In honor of all of the extra time you’ll spend with your family this season, please leave a caption below.
(HT: Awkward Family Photos)
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Ever have one of those ideas that you didn’t realize was a good idea until afterwards?
I had a little accidental awesomeness yesterday.
I said this on Twitter and Facebook, and turns out it’s a question that lots of people think is important:
If you could tell an engaged couple 1 thing before they got married, what would you say?
The responses were so good, I decided to put them in a blog post.
- To the engaged couple: you’re gonna hurt each other (sometimes on purpose, sometimes on accident), but forgiving is worth it. @pckaufma
- When u know, u know. Don’t ask how b/c u can’t explain it, but when it’s really right you’ll understand exactly what I just said. @aim3
- Never let the sun go down on your anger…ever. @daniel1012
- Agree that, no matter how hard it gets, divorce is never an option. @rkinnick59
- Why do you love this person? What will the purpose of your marriage be? @LucySongJau
- Always try to be the first to apologize and to ask for forgiveness. It makes you work through junk in order to do it sincerely. @masonconrad
- To be open with each other about finances and how much debt you actually have, if any. – Bobbi Jo Cozby Caulfield
- Have them do the Dave Ramsey course… a lot of marriages fail due to money and this is a way to make sure they are on agreement on how to handle their finances. – Arie Detweiler Schlabach
- I think they should be required to see a print out of the last 6 months of their bank account just to get a small idea of their money management. not that it should stop them from getting married, but that they know that about the other one before hand. – Michelle McClure Reese
- be quick to forgive and slow to dwell on differences that, when embraced, makes the “whole” more complete. But how can you really narrow it down to one? In short…love as Christ loves. So…I guess it would really be to know and love God first! How simply complex. – Mya Parker
- Open honest communication – Diane Boots Bryant
- don’t go to bed mad. – Rebecca Hackett Schilling
- Make sure you understand each other’s expectations of getting married. – Michelle Lawrence Moore
- Elope – Kristen Cocker
- In many states, marriage licenses are cheaper (or free) if you go to premarital counseling. You may think it’s a bunch of psychobabble bullcrap (or, alternatively, a bunch of hyper-religious “God says X, so you should Y” stuff), but premarital counseling can help you explore aspects of marriage you might not have considered, especially if you have had a short engagement. Plus, it can reduce the over-all cost of getting married, assuming the marriage counseling doesn’t cost you more than the discount on the marriage license. – Noel Bagwell
- What I would say just changed on Sunday. Last 10%! Don’t hold it back. – Angela Ridge Edwards
- Enjoy each other without having children for at least two years. Living with a spouse exposes areas in your relationship which need some addressing ~ this can be a fun process if you’re on the same page! When you have spent time really getting to know each other, then you can move forward, better prepared to become a family. – Todd Oesch
- marriage is a contact sport, you must love restlessly and get up from failure quickly. – Lindsey Pippins
- Sit down every chance you get. – Bradley Mayse
- In short, your only responsibility before family is your relationship with God….get that right and the rest will fall in place. – Wiley Aaron Rutledge
- That You cannot Change Him/or Her. It seems like every new couple has this thought cross their mind somewhere in the relationship process. So if something “small” makes you feel uneasy, that something “small” will become quite Large later on. – Heather Bro Moroschak
To me, this is one of the great values of community…learning from each other’s mistakes, victories, trials, pains, and joys.
What would you add to this list?
If you’re a parent, I need you to repeat this after me.
I don’t have it all figured out.
And for those of you who feel awkward talking to your computer screen, here’s your second chance.
I don’t have it all figured out.
If you do feel like you have the role of parenting completely under control, please repeat this after me:
I am a liar.
And, finally, all together, please repeat this after me:
I can’t do this parenting thing on my own.
Author Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz) and Dr. John Townsend (Boundaries) walk through a series of discussions on a new small group curriculum that’s been released, Convergence: Where Life and Faith Meet. This particular study is about parenting and what the Bible has to say about raising kids, exploring how God designed parenting, the challenges we face, and the rewards that come helping kids grow up.
I particularly liked the discussion on parents being careful to not make idols out of their children (or even making idols out of the thought of having children). Viewing children as a means to be happy and fulfilled will ultimately leave you empty. And the pressure that we put on ourselves (and that society puts on us) to be the “perfect” parents can be spiritually and emotionally damaging when we find ourselves not living up.
