Discipleship is my not my natural bend as a Christian. I would prefer to be out and about sharing the good news with people than sitting around a table and leading a small group. Now I say that but something inside in me is changing. Starting back in May I began to think that we (explode high school ministry) needed to revamp the way we are leading small groups.
Through months of thinking, planning, and praying we have successfully done that. Last week was week four of our new small group format and I am totally loving it more than I could imagine! I don't think I am naturally wired to lead a small group, which doesn't mean I am exempt from the call to disciple, but we have about 10 leaders that love to disciple students and we have turned them loose to make that happen!
We chose to use the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan for this session and the book is rocking the way I think about Christ and helping students understand more about this God they have chosen to follow. The format is different than we have ever used; this is the first time we have all our small groups using the same format since 2005 and its working! We moved all the small groups onto the church campus for the 10 weeks of this study to get some unity and critical mass going. We are also seeing how girls and guys relate being in the same room during a study.
The leaders are the ones who make it! The leaders are the ones who create the environment at the their table; they are the ones being youth pastors to the students at their table. The leaders are the ones who are praying for their students, inviting them and even picking them up so they can come and its working! This is the first time we are not basing success on numbers but health and its so freeing to see Jesus work in that room on Sunday nights. If you haven't had a chance to come to small group; hope to see you this week at 4pm in the Student Ministry room!
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