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Church Leadership

Unlocking Balanced Disciple-Making

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by Reid Smith 

Balance has always been elusive for me in ministry. Earlier on, I grew skeptical of it because I pictured it as being something that literally meant I was giving equal time and attention to multiple things but somehow not cheating anything. Life rarely allows this luxury. So when I heard balance applied to small groups, my instinctive reaction was “Nope – that’s just setting leaders up to fail.”

If we’re honest, we’re probably not doing all of the things we’ve learned that we should be doing in our groups. People connect and grow together regularly through some form of fellowship, Bible study and prayer in most groups. Far fewer develop a plan for building in other spiritual practices, different expressions of worship, and outreach to make a group experience well-rounded, or dare I say, “Balanced!”

Over time, however, “balance” for me became less about maintaining perfect equilibrium, and more about planning ahead on how you can incorporate activities that are commonly omitted from group life, but vital to the health of it. You need to have a plan to have balance. 

The group leader is the person responsible for driving the process of developing a plan with the group about how they will be intentional about including spiritual practices that do not normally occur in their gatherings. I’ll share a few pointers on how group leaders can lay the groundwork for balance by planning ahead for it followed by practical ways members can pursue balanced group life together.

Laying the Groundwork for Balance

  • Pray – The most powerful thing you can do to facilitate the work of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives is to pray specifically for your group members to exercise faith and take steps to grow ever closer to Jesus!
  • Have a Sidekick – You need a close companion who sees the vision of balanced group life and understands the “why” behind it before you share it with the group. This is important because you need feedback and somebody who is in the room with you affirming the dream as you share it with everyone.
  • Maximize your Kick-off – Be highly-relational, but very strategic during your first session of a new study or season as a group. Get to know each other better, but be sure to discover how each person would like to grow as a result of being part of your group. Help them unearth their spiritual growth goals before diving into curriculum.
  • Have a “Locker Room Talk” – Before an important game, a coach will get the players fired up by telling them why he sees them being victorious and what they need to do to get there. Is a group’s life together any less important? Of course not!
    • Start by explaining how a well-rounded group will support each member’s personal transformation and help everyone grow stronger spiritually. Then share how the Lord has a purpose in each one playing a part in fulfilling it because of how He has gifted them (more on that in a moment).
    • This builds buy-in to the vision, increased participation in living it out together, and consequently, the group will have healthy longevity and greater impact.

Balancing Group Life Together

  • Serving Together – Engage in a service project or group outreach at least once per season / semester. Present this idea at the outset of your group and schedule it in advance. You might choose to do this in place of your group meeting for a week.
  • Worship Together – Click HERE to access ideas for “Unleashing Creative Group Worship.”
  • Remembering Together – Celebrate communion once per season / semester – Talk with your church’s leadership to learn about how you can do this in your group.
  • Confession – Some spiritual breakthroughs necessitate confession, which opens the way for God’s light to shine on the dark places sin wants to remain hidden. As a group deepens its bonds with one another, subgroup by gender to minister to one another. Refer to Ed Stetzer’s article on “Accountability Questions” for examples that you can select and use in your own group.
  • Spiritual Gifts – If you believe that every Christ-follower has been graced with spiritual gifts to build up one another as the Church then don’t you think He has a purpose in them for your group (1 Cor 12:7)? Group members provide the necessary feedback and encouragement for one another to identify their God-given spiritual gifts and begin to use them in faith and boldness. Step-by-step guidance for group leaders on how to have conversations to help members find and use their spiritual gifts can be found HERE.

This last point is a master key to balanced discipleship in your group. Maybe the Lord has a unique purpose for every group that is unique to it based on the supernatural composition of spiritual gifts represented in its group members. Maybe every group has its own divine palette of colors that can be mixed together to produce a one-of-a-kind work of art to the glory of God.

If this is so, it stands to reason that a group will experience “balance” as each member of it works in concert with one another to make his or her own special contribution to God’s mission in the world. Group leaders can catch a vision for unlocking balanced disciple-making when they tap into the spiritual growth goals and gifts the Lord has planted in their group members.

Reid Smith has been equipping leaders in churches of all sizes and stages of growth for effective disciple-making since 1996. He currently serves as a Pastor of Groups at Christ Fellowship in Palm Beach County, FL and has been a contributing author for various publications, including LifeWay’s Ministry Grid. Learn more about how to start and multiply healthy groups throughout your church at www.reidsmith.org.
Church Leadership

What is the Balanced Discipleship Pathway?

