Small Group Leadership Gatherings
To view pictures from our recent leadership gathering, please click here.
Small Group Leader's Training Notes (from October 17, 2009)
"Small groups have the greatest redemptive potential of anything that happens in the church."
Either your group isn't being honest about its messiness or it's not connected to the world in a relevant way.
If we don't get messy fast, we're going to die fast.
If there is no messiness in your group, does it mean your group has no problems, or does it mean your group isn't engaging real life?
We don't have to clean up the messes; God will. "Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it. We are His body." (1 Corinthians 12:27)
Jesus' ministry was messy. He lived in the chaos and created something new. (Matthew 9:11-13)
If we are the body of Christ in the world, who are we here for? Messy people who realize they need Christ desperately.
How do we do this?
1. Creating culture in your group. "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building." (1 Corinthians 3:6-9)
God causes the growth, you don't. What's our responsibility? The soil, the culture, the environment.
Culture to Create:
1. Come as you are -- creating a culture of grace-giving acceptance.
What your small group can do better than anybody else is show God's grace to people who need it. We have to show them the truth of Romans 8. They say they believe it, but many don't, or have never really experienced it. They have to experience it through the body of Christ.
A. Accept person first. Vision for everyone in your group. (Romans 15:7; Ephesians 2:8-10)
B. Fix Mr. Fix It. Mr. Fix It is not comfortable with messiness. Perfect people need acceptance, too. Grace is the foundation God uses to change people and once you have a culture of grace -- giving acceptance created, then you can create a culture of authenticity.
2. No perfect people allowed. Create a culture of authenticity (1 John 1:7-9; James 5:16.)
Can people come to your small group to get well, or do they need to get well to come to your small group?
A. Speed of the leader, speed of the team. Model authentic spirituality. How authentic are you willing to be?
B. Find spiritual running partners.
3. But don't stay that way. Create a culture of growth. (1 Corinthians 3:6; Romans 8:4-5) (You stay connected and fruit happens.) Spiritual growth: Being intentional about staying connected to God's spirit moment by moment.
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