Big Ideas about Small Groups

School of Theology - Colossians Syllabus

Eric Metcalf | NewThing Adult Minsitry Champion

Alright, we have now finished the syllabus for School of Theology: Colossians (download here).  We initially thought we would have pre-work for this course, but due to deadlines and life, we are simply asking that you please read through Colossians at least twice before Thursday paying attention to these four domains: culture, leadership, theology, and spiritual formation - noting where Paul makes reference to them - implicitly and literally.

We look forward to seeing you there!

School of Theology

Eric Metcalf | NewThing Adult Ministry Champion

I've been a Christ-follower since I was 13; I'm 32 years old now = 19 years of following Jesus.  Throughout those 19 years I have had the chance to sit under several "rabbis" - my Youth Pastor, Bible college professors (LCC), a Christ-following parent, Christ-following brother, CCC staff, other church leaders through conferences and networking and the list goes on and on. 

Now I say all this not to brag (cause there's really not much to brag about) but to point out one thing - I have had a lot of opportunity to grow and be challenged in my knowledge of the Father, the Church, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, etc. - and I mean A LOT!  And you know what, I think I underestimate that.  Those experiences have shaped my theology; have shaped my orthodoxy which in turn have shaped my orthopraxy (practice of ministry).

So beginning on Thursday nights, Oct 25 - Nov 15 (7-9pm, Yellow Box) we are going to be kicking off a NEW gathering we are calling School of Theology - a communal gathering designed to equip us to be a missional church.  We will be studying the book of Colossians - looking at how the Apostle Paul challenged this early church through leadership, spiritual formation, theology and culture.  We will also spend time sharing practical ways on how to study God's Word, the world around us (music, culture, media), spiritual leadership and much more.  But don't come alone - bring a friend.  If you're in a small group bring the whole group.  We want this to be a communal experience.

RSVP at ericmetcalf@communitychristian.org or 630.388.5119.

The Spiritual Health of Your Mind

Genea Browne | Shorewood Adult Ministry Director

How spiritually healthy is your mind?  How do we take care of the spiritual health of our mind?  We keep an intimate relationship with God by praying, reading the Bible and spending time with Him.  We also need to recognize when we are letting the devil tell us lies.  I was recently reading, Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer.  She talks about how the devil doesn't know now to speak the truth and referenced this passage Jesus said in John 8:44:

"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire.  He was a muderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is not truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

She goes on to give us an example of what Jesus did when he was faced with the devil's lies.  Each time Jesus defeated the devil by speaking the Word of God.  I love how Joyce Meyer sums up with saying, "Learn the truth of God's Word and every time Satan lies to you, quote a scripture back to him.  Learn to talk back to the devil!!!"

I know there are times in our lives or the lives of those around us when we get dragged down and defeated by the lies coming for the devil.  He may say, your not good enough, you can't trust anyone or he may put fears in your head so deep that it brings you to destruction.  There are many lies the devil can tell us and we have to remember we have a weapon, God's Word!

Life Change

Genea Browne | Shorewood Small Groups

A couple questions to ask ourselves as leaders...do we see life change in our groups?  Are people growing closer to God?  Are we making an eternal differnce?  Here are just a copule stories reflecting life change.

In this story I had the privilege of being her small group leader.  I was able to witness the transformation in her life from the inside out.  By the end of this period she was glowing with a Godly light.  It was amazing.

Meeting with my group weekly has truly been a blessing in my life.  It has changed my life in so many ways.  I have gotten so much closer to the Lord.  I love Him more and more and trust Him to be in control of my life.  God has taught me to let go of my control and give it to Him and I've learned that through my group.  The peace I have being close to God is truly amazing.  The support, trust, love and bond we women share is like nothing I've ever experienced in my life.  I feel so blessed that God showed me how important a small group was in my life, and knew I was ready to take that step.  It has become a priority above a lot of other things that I thought were important.  It is a continuous learning experience.

In this second story I saw this man find his way out of a valley and to the mountain top with God leading him every step of the way.  Truly amazing, again!