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As Christians, we understand the importance of balance. Balance in our lives, our family, our prayer time, and even our health. Do you ever stop to think about balance in your discipleship plan?

Being a group leader, there is nothing more daunting than picking out the next study for your group. If you start by searching for small group Bible studies in your search engine, you are immediately given 57,300,000 results. It’s going to take some time to sifter through those results to find the perfect Bible study for your group.

Our goal as the LifeWay Groups Ministry is to help the Church in Her mission of making disciples. This applies to small group ministry. Having a balanced discipleship plan should be easy, but it can oftentimes be difficult to remember and keep up with.

In an effort to make it easy for small groups and their leaders, we have the Balanced Discipleship Pathway. This pathway, or plan, is built on three characteristics of Bible study: centered on the Gospel, expanding in scope, and displayed in real life.

LifeWay research has done studies to find out what would be included in a balanced discipleship plan, and these steps on the pathway are lifestyle patterns that ought to be growing in ever-increasing measure the longer a person walks the pathway of discipleship.

The eight signposts on this pathway are:

  • Obey God & Deny Self
  • Engage with Scripture
  • Share Christ
  • Exercise Faith
  • Seek God
  • Build Relationships
  • Live Unashamed
  • Serve God & Others

By choosing a study from each of the following categories (signposts) over the course of a year, you will ensure your group is taking a balanced approach to attaining spiritual maturity.

Church Leadership

The “Why” Behind Small Groups

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by Jared Musgrove

Why do we do Groups? Why does any church have some type of smaller group context? Even if your church does not have a formalized pathway for this, I can almost guarantee you that it is happening in some informal sense. 

We do groups because we’ve always done them. As the church of Jesus Christ, We have 2000 years of God’s people leaving large teaching gatherings going into smaller contexts, usually homes, to encourage one another and build each other up. 

We see this as early as Acts 2. They met in First Century homes and groups, gathered around the Word (at that time the apostle’s teaching), they broke bread to mark and celebrate milestones, had fellowship out of the shared story of life transformation in Jesus, and they prayed with and for one another. And it had an incredible evangelistic effect as “the LORD added to their number day by day.” 

“Why groups?” is a question each of us needs to be asking. Where in your church context are you making time and space for Christians speaking words of life, for Christian practice of the 59 One Another passages of the New Testament? Where is the context for Christian courage to be enflamed? For believers to speak a word in season to a soul who needs it?  Where is there time and space into which others, maybe even outsiders, may be welcomed in to see Jesus at the center of our circle? Where are Christians getting personally encouraged in your church?  

Encouraged Christians are incredibly brave with the gospel. 

One example of this is from our own Home Groups: We had a man very hesitant to join one of our groups. “Why share my feelings?” he said. “What more do I need but my Bible and a study guide that tells me exactly what God’s Word says?” But he did reluctantly joined a Home Group. And it so happens that the group was halfway through sharing their individual testimonies of Christ transforming their lives. And this man, sitting in that circle, was so powerfully affected by each of these stories being told that he was given the courage to share his Christian testimony with a group of people for the very first time. 

And he wouldn’t stop sharing it after that!

What happened in this 21st Century small group was that this man sat in the center of Christian practice of sharing his testimony. Out of this he was given Christian courage to continue sharing it with believers and non-believers alike. That’s plugging into the ancient stream of what brothers and sisters have been doing in and out of smaller groups for 2000 years. This is why we do Groups. 

So I encourage you to consider in your church where you are making time and space for such a circle to encourage one another and build each other up. Groups are a standard part of almost every church, but why are they so important? For almost 2,000 years, groups have provided a critical space for Christian practice. And Christian courage to share the gospel. 

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

Key Metrics for Group Leaders

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by Alan Raughton 

Leaders have been described as those who challenge, inspire, enable, model, and encourage. Others call leaders risk-takers, visionaries, and people who see the future and make it happen.

Jesus called twelve men to become leaders.  Look at whom Jesus called—fishermen, tax collectors, common people who displayed little unusual potential. But Jesus took them and shaped them as He carried out the ministry God placed in His hands. Jesus inspired them, taught them, challenged them, and then set them free with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. These leaders then became visionaries, world-changers.

As a group leader you should feel that God has called you and placed you specifically in your position of service and leadership. You are much like Peter, James, and others who became servant leaders and accepted the responsibilities Jesus placed in their hands.

Leaders are essential for a life-changing Bible study group. Every class or group should be a place where people are grounded in God’s Word and engage in reaching, teaching, ministry, and fellowship.