But that’s where the beauty of “community” comes in. Because we can’t do this on our own. And it’s cool if you think you can just wing it ‘just-me-and-God’ style. But God’s given you a community (the Church) to live life with. Grow with. Receive help from. Learn from. Watch. Don’t neglect that gift.
These DVDs were intended to be worked through in the context of a small group. I see no better environment to implement these deep, life-altering, biblical parenting principles.
Still not convinced that this is a good curriculum? Consider this:
1. The videos are only 20 minutes long. When DVD-based curriculum gets longer than that, it begins to infringe on discussion time. 20 minutes works. It gives enough information to communicate an idea, but not so much that the group leader feels the need to squeeze discussion time.
2. There’s no cost to the group member. The only cost incurred is the DVD itself (which is a mere $15).
3. Both the leader’s guide and the participant’s discussion guide can be found online for each study (by clicking HERE). All you have to do is print it off, and you’re good to go.
4. There’s no real homework to be done from week to week. Instead of needing to spend hours pouring over the specific material (which can, by some, be seen as busy work), group members can show up and immediately jump into the conversation. Don’t take this to mean that the studies aren’t challenging, or don’t require any work. It just means that you won’t feel like an outsider in the discussion if you haven’t “done your homework.” And though a homework-heavy study may be the right call for your group in some seasons, a homework-light study can be incredibly refreshing.
5. The questions are short, and elicit discussion. Some curriculum writers feel the need to control the answers of group members. Their goal is not necessarily group discussion. Rather, they want group members to parrot back a certain answer, which makes group discussion much cleaner and simpler. But not necessarily more helpful. Phrasing questions in a way that spurs discussion is incredibly difficult, and often leads to messier discussions, but I’ve had much greater fruit in those types of discussions than in the ones in which, realistically, there was only one “right” answer.
6. Don Miller is really good at interviewing/conversing. He represents the “everyday Christian” really well, and seems to ask the “right” questions to spur the dialog with the person(s) he’s interviewing.
7. There’s a specific Scripture connected with each lesson that your group can wrestle through.
Still not convinced? Then allow me to give you a free copy. The first 25 people that visit AllThingsConverge.com and use my last name, Reed, in the checkout, will get 1 free video download. Come on…you can’t beat that, can you?
Be sure to check out the next stop on this blog tour, a good friend of mine, Will Johnston. He’s reviewed the curriculum, too, HERE. And while you’re at it, go ahead and subscribe to his blog (his RSS feed is right HERE)…you won’t be disappointed.
Check out this promo video from the parenting DVD I’ve reviewed here:
Parenting: Helping Your Kids to Become Adults Trailer from All Things Converge on Vimeo.
I was given the great opportunity of leading a couple of breakout sessions at the RightNow Conference in Dallas, TX, this year.
Before the official conference launched, there was a pre-conference experience focused on small groups. With over 300 people in attendance, it is, as far as I know, the largest gathering of (mixed model) small group point leaders in the country. And I’m convinced that the future of the small group movement sat in those rooms, bounced ideas off of each other, networked, and were challenged. And not challenged just to follow one small groups model, but to implement the ideas in their local church context.
I shared my thoughts on finding new small group leaders. I foolishly thought that this would be a lightly attended breakout session…until I remembered that almost every small groups pastor I talk with shares the same struggle of finding new small group leaders.
Here are my notes from my breakout session, followed by my slide presentation.
Finding New Leaders
If you don’t have a leadership deficit (meaning you never have trouble with needing new leaders), then you may just have an evangelism deficit. So you having a leadership deficit points to the fact that you’re likely doing the hard work of evangelism, inviting those who are from from God to enter community. It also points to the fact that you’re casting the vision for small groups well, because so many people are ready and willing to jump into group life.
Leadership deficits are a tension to be managed, not a problem to be solved.
Here are 5 principles that I use in finding new leaders:
- Lower the bar. The lower you drop the bar, the easier it will be to find new leaders. The higher you raise it, the more difficult it will be. Finding the balance is key.
- Work on your vocabulary. Make sure the language you use when you describe your small groups doesn’t intimidate potential leaders.
- Your lead pastor must be your greatest small group champion.
- Remove other competing systems that will take potential leaders away from small groups. Even leaders will often choose the easiest path.
- Define your win. The “win” in your small groups system may look different than in mine, but you’ve got to know what a “win” looks like so that you can be clear with potential group leaders.
