Thursday, April 24, 2008

LifeGroups 2.0

I've been thinking a lot with a group of leader friends about how we can make our LifeGroups at church more purposeful. How can we make them more than little hang out groups where we go through soon-to-be-forgotten, random "small group studies"?

Here's something I've written in processing through this.


I think we let way too many people off the hook from becoming leaders. It’s like “missions”. We talk about it like it’s for the few and then only a few do it. Granted, not everyone is gifted by God for the highest levels of leadership, but who else should be leading in the world than those who have the Play Book and who have the Spirit of God inside them? Unless you are going to be personally purposeless, maritally passive, parentally absent, a frustrated manager of your household, a giver in to peer pressure, a follower of the world, you are going to have to be a leader in some capacity.

What better places but LifeGroups, miniature churches, for the development of people to lead? I'm using "lead" in a broad sense -- everything from leading others to Christ, leading our families, leading churches and movements in the kingdom of God, and most important of all leading our own wills, our own selves toward all that Christ calls us to.

LifeGroups can become a training ground for leadership in life and the main source of leadership for the church.


What do you think?

1 comment:

Parke said...

they certainly may be part of the path to more visible leadership and part of any person's learning journey. it would be wise though to consider the role more than that though (as i'm sure you do).

some of our communities most powerful moments of truth, love and service have happened in small groups. it's something we can easily forget with the volume of Sundays at 11.

for some, the path of leadership may be from a very visible leader role "down" to the role of life group leader where they can directly pastor people and build relationships.