priorities...
Steven Furtick is the lead pastor of
Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Elevation (as of 2008) is the
second fastest growing church in the nation. Now I definitely don't believe numbers are everything -- but with the second fastest growing church in the nation, Furtick certainly has plenty of things and people vying for his attention.
Yesterday, his ministries pastor posted an entry on Furtick's blog titled '
Generation'. The sentence that got me was this:
In a meeting at the end of 2009, Pastor Steven looked at me and said, "I want to see every student at Elevation Church in a small group...I'm so passionate about this that I want to lead the charge by having my own student group." -- and so, Generation [Furtick's student group] was born.
Generation was a small group of 12 students who were chosen based on their potential to become great leaders. They met for 10 weeks and went through an intense discipleship process with Furtick. (Read the whole story
here.)
I know you can't always be personally involved in everything that you think is important to your ministry/church. But I also know that your leadership sets the pace. So I love this. I love that Furtick not only says that student small groups are essential, but he then puts action behind his words by leading a student small group. And not only does he lead a group, he leads the most intense, dynamic group those people have probably ever seen.
If you're in ministry, you're busy. There's plenty that you are doing, and even more that you could be doing. I'm not saying add one more thing. Necessarily. But can you step back today, and just ask yourself these 2 questions:
Based on the ultimate goal of [whatever your ministry is],
is there something that is not my priority that should be?
and
Is there something that is my priority that should not be?
Furtick's staff, adults, and youth all now know that student small groups are essential. Not because he said it, but because he showed it. What is 'it' for you?
Labels: discipleship, leadership, small groups, Steven Furtick
number 6
(discipleship ideas)
6.ReGroup dvd
This ties into the small group idea. ReGroup is a dvd put out by Willow Creek, and it is like small groups for dummies. (I’m not calling you a dummy... necessarily.) ReGroup walks you through the process of creating a strong small group, as it helps you to develop group expectations and a group covenant. It’s designed so your group can view it together, so that everyone is on the same page.
You can purchase a copy for $20 here, and then you are free to make one duplicate of it.
Labels: 10 ideas, discipleship, small groups
number 8
(discipleship ideas)
8.Grace groups
A lot of churches/youth group do small groups, and are seeing various levels of success with them. One place that we have seen small groups thrive is at
Grace Church in Powell. (I've linked to this before, but you can read Mark's insights on small groups
here.) Personally, I think one of the reasons that this church has seen such success is the way they started -- it was one group, led by one man with a
huge passion and
vision. Over the last few years that group reproduced, and eventually started a movement within that youth group and church.
I'm not saying you have to start with only one group and let it 'run its course'. But you should have leaders who are passionate and invested in your groups. If your leaders don't see the purpose, if they don't believe in (or understand) what you are trying to accomplish through your groups, if they don't feel the groups are a priority then neither will your students.
Small groups can be a beautiful way to create community, to do discipleship. But be sure to cast that vision to your leaders.
Labels: 10 ideas, discipleship, Powell, small groups
discipleship at western reserve
In January we sat around with Marty Dent and a bunch of his students who had been on Barnabas in the last couple years (o7 & 08). We discussed the need for discipleship and what it should accomplish. And we saw Marty affirm the value of discipleship as he publicly apologized to a couple of girls for setting them up with a discipler who hadn't come through in the way he had anticipated.
We walked away that night having learned a few things:
1. Marty Dent is the man.
2. He seriously believes in and invests in discipleship.
Wednesday night we found ourselves back at
Western Reserve, this time with mostly 2009 Barnabas alumni. We heard from each one of them about their transition home - about what has been good & what's been difficult, and about how they're currently involved in ministry. Here's what we learned
1. All 5 of our students are being personally discipled by an older adult.
2. All 5 also are involved in leadership for the middle school group. They help with their small groups, they go to their large group gatherings, they go to their outreach events. These high school students are all about loving on these younger kids and investing in them. Discipleship? Totally.
3. Most of them are spending consistent time in the Word and are excited about what they are learning. They're asking for new resources and ideas to further deepen their understanding of God's Word.
4. They recognize that they have an awesome church. They are surrounded by people who value, train, and use them. And they are so thankful for that. That shows some maturity.
This church is full of people that we just genuinely enjoy being around. In large part, I think it's because they understand and implement biblical discipleship.
Titus 2:
2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers s or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned.
Thanks, Marty & the rest of the Western Reserve-ers, for showing us a practical example of what this passage looks like.
Labels: discipleship, marty dent, small groups, western reserve
HSM Powell
I've known
Mark Artrip (the youth pastor at Powell) since I was in junior high. (We called him Elton John then... he was hilarious even back then.) Mark is a graduate of
the National Institute (CE's youth ministry program through Grace College), an
Operation Barnabas alum, has been an
Operation Barnabas leader, and continues to be more and more involved with
Momentum. In other words, he's had tons of training and experiences through CE National.
Last night we had the chance to speak at HSM (High School Ministry) at Powell. It's only their 2nd week back, so they are in their 4 part "Vision" series: worship, grow, serve, outreach. We spoke on, you guessed it, grow. It was a blast. We tied in 2 Peter 3.18, Ephesians 4.11-14, and Acts 2.42 to the concept of discipleship within the body of Christ. We challenged the students to quit being babies in Jesus and take the necessary steps to grow up.
The sweetest part of the night was what happened AFTER the "planned" part of the evening was over:
1- Students had the opportunity to join Grace Groups (small groups that meet in homes once a week). I bet we saw at least 20 students make their way to adults to get connected to a Grace Group. (there are already 62 kids involved)
2- Student leaders are seriously ministry minded. I was chatting with a few of them and after a few minutes they said 'Well we need to go connect with some new people.' and off they went. Those kids have ownership of their group.
3- A couple of people shared the gospel with a girl. She's getting together with Kristin, Mark's wife, later this week. Love it.
There is some incredible stuff going on at that church. And in a big way I believe it's because adults are passionate about the discipleship that goes on during Grace groups. Scripture is studied, accountability happens, relationships are built, leaders are developed, evangelism happens, all within these groups. Students are taking ownership of their faith and of their youth group.
Discipleship is not one size fits all. But maybe small groups would be a great catalyst at your church. They certainly have been in Powell.
Labels: discipleship, Mark Artrip, Powell, small groups
