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Session 3 Audio
We have begun to understand the WHY of Discipleship Groups here at Oakwood. Here w will elaborate further on the WHAT of Discipleship Groups.
? What does discipleship look like in a D-Group?
? What is the culture we are trying to create?
What does discipleship look like in a D-Group?
Our purpose at Oakwood is disciplemaking. Our mission is to join God in His work of transforming people and communities through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Discipleship is the process of transforming lives through the power of the Gospel.
However there is a problem when we simply say that the goal of D-Groups is “discipleship.” The problem is that we ALL have different ideas of WHAT discipleship looks like! Some say discipleship happens on Sunday mornings; others say it happens in Community Groups; still others say it’s when they are alone with God in Bible reading and prayer. None of these answers are wrong, so then what is the unique flavor of discipleship we are after in D-Groups?
- Here are 5 key cultural components that I believe are essential to seeing discipleship (growth in Christ) happen in our D-Groups.
- We want to create a culture of obedience ? Believe progress is important.
- We want to create a culture of watchfulness. ? Care for their soul.
- We want to create a culture of confession ? Ask probing questions to get to their heart.
- We want to create a culture of accountability. ? Believe transformation is a process that you play a part in.
- We want to create a culture of training ? Help them craft a way forward.
We want to create a culture of OBEDIENCE ? Believe response to the Gospel is important.
What is most disturbing in modern American Christianity is the extreme emphasis on KNOWLEDGE at the expense of OBEDIENCE. As much as I loved the huge evangelistic crusades of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, one of the negative effects was a cultural acceptance of “easy believism.” This simply means you can say the prayer of salvation, get acceptance into heaven, and then continue on living the life you always lived! No need to live differently – just believe differently!
The Seeker Sensitive Movement of the 80s, 90s and 2000s also jumped on this bandwagon: If we can draw them in with a highly professional experience involving engaging worship, relevant and funny teaching, a high-energy kids program, and beautiful facilities, then we don’t particularly care what they decide to do from there. What matters is that they are here, so surely they are growing! Now the unfortunate outcome of all this is a Christian culture that cares more about knowing the right things than doing the right things. Of course these must go together. You can’t have one without the other – both belief and obedience. In fact, each one confirms the other!
The goal of D-Groups is to bring a healthy priority back to obedience. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” The way we love God shows up in the way we obey God. Growth usually starts in the heart as a greater awe or love for God, but it must move outward to changes in lifestyle. It has to manifest itself!
Let me ask a question: How many would say you’ve been in a service where God truly spoke to you? You felt love and awe for God. You saw your life with clarity, and then walked out the door and did nothing about it? Until we respond with obedience, we never actually grow those seeds God put in our hearts.
Obedience is not supposed to be a scary word. Obedience is simply the way we are responding to God’s love and Truth. It shows that we believe a response to the Gospel is important!
Now this is not something I’m usually good at noticing or monitoring myself. It really helps to have other people SEEING my response or not seeing my response.
We want to create a culture of WATCHFULNESS. ? Care for their soul by noticing and discerning.
The goal here is to become mutual watchmen over the souls of those in your group. You can see a summary of our three main responsibilities as children of God:
1. Worshipers: We are called to love and serve God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
2. Witnesses: We are called to love unbelievers by sharing Christ with them.
3. Watchmen: We are called to love one another by caring for each other’s spiritual health.
This is the primary mission of a spiritual shepherd, or a pastor. Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.” This is our mission here at Oakwood, but let’s be honest: This is not a job that we can effectively do for everyone in the church! The churches that believe the pastor’s primary job is to effectively care for everyone’s soul are crazy! This is why Ephesians 4:12 states that the pastor’s job is to equip the saints for ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. ? Brothers and sisters, this means it is our mutual job together to keep an eye on one another’s souls!
I got the original word picture of a “watchmen” from Ezekiel 3:16-17. Here God commissions Ezekiel to be a watchman over the house of Israel. In other words, God assigns him the responsibility of being mindful of their spiritual condition and to speak to them as God directs. In so doing, it says that he delivers his soul from judgment. The implication here is that God holds us accountable if we fail to care for one another’s souls!
We create a culture of spiritual watchfulness by caring for one another’s soul. This is important because we are all prone to wander like sheep! The shepherd or watchmen’s job is to notice this and respond to this. Hebrews 3:12 says, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” ? How do we keep that from happening? ? The next verse says we “exhort one another every day that no one becomes hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
The goal in D-Groups is to create a loving culture of spiritual watchfulness over each other’s souls. It starts with our hearts to legitimately care about the souls of those in our groups. This care manifests itself in what we notice, discern, and must respond to. If we notice something troubling in the life of another, then we better be ready to respond with Gospel gentleness, grace and truth.
But here’s a good question: How can we watch and discern the true spiritual condition of someone if they are not sharing what’s going on in their lives? We can’t! What we need to do is ask good questions that allow for confession.
We want to create a culture of CONFESSION ? Ask probing questions to get at the heart
Questions have a way of engaging the heart so that it might articulate its true condition. I remember one of my mentors at the church I attended in college would always ask me, “Jason, what is the condition of your soul today?” That’s somewhat of an intimidating question! How do you answer that? But I can tell you that God used that question to open my heart.
People are far more complex than we often give them credit for. There’s a lot more going on beneath the surface than we realize. I like to think of people like icebergs. You see very little, mainly the superficial-self that prefers to guard the deeper complexities of their heart and mind. But beneath the surface are the deeper complexities of that person’s heart and mind. These are always hidden at first because a person feels safer (less vulnerable) when these are hidden and guarded.
