3 Reasons Your Church Must Care About Groups This Fall
While one person can make a significant impact on each of us, we tend to be much more influenced by groups of people. Here is a fascinating example: The Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona has often faced a crisis as people can steal petrified wood at an alarming rate. Some researchers tested what message […]
Breaking Up with the Groups/Discipleship Pastor
One of my mentors, Brad Waggoner, recently told me that he noticed a major shift in church ministry in the early ’90s when “senior pastors of churches broke up with their discipleship pastors/ministers of education and ran off with the worship pastor.” Of course, a senior pastor does not need to choose between the two. […]
Discipleship and Identity
The apostle Peter viewed discipleship, in part, through the lens of identity in Christ. When he wrote the epistle of 1 Peter, he was writing a group of Christians who were struggling with how to live in the world as they were experiencing intense persecution. The root of the hostility toward them was the fire that […]
Are Groups Really Important in Your Church?
I believe groups (classes, Bible fellowships, etc) should be important to churches because God has supernaturally ordained community to sanctify His people. God, who is an eternal community of three Persons, created community for our benefit and His glory. And small groups help believers live in community with one anther. Though most pastors say that […]