Archive for Disciplemaking – Page 3

A D-Group Covenant

By Bobby Howard · Comments (0)
Friday, September 7th, 2018

Holy Bible on a wooden desk in church

Is a formal D-Group Covenant really necessary? This question can stir some spirited debate. In many cases, however, when leaders evaluate the reasons a D-Group has failed, issues go back to things that could have been covered in some type of written or verbal covenant between the members of the group. Whether there is a formally signed covenant or simply a conversation about making a verbal covenant with one another, a D-Group Covenant can help build a foundation for a true disciple-making small group experience. Essential elements for a covenant can be summarized in three categories: goals of the group, expectations concerning commitment level, confidentiality.

Goals of the Group
The purpose of the D-Group sets the stage for everything that happens in the context of the group. It is vitally important that individuals in a group understand the purpose or goals of the group. For example, if a primary goal of a church is to use a D-Group structure to multiply disciples, then letting participants know from the outset that a goal is for them to be a leader of a group in the future will help them prepare for this next step. Communicating a clear purpose in a written or verbal covenant will also keep a group focused on a path toward discipleship and will help avoid wandering in wilderness of proverbial “rabbit-chasing” or becoming a social gathering with no spiritual growth among the participants.

Expectations of Commitment Level
The success of a D-Group is in part based on active and consistent participation by the members of the group. A covenant should outline expectations for the group member’s commitment. There may be time expectations that let members know how much time they need to commit for the regular meetings. If the plan is to meet weekly for one hour, then the members need to know this and the leader must honor this commitment and the time of the members by managing time well during the meetings. People are often reluctant to sign up for indefinite involvement in a group in terms of how many weeks/months the group will meet. If the intent is to meet for one year, specifically outline the start and end dates in a D-Group Covenant. Expectations in terms of the work load could also be clearly communicated in a verbal or written covenant. If participants are asked to do certain things in advance so that group meetings are meaningful times of spiritual growth then these tasks should be outlined in the covenant. The tasks may include Scripture reading, journaling, reading other books/resources, sharing a testimony with someone, Scripture memory, and more. D-Group leaders can facilitate a successful group by communicating the expectations in a covenant.

Confidentiality
When a group is meeting together, learning together, sharing stories of personal growth or possibly some personal struggles, and praying together, it is important for participants to commit to confidentiality. The group will remain superficial and deeper authentic relationships will not develop among the participants if they are fearful that information they share may become public knowledge. Hold individuals accountable to this commitment more consistently by including it as a clear expectation in a verbal or written D-Group Covenant.

There are many variables that may create an environment for a thriving D-Group Ministry. A written and/or verbal covenant is one that should considered.

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Categories : Disciplemaking, Group Life, Ministry, New Groups, Sunday School
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Let’s Talk Porn

By Lance Crowell · Comments (0)
Wednesday, September 5th, 2018

Pornography in the culture and in the church has become the massive elephant in the room. It is rampant and destroying peoples lives, but often we will not deal with it. “64% of young people, ages 13–24, actively seek out pornography weekly or more often.” “35% of all Internet downloads are porn-related. “ It is estimated that nearly 80% of men between 18-30 years old watch porn at least once a month. These stats are staggering. Why are we not doing more? Why are we not completely focused on this problem? Here are a few of the reasons:
• We do not think it is our problem – It may be an issue in the culture but not in my church, nor in my home.
• We are afraid to deal with it because it affects so many – In truth, if churches really started dealing with this they would find pastors, deacons, and leaders hooked into this destructive pattern. In turn this would lead to many leaders being removed, and churches possibly in chaos.
• We don’t know what to do to help men and women caught – Pastors and leaders simply have limited tools to help those trapped in this addiction. Pastors have said, “this is not my struggle, I do not understand how to help.”

The question that permeates from this discussion is, what does this have to do with disciple-making? One of the first key steps in being a disciple of Jesus is learning to live and walk rightly. No matter what we hear on Sunday and no matter what our intentions are, unless we deal with our own sin we cannot truly be disciples of Jesus. It is my belief that many men and women are caught in this horrific sin and they don’t know how to find help. They are not sure how to escape. Some studies indicate that pornography is as addictive as tobacco. It rewires the brain for pleasure that truly does not satisfy. When we talk about making disciples that make disciples, many who want to grow and mature find themselves in this endless cycles of addiction and destruction. Like other sins and addictions pornography is a gateway into deeper struggles. It escalates into graver perversions.