Proverbs 20:5 says, “The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.” Our desire, as each D-Group builds trust, is to draw out the deeper person hidden beneath the surface. The way in which we often do this is by asking good, probing questions that aim at revealing the hidden parts of a person.
Here are some examples of good questions:
? Has prayer been more of a duty or delight for you this past week? ? What things did you do this week that proved to you that Christ is alive and active in you?
? Are you feeling defeated in any area of your life?
? Is there anything that is bringing stress or anxiety into your life right now?
? What’s been occupying your thoughts this past week? ? How have you encountered Christ in the Scriptures this week?
? In what ways did you exhibit undisciplined or addictive behavior this week?
? In what area do you need God’s strength?
Do you see how these types of questions can bring the real person to the surface? We want our D-Groups to be a place where deep questions reveal our true selves for the purpose of deep transformation.
REVIEW THE FOUR OPENING LESSONS IN D-GROUPS
Once people reveal their true selves through confession, what do we do with that information?
We want to create a culture of accountability ? Believe that transformation is a process that you play a part in.
Darin has already said that we want these groups to be INTENTIONALITY groups that use accountability in pursuit of the “obedience of faith.”
It makes sense that if people are revealing their true selves as a result of good, probing questions, then our job is to steward that information, nurture that information, and cultivate that information so that it leads to transformation. I need to believe that someone else’s transformation is a process I play a part in.
Confession reveals information.
Accountability leads to transformation.
Damien Gerke says, “Accountability means being clear on what you intend to do and then taking responsibility to complete it. In the context of a group this effort becomes mutual, meaning that everyone participates in taking ownership and supporting each other to accomplish what’s in our hearts.”
What kind of accountability leads to transformation? In other words, how do you steward what people tell you so that it leads to spiritual growth?
- Record what people reveal.
- Pray for their progress.
- Ask if they are making progress.
For example, let’s suppose someone in your group shared that they struggle with anxiety at work. It can be so easy to only receive that information in the moment, maybe ask a follow up question, and then pray for it. But beyond the present moment, we don’t always come back to it later. True transformation is a process worked out over time. Confession rarely results in immediate life change. Instead, confession is the beginning of the road of transformation. What’s important is that I steward that information shared by coming back to it again later in the week by text or call or by bringing it up again next time we meet.
I might ask, “I know you shared last week about anxiety at work.” Did you happen to see any change this week in your anxiety level?”
Accountability has limits of course. What if I’m repeatedly asking how they are doing, but they never seem to change? Maybe the problem is that they don’t know how to change! Accountability reveals their current path, but they may struggle to construct a clear path to healing. My role in that person’s life can’t only be that of a mirror, I must also be a light that illuminates a better way.
We want to create a culture of TRAINING ? Help craft a way forward. God has given all of us wisdom from His Word and experiences from our life that can speak into someone’s life. God gives us victory from our past sins so that we might help others find a similar way forward. I love what David says in Psalm 51 after confessing his sin of adultery. V.12-13 says, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.” ? David believed that God would give him a ministry out of his misery.
Rick Warren says, “If you give it to God, He transforms your test into a testimony, your message into a message, and your misery into a ministry.”
When we find ways forward, our ministry then is to help others find their way forward. I know that the sin issues of others won’t line up perfectly with yours. But you still have wisdom from your journey to lead them forward in their journey.
Here’s the reality: People often know what they should do, but they don’t know how to do it! When we show people HOW, we are giving them HOPE. Hope is a highway to transformation. I am far more motivated to change my ways if someone can help me see a better way!
For example, someone in my group shared that they struggle with Bible reading. They rarely do it, and simply don’t know how to find time to. This current path has no hope because they have no answer for how to change. All they see is their dead-end path, which creates despair. Your job here is to help them craft a way forward. This is what training is! It’s why we use resources in D-Groups to help craft a plan for change.
If you’ve ever lifted weights, you know you can’t start bench pressing 200 or 300 pounds. You must build up to it by starting with lighter weights.
Same thing in spiritual training. I would suggest to this person who says they can’t find time to read the Bible if they have any free moments as they transition to new assignments throughout the day. What about five minutes of free time during lunch, or free time on the car ride to work? Do they have a Bible app they could pull out for 5 minutes during those transition times?
This is helping them craft a way forward. If they respond with YES, then ask if they would like to try working on this small plan of change for the coming week. Then you can talk about how it went. ? Help them see a small step forward and trust that God will use it to strengthen their faith.
PERSONAL COMMITMENTS IN D-GROUPS
One important part of D-Group is crafting PERSONAL COMMITMENTS. These are not meant to bring legalistic slavey, but Gospel clarity. They are not meant to bring despair, but hope. They are meant to provide a clear way forward. Remember that an idea is only an idea until you write it down. Then it becomes a goal! But it’s not a priority until you share it with someone else.
Once a D-Group completes the first four studies, the plan should be for each person to craft their individual personal commitments for spiritual growth. These should be much easier to craft with the personal knowledge they received from the studies. They will then share these commitments with the group. It’s appropriate for the group to check-in specifically on these commitments once a month for stagnation or progress.
CONCLUSION
We covered the importance of creating a culture that allows for spiritual growth to actually happen. We named 5 elements of culture we want to create:
- We want to create a culture of obedience ? Know your calling.
- We want to create a culture of watchfulness. ? Care for their soul by noticing and discerning.
- We want to create a culture of confession ? Ask probing questions to get to the heart.
- We want to create a culture of accountability. ? Believe transformation is a process that you play a part in.
- We want to create a culture of training ? Help craft a way forward.
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