10 places to find new leaders
- Apprenticeship – though this model produces new leaders who are fully ready to go when their feet hit the ground, getting those feet to hit the ground often takes too long. Depending on this model alone lends itself to a high leadership deficit in growing churches.
- In current groups as they’re ending – have a conversation with the small group leader(s) as their group is wrapping up, and ask them who in the group could potentially lead in the future. The trouble with this, though, is that group leaders often hesitate to take risks on unproven leaders.
- Steal from other churches – yeah…this was just a joke that I shared that nobody laughed at.
- “There’s not a group that works for me…” When you get this response from people, ask them if they’re willing to lead a new group.
- Start new types of groups – we started a small group aimed at new believers, opening up the door for potential leaders who, previously, didn’t see themselves fitting into our small groups system.
- Shame people into leading – joke #2. Bomb #2. It was 1:00…people were tired…and didn’t feel like even giving me a courtesy laugh.
- Staff members – are there staff members that could lead a group?
- Avoid burnout – give leaders a season(s) off from leading. In that process, they can become refreshed, ready to re-enter group life when life slows down.
- Get people around a table – have a group of people that all want to meet on the same night, on the same side of town? Bring them together and lead them through the process of picking a group facilitator.
- Alignment – the shorter length of time, inviting of friends and neighbors, and being handed a curriculum to start out with make this a great way to find new leaders that haven’t stepped up to the plate before.
Here are my slides:
Got any other principles or ideas to add?
My son has figured out how to manipulate. Funny…I don’t remember teaching him that.
And funny how that sticks, and so many other things that I teach him don’t stick.
His recent move is learning how to hide. He’ll get something that he knows he’s not supposed to have (for instance, his pacifier, which is only a nap-time thing). Just the other day, he was sneaking through the kitchen, slowly and quietly behind the big chair in our living room. I could see his feet. And his head as he was “sneaking” just a little too far. I said, “Rex? What are you doing?” …No response… “Rex, do you have your pacifier?” Still no response. He froze.
So I got up to “find” him. When I saw what I knew he had, I asked him to go and put it away. So he did. Kind of.
He walked around the corner of the kitchen towards his room, and stopped. I suppose he didn’t realize that I can hear his feet when he walks on the floor. And I knew that he had stopped well short of his room. Turns out I had to walk him by the hand into his room to be certain that he did what I asked him to do.
But it’s not just my son that’s good at hiding. Even we, adults, are good at it, aren’t we? In fact, our forefather, Adam, invented the game. After he and Eve had eaten the fruit that God had told them not to eat, they hid. First with leaves (Genesis 3:7). Then among the trees.
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he [Adam] said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.'”
As God questioned them about what they’d done, both Adam and Eve proceeded to shift the blame away from themselves, trying to further manipulate and deceive the all-knowing, all-seeing, God.
Rex, my son, had nothing to fear. Nothing as far as my relationship with him was concerned. There were consequences he had to face because he had disobeyed me. But his relationship with me was unchanged. He’s safe with me.
And we’re safe with God. We can be open and honest, and trust that He’ll never leave or forsake us.
But it’s often not God that we’re concerned with, is it? It’s other people. We’re afraid that we’ll be rejected, laughed at, ridiculed, and scorned. Afraid that we’ll lose our influence and our status. Afraid of being known. Hiding our true selves from others is rooted in a fear of man. Which is an incredibly dangerous place to stand.
Be open and honest with God. He knows your heart anyway.
Then work on being open and honest with your friends. God’s placed them in your life on purpose. They’re meant to help you carry the burdens and the secrets you’re struggling to carry on your own.
Hiding is a game that we need to quit playing.
Who can you be open and honest with today about the burdens you’re carrying?
Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. Proverbs 29:25
Max Lucado is the pastor at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. He presented on the idea of outliving your life at the RightNow Conference 2010.
*Max Lucado has sold over 65 million books. Try to wrap your mind around that.
At the end of time, we will be separated into two groups. What a sight it will be when all people from all times will be there.
And when the cosmos finally has what it needs, a 1 king kingdom…what a sight it will be.
The first act of the just-crowned king will be to applaud our works of compassions.
We’re right to say that we’re not saved by our works of compassion, but by the compassion of Christ. But those who are saved by Christ in return to acts of compassion.
And God makes a big deal out of the Church’s response (and applauds) her simple acts of mercy.
We find a great example of God’s compassion at the first all-church meeting.
