SESSION ONE:
PHILOSOPHY OF DISCIPLESHIP AT NEW DAY
[Mat 28:18-20 ESV] 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
[2Pe 3:18 NIV] 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
[Act 2:42-47 NIV] 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
[Gal 5:22-23 ESV] 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
SUMMARY OF REVEAL STUDY:
Outcomes of spiritual growth are not related to how often people are in the building or in your programs but are dictated by their relational connection to Christ.
Four levels of relational connection:
- Exploring Christ
- Growing in Christ
- Close to Christ
- Christ-centered
These 4 categories have 3 “movements” from one level to the next; the church needs to figure out how to move people across these 3 movements.
Those who “stall” spiritually primarily fall in the earlier categories.
People who are “Christ-centered” have an enormous capacity for increased kingdom impact.
The Bible is the most powerful catalyst for spiritual growth. “Spending time in the Bible is hands down the highest-impact personal spiritual practice.” (true across all 3 movements.)
Three big changes they made:
- Change message to congregation: no longer “one-size-fits-all” spiritual development, but encouraging people to “move from dependence ON the church to a growing interdependent partnership WITH the church.
- Coach next steps: They developed tools for helping people assess where they are spiritually and move to the next level.
- Extend the impact of weekend services: They realized that the weekend service was the most impactful time, so they began to get more intentional about helping people move to the next level, across each of the 3 “movements” on the weekend. (i.e. handing out a journal twice a year to go along with special series and encouraging people to journal their learnings etc… in effort to get them more involved in their own spiritual development Mon-Fri.)
SUMMARY OF SIMPLE CHURCH:
- Whatever you land on needs to be simple and easily communicated to the congregation.
- Everybody should know what you expect of them.
- There shouldn’t be any competing products.
STAGES OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH
- Seeker / Pre-born
- Infant / Child (Consumer, needs to be fed)
- Young Adult (Has moved to feeding themselves)
- Spiritual parent (Is feeding / discipling others)
A PERSON NEEDS THE FOLLOWING TO GROW IN CHRIST:
- Growing in knowledge (biblical knowledge and application)
- Growing in relationships (with God and God’s people)
- Growing in mission (growing in passion, influence, etc.)
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER:
- How can we start a disciple-making movement?
- How can we measure discipleship at ND?
- Who should “own” this at ND?
- How can we change our language to reflect what people need?
- How can we improve in helping people in all 3 major categories – knowledge, relationships, mission?
- How can we recruit more leaders and what are we recruiting them to lead?
- How do we know if we’re successful?
ISSUES FOR ND LEADERS TO TACKLE AS TIME ALLOWS
Easter service times
Babies in the adult service
Staff review process
Christmas service times
Be sure to check your spam folder for your emailed notes!