Consider multiplying your ministry through mentoring others.  The mark of an effective group leader is not in how big your group becomes, but how many people leave the group to serve in another area of the Sunday School or groups ministry. So, our key metric should be how many people are we maturing in their faith so they leave our group and lead somewhere else in our church or start another Bible study group.

Jesus spent three years investing Himself in the lives of twelve men. Although one fell away from Him, Jesus sent the disciples to carry on His ministry. Jesus adopted these men, spent time teaching them, and then guided them through on-the-job training. If Jesus had called out the twelve only to keep them in seclusion and enjoy their fellowship, He would not have accomplished what God intended. Leaders are people who challenge others to “go and do likewise.”

Churches that effectively use groups in a strategic way multiply leaders and Bible study groups. This just doesn’t happen on it’s own!  These churches have an intentional, ongoing plan to multiply their leadership base and increase the number of ongoing and discipleship groups.

These churches keep a clear focus on the purpose for their Bible study groups: To make disciples.

Bible study groups are central in training other persons to be strong in grace and to teach them to teach others (2 Timothy 2:1-2). Think about ways your personal ministry could be multiplied. Is there someone for whom you could be a mentor? When you multiply yourself in others, you help other believers exercise their spiritual gifts, take intentional actions that are in obedience to the command of the Lord Jesus, and lead people to faith in Him. When seen from this perspective, your relationship with others becomes an exciting adventure!

Church Leadership, Group Leadership

Free Small Groups Webinar

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Can small groups really work in smaller size churches? That is the topic that we are going to tackle in this free webinar on March 19, 2019, 11am – 12pm CST. Here are a few of the questions that myself and our expert panelists will take on:

  • What are the greatest challenges to groups in a smaller church?
  • What is the best type of groups system for a church that is just starting to offer small groups?
  • How do you best utilize your budget (or lack of one) for small groups?
  • What does leader recruitment, training, and care look like?
  • and many more

Spots are limited, so register for this free webinar soon here.

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, Group Leadership

Free Online Small Groups Cohort

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UPDATE: This group is now full, but if you would like to be considered for a future cohort, email Chris Surratt at chris.surratt@lifeway.com.

We can all benefit from spending time with other ministry leaders asking the same questions we are. That is why I am launching a free online cohort for church small groups point people. There will be six mandatory online meetings where you will have the opportunity to be a learner (ask questions) and a leader (teach others). We are keeping this group small, so if this cohort would interest you, register soon at the form below.

Church Leadership

When Panicky People Go To Small Groups

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by Scarlet Hiltibidal

I had just started taking brain medicine again for my hyperventilations. I’d grown up with anxiety—anxiety that was so crippling at times that it landed me in the hospital as a child and in urgent care as an adult. Anxiety that had led me, during one season, to step out of a small group leadership position because I didn’t feel capable of leading.

So, I was dealing with debilitating panic (again) in this particular season. I found myself (again) in an office with a sound machine, (again) picking up a prescription that would, as I knew from some experience, help me stop panicking. My response to all these anxiety-related agains was to become very hermit-like and refuse to tell people about my situation.

I felt ashamed. Leading a small group again was the furthest thing from my mind. Instead, I just attended one and mostly kept my mouth shut.

But, here’s the beautiful thing. When I finally opened my mouth and shared my struggle, I wasn’t mocked or shunned and kicked out of the group. I was given grace and love. A moment of vulnerability that could have caused yet another run of panic instead brought peace. It was special and powerful.

If you are a small group leader who struggles with anxiety or panic disorders, or if you lead people who do (chances are this is always the case), here are three things I’d encourage you to keep in mind as you lead your group.

Lead with Vulnerability

A former pastor of mine, Josh Howerton, spoke a lot about “going below the line of shame.” He would encourage our congregation, as they met together in small groups throughout the week, to share, not just surfacey or relateable struggles, but to go below that line we all have, the line that makes us question, If I share this, will I still be accepted? Will I still be loved?

The reason he encouraged this in our church body was because he knew the truth and beauty of a Biblical community centered around applying the gospel and living in the light.

“But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” — 1 John 1:7

This is completely transformational — believers exposing and turning from their sin in Biblical community. We should share our sins, our struggles and the “agains” that are trying to crush our hearts.

When I was walking through that season of medicating my panic and trying to hide it, I finally decided to share. It felt impossible to even let the words leave my mouth, because I assumed I was more broken than everyone else in the room.

