An Excerpt from The Fuel and the Flame
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This is the backbone of your ministry. In some respects, the large group meeting is a storefront for what’s really going on behind the scenes. If your goal is ultimately to raise up disciples, disciplemakers, and reproducers, then the large group meeting can be an introduction to your ministry funnel, while the small group is a narrowing of it, continuing to raise the level of commitment to see who is interested. Much of Jesus’ discipleship took place in the context of a small group. Whether you call it a growth group, vision group, discipleship group, action group or just plain ‘ol Bible study it needs to have a few essential characteristics:
1. A designated leader
Someone will have to take the lead in planning, recruiting, and leading the small group study. Don’t think you have to have a seminary degree to do it; the essential ingredients are a love for those students and a love for the Word. Why not ask another laborer on your campus to assist you in your effort? It may be the first time they’ve ever had a chance to hop into the discipleship process with someone. Remember your goal is not as much to lead and direct as much as it is to serve and facilitate. Don’t view yourself as a teacher, but more of a recruiter, challenger, discussion leader, and most of all─friend.
2. Designated participants
Pray by name for each of the contacts, new friends, new converts, and investigative (i.e. evangelistic) Bible study participants you have been spending time with. Determine which students have shown the most interest and have responded to you and/or the truth you’ve presented them thus far. Don’t make the small groups for just anybody, but create a set number of spots, usually between three and twelve that you are specifically selecting and inviting certain students to. If possible, start small groups among people that know and like each other and have things in common (i.e. they live in the same dorm, are part of the same team, are all freshmen, are all internationals, are all off campus, are all education majors, etc.,).
3. A pre-determined purpose
Your goal is not just to have Bible studies, but to be moving them along the growth process toward becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. If you want, give your group a creative name that will help everyone understand what direction you’re headed in. Whether you choose relevant topics, fill in the blank Bible study materials or just take on a chapter a week from a book of the Bible, make sure your time each week is centered around the study and discussion of the Word. Don’t teach or preach during these sessions, instead come prepped with awesome questions that you and your assistant proudly open up one at a time, like beautifully wrapped Christmas presents, and watch with excitement as they devour each question, each topic, each passage.
4. Standards
You’re trying to “up the ante” at each level of commitment to find out who really wants to follow Christ and make a difference for Him. Dependent upon where they are in their hunger and faithfulness, a growth group like for believers can have standards anywhere from come every week for an hour, prepare in advance for thirty minutes and memorize a verse to come every week for two hours, prepare three hours before you come and memorize two verses each week. It won’t take long to see who is going to be faithful to come, to prepare, to participate and to apply what they are getting in the group. Progressively setting higher standards at each level not only challenges the students, but gives you a way to select which ones you really want to invest in.
5. Beginning and ending point
Always let the students know how many weeks or months the study will last and what time each week the study begins and ends. At this stage of development, I would encourage you to make the study not less than six weeks and not more than a semester, not less than an hour a week and not more than two. Instead of exhausting them (and yourself!) with massive year-long commitments or open-ended studies that seem to go past midnight every week, it’s better to make them shorter, more dynamic, and exciting each time, making them wanting to come back for more the next study.
6. Transition to the next level of commitment
Always be planting what I call “vision seeds” in the minds of your participants. During the group discussion, casually insert, “You’ll need to know this when you share the gospel,” or “This will be helpful when you lead a study” is letting them know that you believe (and expect!) they will take what you’re giving them and pass it onto others. As this study winds down, be thinking about what kind of a group you want to invite the faithful ones to. Give it a different name, with higher standards, with an always growing commitment to an outward focus of taking personal responsibility for the Great Commission.