By Steve Cordle
Discipleship is at the heart of group ministry. The best group leaders do more than facilitate good meetings, they also lead their members toward spiritual maturity through relational discipleship.
But discipleship should not be left only to the leader. I was reminded of this not long ago.
About 2 months ago, a woman prayed to receive Christ during the group meeting I was leading. It was her first time with us, and she was sincerely wanting to experience new life in Christ. After the prayer, a couple of group members gave her encouraging words about following Jesus.
The next day I emailed the woman some basic information about what to do in order to keep growing. We were able to follow up a bit at the next meeting with her questions about where to starst reading the Bible, and so on.
But how much better would it have been had another woman in the group said to her “Let’s have coffee this week and talk more about following Christ”. And what if the two of them met for a few weeks to work through a brief study of the basics of the faith? In short, what if another woman had personally discipled her (don’t worry, we’re working on making that happen!).
When there is a culture of disicpleship in a group, it’s not just the leader who is trying to pour his/her life into others, it is everyone! That will make for a much stronger group and ministry.
Let’s encourage our group members to look for opportunitie to encourage, equip, and challenge each other in love. Do your group members know how to do that? Has your church provided them with the resources and understanding of how to do so?
Comments?