But, my small group surprised me by not being surprised. Instead, they were kind and loving, and my willingness to share about this struggle that embarrassed me, prompted others to share theirs.

If you are the group leader and anxiety is an issue in your life, sharing it really sets the tone for your group to look to you, not as a “perfect” or “together” leader, but as a co-laborer who understands struggle, just like they do.

Lead with Hope

In the past, I’ve been part of unhealthy small groups that were basically clusters of people who would open in prayer, complain for fifteen minutes each, and say, “See you next week!”

It is so healthy to share struggles within the context of a small group, but it is vital that the tone of the group be one of gospel hope and encouragement. As a small group leader, you can be intentional about steering your group members away from negativity and toward hope.

If they battle anxiety, your group can spend some time sharing verses of comfort and hope. I would also encourage group leaders to make it a point to always end your time together reflecting on the finished work of Jesus..

This is what our lives are about and this is the way we should lead one another — to share our burdens, but look to the cross.

Lead by Listening

I think it’s really important for a group leader to be open and share struggles, as a way of encouraging other members of the group to do the same, but a group leader should definitely not be the only person talking.

Once you’ve shared your own struggles and how you apply the gospel to it, listen to the other members of your group. Let them process through their feelings and questions, but don’t just leave it there. Don’t simply wrap it up with a “Let’s pray.” In a small group setting, you have this beautiful opportunity to take sin and struggles of all kinds to the Bible. You have this guide that we hide in our hearts. Share the worries. Then, share the Word.

Don’t be afraid to confess your struggles, and always, always, always, point your own self and your people to the hope of the world, our Jesus, who died to defeat everything we’re afraid of.

Scarlet Hiltibidal is the author of Afraid of All the Things and He Numbered the Pores on My Face. She also writes a regular column for ParentLife magazine. She loves sign language with her daughters, nachos by herself, writing for her friends, and learning how to be a pretend-farmer with her husband in Middle Tennessee.
Church Leadership, Friday Features

Mentorship Isn’t as Hard as You Think

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Fill out the form at the end of this post by Friday, February 22 at 11:59pm to enter for a chance to win a free copy of  Mentor: How Along-the-Way Discipleship Will Change Your Life.

Mentorship.

We love the idea. People investing in other people to share their knowledge and experiences. Mentees being inspired to come alongside others and become mentors themselves. Yet, this picture often remains little more than an idealistic dream as schedules fill up and time for “mentorship” dries up.

But what if mentorship wasn’t as hard as we made it? What if it, instead, was actually our best tool for preparing our companies, others, and ourselves for the future? What if it actually were a vital part of following Christ?

In his study Mentor: How Along-the-Way Discipleship Will Change Your Life–partially excerpted below–Chuck Lawless gives insight.

What’s Mentoring Anyway? A Simple Definition

Here’s my definition of mentoring. Mentoring is:

A God-given relationship in which one growing Christian encourages and equips

another believer to reach his or her potential as a disciple of Christ.

Mentoring is about relationships.

The Bible is filled with stories of people who invested in other people. Moses and Aaron. Moses and Joshua. Eli and Samuel. Naomi and Ruth. Elijah and Elisha. Jesus and the disciples. Paul and Timothy. Paul and Silas. Paul and Titus. Barnabas and John Mark. This list shouldn’t surprise us, because God is a God of relationships.

Now God has given us the church—that is, Christian people—to relate to us, teach us, and guide us. The church loves one another, serves one another, prays for one another, confronts one another, and forgives one another. This body of Christ, when obedient to its marching orders, produces disciples by preaching the gospel and teaching believers (see Matthew 28:18-20). When we develop discipling relationships, then, we’re doing what God told us to do.

Mentoring requires a growing Christian.

In a mentoring relationship one person leads, and another follows. Somebody must be in front, even if only slightly. Only when we’re growing can we guide others toward growth. Ideally, believers have both mentors who teach them and disciples they teach. We find an example in the New Testament in the relationship between Paul and Timothy. Paul was a leading apostle in the early New Testament church and the writer of multiple New Testament letters. He served as a mentor to Timothy, a younger early-church leader. We all need a Paul and a Timothy. Our Paul challenges us to grow, and we then urge our Timothy to grow also. In this way mentoring becomes a generational effort as the person we mentor gleans not only from our influence but also from the influence of our mentors (and our mentor’s mentor and so on).

Mentoring is a balance of encouraging and equipping.

