission field, and (3) spearhead revival in America. But then someone would raise a question or an idea would surface that wasn’t in my well-orchestrated plan. I can’t help but wonder if I have been guilty of quenching the Spirit because I wouldn’t deviate from my plan.

Once when I was preparing to lead a group through Experiencing God, I was captured by something I heard from the author, Henry Blackaby.

Plan, but be prepared for the Holy Spirit to work.

In the Book of Nehemiah, we find Nehemiah grieved by a report he received about Jerusalem. He rightfully turned to God and prayed for the city and for himself. He wanted God to work. He sought God’s leadership, but at the same time, he planned.

The king said to me, “What is it you want?”

Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king …” (Neh. 2:4-5).

And Nehemiah laid before the king a detailed plan. He had prayed. He had planned. He prayed again. And now he presented the plan he had prayed over.

Order and freedom are not mutually exclusive. Planning and relying on the Spirit should go hand-in-hand.

  • Creating plans without a reliance on the Spirit’s leadership is presumptuous on our part. I can figure this out on my own,
  • Simply waiting for the Spirit to lead us at the critical moment is equally presumptuous. God will tell me everything I need to know at the last minute.

Prayer—a dependence on God—must permeate our planning and our action. God will often change our plans at the last moment, but if we have been dependent on Him through the whole process, we are in a far better position to know what is of God and what is not.

Plan, but be prepared for the Holy Spirit to work.

Lynn Pryor is the publishing team leader for Bible Studies for Life. He is serving a Nashville church as their transitional interim pastor. Lynn and his wife, Mary, have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com. Follow him @lynnpryor.

 

Church Leadership, Group Leadership

Take Sunday out of Sunday School if you want a Healthier Ministry

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“Sunday” is quite the misnomer. My understanding of Sunday School is that the best Sunday School happens after noon on Sundays and continues through late Saturday night six days later. As I’ve told training conference attendees before, “There isn’t anything ‘Sunday’ about Sunday School done right.” Sunday School done right is a 24/7 ministry that should find group members engaging with one another and their communities weekly.

“School” also may not have quite the right connotation about what happens in many Bible study groups. School is a term that may conjure up images of boring times, uninteresting subject matter, and teachers who didn’t “get us.” In many Sunday School groups, the teaching is discussion-centered and learner-centric. It is a far cry from the mental image some people have about Sunday School.

The best thing many of our groups could do is to take Sunday out of Sunday School. We should see Sunday School as a 24/7 ministry and not something we only do for an hour on Sunday morning. A few ways to do this include:

  • Contacting every absentee each week.
  • Fellowshipping together as a group regularly
  • Engaging in ministry as a group
  • Contacting and praying for one another throughout the week
  • Challenging group members to remain in God’s Word daily as they continue to wrestle with the truths discussed in the group’s Bible study

If Sunday School is only about Sunday, I believe it will struggle to be attractive to current and new members of our churches. It can be so much more than an hour of Bible study before or after the morning worship service. If, however, we take the “Sunday” out of Sunday School, it will become a vital part of who we are as the body of Christ. If we make Sunday School a true 24/7 ministry, its best days are still ahead.

Ken Braddy manages LifeWay’s ongoing adult Bible studies and is a 20+ year veteran in Sunday School ministry. His new book, Breathing Life Into Sunday School, releases in April 2019.
Church Leadership

Five Ways to Improve at Encouraging One Another and Building Each Other Up

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by Jared Musgrove

 

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Christian encouragement is a command, but one we find awkward to employ in everyday life. It doesn’t have to be uncomfortable, though. Like any other skill, we get better at it with practice. With that in mind, here are five suggestions to help you grow in your ability to encourage others.

1. Turn to the Word

Not everyone is naturally comfortable crafting the perfect words for a given situation. In practicing encouragement, I have found that the fewer words I use of my own, the better. This realization has relieved me to encourage all the more, and with greater truthfulness. I don’t need my words to encourage; I need God’s Word.

Let the Scriptures be your starting point for encouraging others. Share with fellow believers where you see the Spirit working in and through them. Point out the fruit of the Spirit that you see growing in them (Galatians 5:22-23). Affirm them in their spiritual gifting and faithful use of those gifts (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12).