My wife and I had been attending CCC for about 6 months when we were invited to a small group.  Of course I said "no" immediately.  I didn't need to go to a small group.  After a few weeks I finally said "yes" to make my wife happy.  All I could think about was how uncomfortable it was going to be.  After a few weeks, it became easier to attend group and we began to make friends.  We had been attending group for several months when we came upon hard financial times.  The group was extremely supportive and prayed continuously for us.  After about a year, we did a study called Experiencing God.  Through this study my eyes were opened to the fact that Jesus calls us to be true servants.  Over the next few months, my life was transformed from living a self-centered to living a God centered life.  I am now leading small groups myself.  Small group was the most life changing experience I have ever gone through.

I love hearing stories like this.  They encourage me to make sure I am always focusing on how God wants to use me as a leader.  When I do this, God works in AMAZING ways!

Inward Transformation for Outward Expression

Tony Escobar | Pilsen Campus

In Pilsen we are trying to balance an internal-external tension.  What I mean is this: small groups exist in order to help people grow spiritually.  In other words, leaders are responsible for helping people to mature and take next steps in faith.  But just a little bit of Bible reading will show that Jesus is not satisfied with us just constantly feeding ourselves.  He commissioned his followers to engage missionally (Matt. 28:18-20).

Just like real food is supposed to give us energy to be active for our daily activities, our "spiritual" food should do the same.  Small groups, then, are a catalyst for inward transformation for outward expression.  There is a reciprocal relationship between growing internally and serving externally: learning about Jesus catapults us out into the world, and once we've been serving in the world we want to learn more about following Jesus in practical settings.  So then we go back and forth.

Unfortunately, small groups tend to do one without the other.  We may tend only to care about discipleship (training), and not apostleship or mission (sending and serving), or vice versa.  That would be like a basketball team only practicing and never playing, or playing and never practicing. 

So we are adopting that analogy in our small groups.  That is, we view the scope of our small groups much like that of a sports team: they exist to perform, but hte players need constant training in order to maximize their performance.  To balance this tension, we've equipped our leaders with two different surveys, one to probe about growth needs and another to brainstorm outreach activities.  We are encouraging them to use, review, and refresh these surveys every covenant period.  Try them out.  Let me know if you have questions.

Fear Is the Opposite of Faith

Genea Browne | Shorewood Small Groups

I was recently reading about Moses and his journey.  God asked Moses to do many "God-sized" things throughout his life, most of which Moses felt incapable of doing.  Oh, little things like, bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, parting the Red Sea, bringing the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai...you know simple things like that (yeah right!)  Moses was at times very fearful but relied on God for this strength.  Moses knew that if a task was laid out before him that he wasn't capable of accomplishing, God would equip him to complete the task.

This reminds me of something I recently experienced with a friend and fellow leader.  We were preparing for a retreat in which I was given the responsibility to find leaders for each group of women.  I called this particular friend and she was reluctant about leading a group of women she didn't know.  She prayed about it that night and called me the next morning and said yes because she knew God wanted her to.  When she arrived at the event and went to her assigned group of women, they told her they were all together and didn't want another person joining them, not realizing they needed a leader.  My friend immediately started to panic and doubt.

She was walking out the door to go home when I came alongside her.  When I looked into her eyes, I saw fear.  I calmed her down by telling her I knew God wanted her with this particular group of wome and she was going to be a blessing to them.  And that God would give her the strength she needed. 

Later that night she contacted me and told me she had a life changing experience and all because she allowed God to use her.  She shared stories about how she had bonded with these women.  She said she felt such a spiritual high from God working through her that she couldn't wait for the next "God-thing".

It was Moses who said to his "apprentice" Joshua,

"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.  Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged."  (Deut. 31:8)

Fear is the opposite of faith.  The next time God gives you a "God-sized" task, and you doubt or fear, who are you really doubting, yourself or God?

It Only Takes One

Genea Browne | Shorewood Small Groups

I was waiting for a friend to meet me for breakfast the other morning when she rushed in only a few minutes late and couldn't wait to share the awesome reason why.  She had received a phone call from a friend on her way out the door.  She was just thining about call this friend.  Coincidence?  I don't think so!  Her friend was going through a rough time and needed someone to listen but most of all pray for her.  She shared that out of everyone in her life she immediately thought of her to call when she needed prayer.