Following Christ is difficult. A very real enemy fights against us (see Ephesians 6:11-12). Trials happen. Disappointments come. Friends sometimes reject our message or betray us. Trusting God is difficult when life seems unfair or the future is unclear. Without encouragement, giving up is a real temptation. Mentors can help in times like these. Good mentors encourage us when we’re stressed and equip us when we need training.

We need more than encouragement, though. In the midst of life’s struggles, we also need help doing what God calls us to do. We know we need to study the Bible, but we don’t always know how. Pastors tell us that prayer matters, but we don’t always understand how to pray. Telling others about Jesus is essential but not always modeled. We don’t need someone to tell us what to do as much as we need someone to show us how to do it. We need equipping.

In addition to encouraging, mentoring teaches Christian disciplines and life skills. Encouragement without equipping might lead to restored hope, but seldom does it produce life transformation—the goal of mentoring. Mentoring should change the way we live.

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.

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Church Leadership

Strategy and Bible Study Groups – Free Webcast on March 9

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Every church has a mission – to make disciple. However, every church doesn’t have a strategy to accomplish this mission.

Why is a strategy important? Here are three reasons:

  • Planning (decisions): Tons of ideas exist but a person can do only a few things well. Having a defined strategy helps us make decisions about what will be done and when.
  • Resources (stewards): Every church has a finite set of resources: money, time, volunteers. This is a universal rule period. Having a strategy helps us use the resources we do have wisely.
  • Assessment (goals): A strategy helps us set goals so we can do real assessment. Making disciples is too important for us to think we are doing it simply because we have lots of activity or minimal complaints.

On Saturday, March 9, 2019, Allan Taylor, LifeWay’s Director of Sunday School, will host a live Webcast that will look at this issue of strategy.  Allan will focus on how ongoing Bible study groups that meet usually before or after a worship service (typically called Sunday School) can be an effective strategy for your church. He will also share some tools and tricks that will help you along the way.

Here are the details:

Date: Saturday, March 9, 2019

Time: 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. CST

Cost: FREE but need to register

Where: Register at live.groupministry.lifeway.com

Who: for any pastor or Sunday School director or person thinking about becoming one

Church Leadership

Why the Image of God is So Important to How You Lead

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The image of God.

What does it even mean? It can be like a vague idea that doesn’t impact how we lead at home, work, or church. But what if it actually played an important role in our daily lives? Turns out, it does.

  1. Sin corrupts

We are made in the image of God. Made to know God and make Him known. Made to be ambassadors of reconciliation. Made to bear God’s image in all the ways that he equips us. But sin. We all have sinned and just miss the mark. Romans describes how we can fade (Romans 1:18-25). Our thinking becomes worthless (v. 21). Our hearts are darkened (v.23). The image of God that could be showing so clearly through us now isn’t everything that it was intended to be.

  1. We exchange

Yet it doesn’t stop with our lives being corrupted by sin. We start looking, but as we are no longer reflecting God’s image and his goodness like we could, we make an exchange. We decide seeking other things, lesser gods–idols–to worship. And? We begin to reflect whatever it is that we worship. One psalmist describes it this way:

“Those who make them [idols] are just like them, as are all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:8).

As we give our lives over to seeking and worshipping anything less than God himself, we reflect those things in place of the Creator who gives it all life. Power, money, fame, sex–the image we begin reflecting can be deeply scarred.

  1. We change

We become blind. No longer worshiping God’s image, we start to be blind to seeing it.

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Then, we can’t see Jesus as He is. Life becomes hopeless, apart from the grace of God. And this grace? Changes everything. The grace enters by the Holy Spirit’s power, and just as Jesus healed many from physical blindness, our spiritual blindness is lifted. It shows us the sinfulness of our fallen world, God’s righteousness, and the judgment coming and our rebellion. Only when we see the depths of our sin can we see the power of Jesus’ redeeming life.

  1. He restores

Seeing Jesus as He truly is, is our first step toward the imago Dei being restored within us. The step that can bring us back into reflecting his image as we were made to, and being the men and women God has created us to be. This restoration doesn’t stop with our first step; it continues as we live for Jesus, following Him and trusting the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We start changing, being restored, more fully reflecting God’s image.

“We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

And your journey with the image of God is just beginning.

These ideas are adapted from LifeWay’s Imago Dei Bible study created in partnership with The Gospel Coalition and Mike Cosper. Check out the resource to see how understanding the image of God can continue to impact your life as you understand it biblically, relationally, and missionally.

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.

 

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