Celebrating someone’s spiritual fruit and gifting is a good start toward true Christian encouragement.

2. Be Specific

Our encouragement is most meaningful when we take enough interest in others and are specific with our encouragement. Be observant of those in your believing community. Who is quick to volunteer and serve others? Who models self-control in their words and actions? Who exhibits patience with those who talk perhaps more than they should?

Based on what you observe, offer concrete examples of how you have seen this person live out their faith. It’s deeply encouraging to hear, “I saw God’s grace at work when you did this or said that.” Specific examples bless the hearer and show that you have taken genuine interest in them.

3. Be Intentional

Give thought to who could use encouragement. I and my ministry team set aside some time during some of our team meetings to encourage one another. We choose an individual in advance for each meeting, then take intentional time to tell them specifically how we see them being used by God. It deepens us as individuals and as a community.

Whether we work for a church or not, we are all doing the work of ministry, and because it is difficult work, we all need encouragement. The best way to be intentional is to think ahead and praise someone based on where you see faithfulness and fruit of the Spirit in a brother or sister. That is intentionality in encouragement, and it draws from the depths.

4. Be Selfless

Have you ever held back from encouraging someone because you were afraid you might feed their pride? Have you ever withheld encouragement because you viewed someone as a rival in your work environment or your circle of friends? We all have, but Christian encouragement and flattery sit at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Don’t let fear of being seen as a flatterer cause you to curtail your genuine words of encouragement. Don’t let your own insecurities inhibit your praise of others. The one who encourages practices selflessness, taking the words of Proverbs 12:18 to heart: “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

We have a choice to be selfish or selfless in our encouragement. We can either harm by the selfishness of our silence or diminished praise, or we can heal by the selflessness of our fruitful words driven by the Scriptures.

5. Be Courageous

Don’t just encourage for godly things already done, but encourage the pursuit of godly things not being done, as well. We often need godly courage in order to give someone else godly courage.

If a friend is looking at pornography, find words to encourage them toward desiring Christ-likeness instead of illicit images. If a friend is engaging in gossip, find words to encourage them toward Christ-honoring speech. Be gracious rather than legalistic. The more you can identify with your friend’s battle, the more loving your encouragement will be. Use Christian courage to confront sin with kindness and gentleness.

I believe encouragement should take its place alongside any list of spiritual disciplines. I’ve found few exercises to be more challenging and affirming to my walk with Christ and to my ability to benefit my brothers and sisters.

When we encourage someone, we have the opportunity to speak healing truth into their life. We do this by grace through a heart changed by Christ and words drawn from Scripture. In this way, may we strive to excel in building up the church (1 Corinthians 14:12).

*Aspects of this article also appeared at tvcresources.net and ftc.co

Jared Steven Musgrove serves as Groups Pastor and elder at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Oklahoma, a Master of Divinity in preaching from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate of Ministry in leadership from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the husband of Jenny and the father of two sons, Jordan and Joshua. You can follow him on Twitter @jsmusgrove 

 

Church Leadership

How to Deliver Small Group Content and Training with a Consistent Message

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As the leaders and administration of a church, I’m sure you are trying to solve the problem of finding the right small group content consistent with your vision and mission.

Even once you find content that meets your expectations, you can run into the problem of consistency across groups in presenting the material. The small group leaders need to know the material and theology behind what’s being presented – and that usually means you have to be on call to make sure everyone is on the same page.

LifeWay can help you with this. With a heart for growing you as the servant leader God has called you to be, we can walk alongside you with training and trustworthy content. We’ve tried to make this easy for you and the church by bundling our digital platforms.

Ministry Grid, SmallGroup.com, and Wordsearch Bible are all quality tools that will help you and your leaders build the disciples of the gospel globally in your community and beyond. All 3 of these platforms are bundled together to ensure you have the quality resources you need for a deeper dive into the study of God’s Word.

“2 The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” …

7 So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:1-7 CSB)

As we grow in this digital world, LifeWay wants to be by your side to help your church navigate these waters and give the best to your staff, volunteers, and members. LifeWay is continuing to create a suite of products to solve your needs for the church. Please visit lifeway.com/digitalhub for more information and to discover the solutions to your needs.