Small Group Dynamics

Small groups launched this week and I couldn't be more thrilled!  I have been journeying with a group of 8th-9th grade guys for the past year and it has been phenomenal to see God move in each of their lives.  Paul and Noah Cooke, Jesse Gonder, Levi House, and Marc England Jr (Dos) are some of the most Godly young men I know.  And yesterday we decided to begin a new study on the book of Revelation with an emphasis on current events.  What a great way to encourage these guys that their time on earth is short and to be prepared for the second coming of Christ.  Should be an exciting series!

Wanted to share a few thoughts from a book I've been reading on small group dynamics*:

1.  Small groups should be value-driven not curriculum-driven.
2.  Small group relationships are more important than small group attendance.
3.  Effective leaders make sure the content serves the mission, not the other way around.
4.  The mission of a small group leader is to develop meaningful relationships with students and help shape them into the people God designed them to be.
5.  Small group ministry goes beyond small group meetings (see #6).
6.  Good leaders are always on the lookout for ways to make connections with students outside of the scheduled meeting time.
7.  A small group leader can't control a student's spiritual journey, but they can provide a nurturing context for growth to take place.
8.  Small groups are more than just opportunities to impart information.  They allow students to experience a real, meaningful connection in a relationally starved world.
9.  Small group leaders who take their call seriously will go with their students after the meeting ends.  Not physically - but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

*Small Group Strategies: Ideas and Activities for Developing Spiritual Growth in Your Students
by Laurie Polich and Charley Scandlyn
Youth Specialties  2005

Purpose in every step

“I have become a servant of everyone so that I can bring them to Christ”, were tearful words from Paul I’m sure.  The rest of 1 Corinthians 9 continues with his personal plea to pursue the lost with all the strength his battered body could muster:

“When I am with the Jews I become one of them …” (9:20)

“When I am with the Gentiles, I fit in with them as much as I can…” (9:21)

“I try to find common ground with everyone so that I may bring them to Christ …” (9:22)

As an Army Soldier I can relate the question of the church’s mission to our nation’s military.  What is the purpose of the U.S. Armed Forces?  To train soldiers who will perform well?  To develop better technology than our enemies?  To build bases all over the world?

While these are all good functions of our military, none of these is its primary directive, which is to fight and win America’s wars, at home and abroad. 

The same is true of the local church.  I think it’s good to encourage Christians through Bible studies and church programs, but it seems the same to me as continuously training soldiers how to shoot a gun, without ever sending them to war.    

Our primary job as a church is to seek and save the lost.  It’s what Jesus came to do, and it’s what we’re commanded to do first, even before teaching them to “obey all things”.

“So I run straight ahead to the goal with purpose in every step” (9:26).  What is the goal that Paul is talking about?  He is running for an eternal prize, training his body to do what it should, to preach the gospel to those who need to hear (9:27).

Two chapters later Paul exhorts the Corinthian church again, telling them to “follow my example as I follow Christ’s” (11:1).  I believe Paul put all his heart into training church elders and infant-minded Christians into greater Biblical understanding, but his primary purpose reflected the primary purpose of Christ’s, which was to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).

The local church should reflect this same purpose in all it does without compromising Biblical principles.

An excellent story illustrating how the church is a lifesaving station that has slowly evolved into a Christian club can be read below:

http://executableoutlines.com/top/lifesave.htm

Should we segregate children from adults in Sunday School?

As a youth ministry worker, this topic intrigues me. A documentary recently published (and viewable online for free) called “Divided”, seeks to condemn youth ministries as unbiblical because they’re never mentioned in the New Testament (although neither is the word “trinity” but that would take much longer to explain). I agree that the Bible depicts a strong family model for discipleship (Deut. 6:7, Prov. 22:6, and Eph 6:4). As Gene Getz says, “each believing family in a given community, ideally speaking, was to be the ‘church in miniature’ and the father the primary spiritual leader” (1 Timothy 3:4-5). But at what point does a father and mother allow other influential Godly men and women to help instruct their children in the knowledge of the Lord? As Gene Getz explains in his book Elders and Leaders, we must look through the lenses of Scripture, history, and culture to reach decisions on such delicate matters (28). Getz further explains that the church can “use cultural insights without compromising divine absolutes” (29). The history of educating American youth began in large, single-story buildings of 30-40 students, ages 5-16. As the American education system grew, culture had to adapt and segregate it’s children using age as it’s primary criteria. Since those early pioneer days, the act of separating children by age has become an American tradition. We train our children, for eight hours a day, five days a week, 9 months a year, for 16 consecutive years, to learn in an age-segregated environment. We teach them to “find kids your own age to play with” and to have birthday parties where they invite other children in their age group. Why would the church separate from this culturally ingrained learning style for one hour a week, because the first century church implied that children were present at home church gatherings (Acts 2:46-47; 4:32-35; 16”31-34)? Christians are often guilty of adding to Scripture what isn’t intrinsically there. To combine adults and kids into a large corporate worship service each week is not commanded in the New Testament. Rather, the New Testament directive to “teach what is in accord and sound doctrine”, and “to encourage the young men to be self-controlled” (Titus 2:1,6) is not hindered because the form of that command has changed.

Comparative Christianity

I do not stay awake at night wondering about the self-esteem of high school students.  

I do not stay awake at night wondering if our seniors will find a good college.

I do not stay awake at night wondering about the sports students will play.

What keeps me awake at night is thinking that the majority of students I come in contact with will potentially be in hell for all of eternity.

The greatest hindrance to knowing the truth has become our own American culture of church, where we have thought it right to compare ourselves by ourselves, consequently never realizing where we stand in eternity.

My prayer is that students today will take a radical stand for the cause of Christ.

"And you will know them by their fruits..."

~ Matthew 7:20

Do parents wield a leash of power?

Yes, this is our dog: a psychotic black lab named Koda Bear, who enjoys sticking her head out of my sunroof as I drive.

My wife Susanna and I were walking her the other day and realized that she is such a good dog!  As we walked along the South Bend riverside, we removed her leash and she bounded ahead of us, sniffing and jumping at every new discovery.

If someone approached her or if she wandered too far ahead, we called her name and she quickly returned to our side.  I have never seen a dog so obedient and loyal to her master's voice.

We pondered why Koda was so obedient compared to other dogs we've had in the past, who would have been yanking at the leash throughout the entire "walk".  We concluded that it was because Koda was raised on an open farm, where she never had to wear a leash.  She learned at a young age to follow the voice of her master, without being forced to do so by a harsh object.

We related this analogy to our future job as parents.  We don't want our children to obey us because we wield power over them, rather, we want them to experience freedom to make their own decisions and willingly choose to listen to a loving voice steer them in the right direction.

Values and Morals

Most secular psychologists today are educated and trained to be "value free", meaning that they should give advice that does not impose their value system onto their clients.

The overriding question arises:  How does a person dissect their values/beliefs from their morals?

Simply put, what a person believes determines how they behave.