Acts 6:1-7
Widows in the NT period needed help being taken care of. Their only option in their culture was to turn to the Church. And to the credit to the Church, they did care for the widows. But apparently, some favoritism crept in.
We could envision the church leaders wanting to turn people away, couldn’t we? We can just hear them say, “We are in the business of building churches, not feeding bodies. Not serving soup.”
The only time we find Jesus reading a Scripture (Luke 4:16-19, cf. Isaiah 61:1-2), and who does he talk about?
The poor.
And to declare the year of the Lord’s favor.
And what we see from this passage is that God doesn’t want those who have to be so far from those who have not that they don’t see them.
Why is it that 80% of the world’s resources are owned and controlled by 20% of the people? And should that bother us? Should we do anything about it?
Some people are poor because they’re lazy. Others are poor because of latitude. They are more than willing to work. And it’s a tough time to be alive on this Earth.
Compassion is our greatest apologetic.
The book of Acts isn’t just a record of what the Church did, but what the Church can do.
Have you been serious when it comes to compassion?
Are you engaging your church in acts around the world?
2000 verses in the Bible tell us to care for the poor.
Todd Phillips, pastor of Front Line, a ministry at McLean Bible Church presented at the RightNow Conference 2010. He spoke to young leaders on excelling within the boundaries that God has placed in our lives.
In order to buy into this concept, you’ve got to buy into the concept that God’s in control.
Because we’ve never built a life. Only God has.
3 truths for all leaders to remember:
- We are all under authority. Even the senior pastors and elders.
- We’re not going to agree with every decision made by those in authority over us.
- We have been given a certain breadth of responsibility and authority and no more.
Question:
How do we excel within the boundaries that God has placed in our lives?
Because we all see boundaries as those things that are holding us back from the best God has for us. But God places limits in our lives to limit ours (or others) movement. There is true joy in submitting to the boundaries God has placed in our lives. And when we submit to those boundaries, God can use us to the fullest.
Joshua is the poster child for maximizing the boundaries for his chapter and station in life. Joshua experienced the plagues. Then he experienced the move from Egypt. Then he went in to check out the land, and was ready to lead the people into the land. Then he listened to the nation of Israel complaining, in Numbers 14:1-9.
Joshua had an incredible leaning on God. He knew that He and God were always in the majority. Which is so important to remember, because God has a history of taking us out of our comfort zones, out of our current environments, to teach us to lean on Him. In other words, character-building is God’s plan for us.
3 things we can learn from Joshua’s life:
1. Excel where God has placed you. Remember…Joshua did what was right, and still had to wander in the desert for 40 years. Joshua had to suffer for the poor decisions of others. Have you ever been in a situation like that.
If results were the key, we’d have a right to be upset when things weren’t going well. But the key is what God does with us through the trial/injustice/pain/suffering, often brought on by other people.
Question
God, how do you want to use me right now?
2. Simply refuse to let bitterness take root. Nowhere do we find in Scripture an example of Joshua growing bitter in the desert. He assessed his reality, and began to excel within that.
It’s scary the number of people who have fallen into the habit of badmouthing the people who are over them…instead of learning from them.
Every good decision that the person in authority makes over you is a chance from you to learn what to do…or what not to do. – Max Lucado
It is highly valuable to learn what not to do.
3. Young leaders…when you’re ready to leave, stay just a little bit longer. Never be running from anything. Try to find what God’s teaching you in it. Todd shared the story of his son, who left a football game before the end, because they assumed his team was going to lose. Turns out that they won. And if they’d stayed just a little bit longer, they would’ve experienced the win.
*When you’re most certain you know what God’s calling you to do…seek counsel.
*Seek counsel from people who are older and wiser, not older and dumber.
Are you excelling within your boundaries?
Spence Shelton led a breakout, making the case for multi-generational small group, at the RightNow Conference 2010. Spence is the small groups pastor at The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, NC.
Spence started out asking a question:
Who have been the most influential people in your life?
It’s probably some people who were in previous generations…some in your current generation…and some that are in generations younger than you.
Spence recommends Joseph Hellerman’s book, When the Church Was a Family.
The American culture is filled with consumers. And since the culture is filled with that, our churches are filled with that mindset, too.
Here’s the line of thought that Spence runs with at The Summit:
Come as you are, but we’re not going to leave you there.