This touched my friend and led her to think about the progression of events that had transpired in her life to get her to where she was today.  She was invited to a small group and went but didn't really want to.  She was asked to pray out loud and did but didn't really want to.  She was asked to lead and did but this time she really wanted to because she was starting to see how God was using her.  She was obedient and allowed God to shape and mold her and because of that she is now a tremendous blessing in her friend's life.  She is a source of love, support and encouragement to someone in need.

My friend herself is going through some struggles but through this one phone call God blessed her in a meaningful way.  She shared with me that her trials failed in comparison to the awesome gift of being the "light" to someone and the joy that brings when you let God use you in that way.  The Bible tells us in Matthew 16:25, "For whoever wants to save this life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."  The commentary from the Life Application Bible then states, "When we give our lives to service in Christ we discover the reall purpose of life."  My friend knows that to be true now and it started with someone inviting her to small group.

As leaders we need to be encouraging one another to ask.  God will do the rest.

Who's the next person you are inviting to small group?  Who's the person you are asking to pray?  Who's the next person you are asking to lead?  It only takes one to make an eternal difference in God's Kingdom.

Helping Group Members Take Next Steps

Tony Escobar | Pilsen Small Groups

Jim Semradek had some great suggestions on how to help group members take next steps.  Tony Escobar, Small Groups Director at CCC Pilsen Campus, has also thought through how to help group members take next steps - check out what he has to say -and grab a pen and paper, because you're going to want to take notes - or you can download this:

Getting Everyone Involved

Jim Semradek | Romeoville Small Groups

I recently met a small group leader that said, "No one wants to lead...no one wants to host...it all falls on my shoulders and no one will step up!" 

Have you ever felt that way?

I used to constantly struggle with this problem…until something changed…and to be honest, I have never had this problem since.

I learned just two important principles:

1. From the very beginning of the group…find each member’s spiritual gifts and have them exercise those gifts within the group every week!  If you have never taken a spiritual gift test, then now is your time to begin.  I would suggest for your group to attend a LifeMap class together.  Then after the class, have each member tell the group their top 2 or three spiritual gifts and encourage each to lead within their gifting every week!  If the person is a mercy or intercession, have them “lead” the prayer requests.  If the person has a gift of helps or hospitality, have them “lead” foods and snacks or host.  If they are an administrator, have them “lead” starting and ending on time…or set up an email list to keep small group members connected.  If they are a leader, use them often to begin discussion, encourage action steps for lessons, etc.  Every person is a leader within their own spiritual gifts.
2. Don’t fall into the trap of leading every week.  From the very beginning of the group, make it an expectation that everyone will lead at least once over the course of the group.  Whatever the person’s gifting may be…lead out of that gifting.  Recently when I began a group, I set the expectation that every person would lead at least once.  Usually this intimidates people at first, but as time goes on and different people lead, the “peer pressure” of leading will actually become a wonderful expectation.  By the end of our group, people actually wanted to lead.  By the end of our group, it was amazing how interactive it became.  Hospitality people provided the environment and food, mercy people provided the prayer, leaders gave action steps, administrators kept us organized, etc.  It was a fun group, because everyone had a place:  Everyone knew their gifting, and everyone led through that gift mix!

Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

Good News Jesus Talk

Bill Barton | Naperville Singles & Young Adults

“Ummm, uhhhh, geesh, ahhhh, wellllll…” Recognize these sayings. I’m realizing there may be 2 most likely situations where people would give these types of responses.

1. Playing jeopardy in a foreign language
2. Or when we as Christ-followers are asked to explain to someone what faith in Jesus means

I was in small group a couple weeks ago where we have been reading the book of Acts. Inspired by the non-stop “Good News Jesus Talk” that Peter, Philip, and Paul had with everyone, I chose to ask my group, “How many of you have actually had a conversation with a non-believer about their faith in Jesus.” Nothing but silence.  The people in my group are great, so I realize they’re at different points in their spiritual journey, and they also have different life stories.  I’m on staff at a church and I’ve only had this actual conversation (The Jesus has changed my life by grace…or something like this) a handful of times in my life!

So, think about your friend, co-worker, family member, etc…who doesn’t live a life in Christ and think about the 1 question that could change everything for them:  Can you tell me about faith in Jesus?  Can You?