Lest you think this is a young mans problem, pornography destroys and alters a persons’ understanding of sexuality and intimacy. The marriage rate is declining in part because pornography is supplementing true intimacy. All of the facts and details lead us back to the core problem. We have a massive elephant in the room and if we want to make disciples, we have to deal with it.

Some initial steps to help churches engage the struggles in their congregation:

• Learn – The church leadership needs to study this problem. In recent days a plethora of information has been produced concerning the scope of the struggle. Websites like www.fightthenewdrug.com and www.enough.org have a host of content to help.

• Honest conversations – One of the most valuables things that can change the struggles of pornography is to provide venues and groups that have honest conversations about the addiction. Disciple-making and other gender based groups are a great place to allow deep and needed conversations to take place. If men are not in these groups, more than likely, they will never find help.

• Remove the Taboo – When those deep conversations begin to happen they must be within a context that is warm and welcoming. We are never condoning sin, but people need to be able to confess without being stigmatized or ostracized. If the focus is more on their sin and not the repentance and process for healing, all progress can be destroyed.

• Develop a plan – Once people have engaged in honest conversations concerning their addiction, there must be a plan in place to help them begin a path to freedom. We have developed a 30-day initial detox tool, Crave, for anyone to use. It’s anonymous and free. www.cravefreedom.com. Crave allows an individual to request that a mentor connects to them through the initial process. There are other tools and individuals that can help. The key aspect is that someone is walking with them in this; they are no longer alone in isolation.

1. https://fightthenewdrug.org/10-porn-stats-that-will-blow-your-mind/

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Categories : Disciplemaking, Sunday School

Building Accountability in a D-Group

By Dr. Tim S. Smith · Comments (0)
Monday, September 3rd, 2018

The topic of accountability is not very popular with many church leaders. I understand their reluctance because there have been those that have abused their leadership position and been very heavy-handed in holding others accountable. Meaningful accountability will exist only if all those involved benefit from the steps toward the goal. Everyone must benefit and none should be abused or belittled. It is also important to realize that no spiritual growth takes place outside the realm of accountability.

The first step in building accountability in your group is to share and understand all expectations. Make sure that all expectations are understood from the leader/mentor as well as the group members. The basic expectation that builds accountability is attendance and participation. In my group I still take attendance every week.

Another thing I do to build accountably is waiting until the week before I give them the materials to be studied the following week. In many groups they get three to six months’ worth of study materials at the beginning of the group. I’ve found that it works best to give it to them just one-week or one-session at a time.

The thing that I’ve found that works the best is giving my group members responsibilities related to the group time. I share the leadership roles. They know well in advance of when they have a leadership responsibility and it is never a surprise thrown at them. The roles to be shared are leading the ice-breaker, taking prayer requests, telling or reading the Bible passage, and guiding the discussion.

During the week it’s also important to work to build accountability. Everyone needs to be prayed for and know that others care. To make this happen assign your group members a different accountability partner every month for the purpose of talking every week for prayer requests and then praying for each other.

These are just a few ideas of helping you build accountability in your group, but please remember that accountability does happen without first building trust. Show people you care and then accountability will come natural to your group.

Dr. Smith serves as a state missionary with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board and is the Sunday School, Small Groups and Faith Development Specialist. Visit their website at gabaptist.org/groups/ for more information and other resources to aid your Sunday School or Small Group. You can also connect with Dr. Smith at facebook.com/GABaptistGroups or twitter.com/GABaptistGroups. Dr. Smith is available for conferences or other speaking opportunities and can be contacted at tsmith@gabaptist.org.

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Categories : Disciplemaking, Group Life, Small Groups

The Disciple, Sin, and Repentance

By David Bond · Comments (0)
Friday, August 31st, 2018

Jesus had once again managed to irritate the Pharisees. This time, He attended a banquet in the company of dishonest tax collectors and other “sinners”. The religious leaders demanded an explanation, which Jesus supplied by saying, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”. (Luke 5:29-32 CSB). Jesus’ ministry reflected the truth that discipleship begins with repentance from sin.

But, repentance is more than what happens at the beginning of a relationship with Jesus. Developing an attitude of repentance is part of a lifelong journey in discipleship. As a group leader, how do you keep this truth in front of your people? Here are four ways repentance comes into play when making disciples:

1. Salvation – Romans 3:23 proclaims that the foundational problem of every person is sin resulting in our falling short of God’s holiness. In an “I’m OK, you’re OK” culture, confessing our utter inability to save ourselves is a matter we cannot assume is understood. We help people begin as followers of Christ by this level of repentance – turning from sinful self and turning toward the Savior.