Making the church accessible to non-Christians is great, where we’ve created various environments for people at different ages, stages, and spiritual maturity levels. And the problem is that these environments that were supposed to be front-door ministries became silos. They became environments where you could “get your church, your way, right away.” The idea here is that “you come as you are and stay as you are.”
This is a problem when you read Scripture.
3 Principles of the Biblical World that the Church was birthed into, in 1st century AD
- In the Biblical world, the group took priority over the individual. The individual felt responsible to the group for decisions. It was a group-first mentality. It was a strong-group culture. We now live in a weak-group (individual-driven) society.
- A person’s most important group was a person’s blood-family.
- A closest family bond was a sibling bond, not the marriage bond.
We currently live in a weak group/strong individual culture now. So when Paul calls people his “brother,” it carried much more weight than it does today.
The changing of the family
- In Deuteronomy 6, God gives His great command to the family. He encourages parents to teach the law of the Lord to your children, in such a way that (though it takes a long time) it becomes permanent.
- In the Jewish culture, even the surrounding community helped to shape the hearts and minds of children.
- This makes Jesus’ statement that his mother and brothers weren’t his family, he’s reinstituting the idea of what a family is. Instead of just flesh and blood, “family” is now those who are united in Christ.
- Galatians 3:26-27 – in Christ, all are one.
- Titus 2:1-8 – older men are called to be wise, and invest in younger men. This is again a reinterpretation of what “family” is.
If our primary environment for growth, and our idea of “family” is based on the New Testament examples above, and we have single-generational groups, we’re not giving an accurate picture of the family. Rather, if we have multi-generational groups, offering those as our environment for spiritual growth, we can give an accurate, New Testament picture of healthy spiritual family.
Objections to multi-generational groups
- Friendship is best built around common interest.
- I don’t have anything helpful to offer to another generation. I don’t have all of the answers that the younger generation is going to ask. Rebuttal: if you’re further along in life, you have something to offer the younger generation.
- Am I going to be the only one like me in the group? There’s great value in being around people not just like you. Though it does work best when there’s one other person like you.
*This concept of multi-generational groups applies to all areas of diversity, including racial and socio-economic.
Moving from life-stage silos to multi-generational
- It starts with you, believing in this and stepping out and doing it.
- Remember that your people are consumers. This concept doesn’t work that really well in a short conversation at the small groups table. The Summit holds multi-generational groups up as an ideal, but doesn’t force it with everybody. He works this DNA into small group leaders, and encourages them to begin to look like the family of God.
Q&A
What do you do when you want to transition to multi-generational but your lead pastor isn’t convinced that this is the way to go?
- Ask your lead pastor to participate in a multi-generational group with you. Convince them through experience.
If you have an older and a younger generation, how do we begin moving them closer together?
- Identify a couple of leaders (including yourself), who aren’t just like you (age/stage in life), and ask them to do small groups like this.
What are some studies/books that can help with that?
- Why Small Groups, CJ Mahaney
- Hellerman’s book (listed above)
Is it a detriment that people are talking about issues that others in the group aren’t dealing with?
- Spence has heard people say that it’s refreshing to see what marriage is like from a married couple, instead of just in a sermon or a book.
- Don’t allow your conversation in your small group to just be about yourselves and your situation.
Who is the leader, the younger people or the older people?
- Either
What do you do about childcare?
- We reimburse childcare costs
What do you do about teens?
- Some are brought into the adult small group experience, it’s going well. But Spence isn’t ready to make a rule that teens of certain ages should go into small groups.
- No children in the small group.
Pete Briscoe opened up the main session at the RightNow Conference 2010, in Dallas, Texas. Pete is the lead pastor of Bent Tree Fellowship in Dallas.
How do you evaluate a good trade? A good trade is what you get is better than what you gave up. A bad trade is getting something worse than what you gave up.
There was a trader in Scripture named Paul, who traded in a Rabbinic lifestyle for Christ.
Referencing Ephesians 3, here are
5 things Paul traded for
1. Christ (v. 1). Paul was Christocentric, because everything in his life revolved around Christ. In fact, he even considered himself a prisoner of Christ. And no matter what his circumstances were, he realized it was for Jesus.
It’s not a matter of trading things in for ministry. It’s about trading them in for Christ.
Leadership is walking with Jesus and taking others along for the ride.
2. Paul traded law for grace (v. 2). God’s unmitigated love for us. Pete shared the story of Jean Val Jean from Les Miserables, who was given grace and encouraged to be a trafficker of grace. Later on in life, he rescued Cosette from the hands of miserable parents, and made her his own daughter.
Grace isn’t something that we simply see and enjoy…we are called to be traffickers of Grace.
3. The mystery (v. 3). Mystery is something that was once hidden. But now it’s available to the whole Church. This mystery referred to is Christ himself. And the fact that Christ indwelling us. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. But as we rest in Christ, He will bear fruit in us.
We’re called to be Christ-intoxicated people, traffickers of grace, and partakers of the mystery of Christ living in us.
4. The Church (v. 6 ). The Church isn’t perfect, but is a unique group of people. And we take Christ to the world (making it unique).
Parachurch organizations work with, not against the church.
As imperfect as the Church is, never turn your back on her.
5. Ministry (v. 7-8). Paul became a minister of the Gospel because God has given him the gift of ministry. Which means we shouldn’t compare our station in life to others. And the one he’s got you in…that’s God’s gift to you.
There are seasons in ministry:
- This rocks!
- This works.
- This sucks.
But whatever season, this text reminds us that ministry is a gift. We need to be fully engaged in the gracious gift of ministry that God’s called us to.
Matt Carter is pastor at The Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, TX. He led a main session at the RightNow Conference.
Transitioning “Small Group” to “Missional Community”
The more and more people get on mission, what you have to be careful of is that your people will love their mission more than they love their Savior. Because the more this happens, the more you’ll find Jesus leaving your mission.
Don’t love your calling for Christ Jesus more than you calling to Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 4:11
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers
God gave the saints to do the work of the ministry. What causes the body of Christ to grow?
The American Church is declining exponentially. What causes the body to grow?
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. – Ephesians 4:16
When each part is working properly.
The American church isn’t growing because it’s built off of an attractional model churches: Sunday is the starting point, as opposed to a home based/cell based model, starting church at that level.
We shouldn’t necessarily chuck the attractional model of the church. Because that model still has a place, where these larger attractional churches can do some things that smaller churches can’t do.
But the attractional model alone is incomplete, and isn’t the answer to turning the tide of our church away from lostness in our country.
What prompted Matt to think that the attracional model alone not work?
1. The track record doesn’t show it.
Bob Roberts poses this question:
What if, in an attempt to see the United States come to Christ, that over the next 10 years, we were going to start 1000 megachurches? Would we reach America? No. We could not. Because that’s what we just did over the last 10 years. We in America have launched that many megachurches over the last 10 years.
2. A growing sense of restlessness in the American church. 18-30 year olds aren’t ok sitting on the sidelines of ministry, especially if they’re walking with Jesus. They’re hard-wired to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be a part of world-change. For far too long, the church has placed the burden for mission on clergy, and there’s a growing tension from the everyday person in the pews, wondering why the church in Acts is so different than the American church.
3. Austin Stone is at a crossroads, because they’ve outgrown their current location. They could continue launching more sites and build bigger buildings. But these strategies do not change the city of Austin. What if, instead of taking the extra effort to grow an additional 3,000 people…what if we equipped and trained those additional 3,000 people to go out and live on mission? Everything changes in the city of Austin. Jesus would’ve made a horrible American megachurch pastor, because he purposefully ran people off. He instead took 12 ordinary guys, poured his life into theirs, and released them to go. And these 12 men changed the world.
What do we do from here?
Is it possible to do both? To attract people by the hundreds and thousands…and release them by the hundreds and thousands? Yes.
Through missional communities.
The Transition: 3 ways
1. They changed the definition of success for their small groups. Here’s success now: is the group gathering, having Bible study, meeting each other’s needs…and has the group moved beyond just gathering? Have they found a pocket of lostness in the community, and found a way to engage that lostness? Have they lost community? No, because there’s nothing on earth that fosters community better than mission. When we aimed for “community” alone, we rarely got community. When we aimed at mission, we got mission and community.
2. They changed how they trained their leaders. They began to teach them how to think and live like missionaries.
3. They’ve created a system that encourages people to teach the Bibles themselves. So that they can leave The Austin Stone and, as a group, go to another country, and teach the Word there.
4. They have raised the bar on what these groups can do. The people in your church can do more than you would ever dream they could do. Do you truly believe that?
People are hungry to be used by God.
Challenge them.
Train them.
Release them.
My Book
Starting Small: The Ultimate Small Group Blueprint
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