2. Revelation – Salvation is just the beginning of the disciple’s journey. At the time of salvation, new believers aren’t even aware of all of the ways in which their lives are about to change. As new believers grow, God’s word and the Holy Spirit reveal to each person specific sins which, when recognized, invite repentance and reliance on Christ for deliverance. One of the great joys of discipleship is watching this unfold over time in a person’s life.

3. Sensitivity – As a disciple grows, he or she develops an increasing hatred for sin and an intensifying love for the things of God. The view of sin becomes not how close can we get to “the line” of sin, but how close can we walk with Jesus. Sin is no longer something from which we’ve been forbidden but instead something from which have been freed! At this level of maturity, repentance becomes an ongoing part of walking in the Spirit while refusing to gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

4. Transformation – True repentance involves not only words but deeds. Both John the Baptist (Luke 3:8) and Paul (Acts 26:20) preached that new actions should accompany true repentance. Just as we receive Jesus as Lord, we are to walk in Him (Colossians 2:6-7). In Luke 19, Jesus recognized the desire of Zacchaeus to change his ways and make past wrongs right as evidence that salvation had come.

Making disciples means having the courage, clarity, and compassion to consistently model and teach the necessity of recognizing sin and repenting of sin in a lifelong journey of growing as a follower of Christ.

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Categories : Disciplemaking, Sunday School

3 Arenas of Replication: Self, Group, Mission

By Bob Mayfield · Comments (0)
Wednesday, August 29th, 2018

Ultimately, disciple-making is about, well… making more disciples. It is often very easy to get so wrapped up in our own personal growth and the growth of your D-Group that it is easy to forget that one the most important things we can do as disciples is to make more disciples. This often involves leaving the group we are in and starting a new group. It also involves sharing the Gospel with lost people and leading them as they become a follower of Jesus Christ and have a personal relationship with Him and with other disciples.

2 Timothy 2:2 is one of the most well used and treasured Scripture verses of a disciple. In this verse, Paul writes,

What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses,
commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2, CSB)

This verse is well known because it has four generations of disciples in only one verse (Paul, Timothy, faithful men, others). In other words, Paul is instructing his protege Timothy to replicate himself – to make more disciples. Paul can encourage Timothy to do this because Timothy knows that Paul replicated himself; not just in Timothy, but in Titus, Silas, Luke, Philemon, Lydia, Mark, Aristarchus, Epaphroditus, and so many more. Paul’s words ring true with Timothy (and with us) because we can see this ministry of replication in Paul’s life, it is clearly visible.

Let’s slow down and make this personal for a moment… as a disciple, is your ministry of replication plainly visible?

Many efforts at making disciples in the local church fall way short of four generations. Few rarely get past generation 2. The problem is that at generation 2 (identified in the verse as Timothy’s generation), we are still operating on the level of addition. But once the disciple-making movement reaches generation 3, and definitely generation 4, it has moved from addition to multiplication. Our failure to replicate beyond generation 2 is the reason most disciple-making movements in the local church fizzle out.

Three Arenas of Replication

Replicate Yourself
The first arena of replication is to replicate yourself. We will not initiate a movement if we have not successfully initiated this first arena. You may lead someone to Christ and have the opportunity to show this new believer how to meditate on God’s Word, pray, live in biblical community, and replicate themselves in someone else. Perhaps you know a church member or someone or some people in your small group with whom you could form a D-Group to help them better follow Jesus. But the fact of the matter is, a mature disciple is a replicating disciple.

Replicate Your Group
When a disciple forms a new D-Group, they should immediately begin making plans to lead that group to start another group, or even groups! This is the generation 2 problem discussed a couple of paragraphs above. When a group fails to replicate, it freezes the movement at generation 2, plus it robs the disciples in the group of an opportunity to start a new group themselves. For multiplication to occur, groups must replicate and the more often the better.

Replicate the Movement
Disciple-making does not become a movement until individual disciples are making disciples evangelistically and personally, AND individual groups are replicating and forming more groups. Paul had a massive impact on making disciples, not just personally or in groups, but as a movement because he encouraged both personal and group disciplemaking.

Feel free to leave your questions or comments in the comments section below.

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Bob Mayfield is the Sunday School and Discipleship specialist at the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. You can follow Bob on his blog at bobmayfield.com, Twitter at @bobmayfield and Facebook @thebobmayfield.

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Categories : Disciplemaking, Mission, Outreach/Evangelism, Sunday School
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