SESSION 5 TRANSFORMATION. v 1.0

Transcription

1 SESSION 5 TRANSFORMATION v 1.0 1

2 TRANSFORMATION OVERVIEW OF SESSION Review/Preview Prayer time Stories Content/Exercises/Discussion Closing Thought WINS OF THE SESSION Continue paradigm shift from Collecting Community OS to Mobilizing Community OS. Identify a shared definition of a disciple. Reality check -- assess current discipleship process. NOTES ON APPRENTICING Have apprentice lead Exercise #2. Plan to do affirmation and critique in your debrief time. From this point on, you ll begin to give your apprentice more opportunities to lead so that by Session 10, you are sharing the leadership experience. Make sure that your apprentice takes lots of notes observing how you are leading the room, which will enrich this debriefing. 1

3 ASSETS NEEDED FOR SESSION Whiteboard and markers Giant sticky notes and markers Explanation of spiritual formation survey (to be ed after session) Video: Bob Reed "Are we making disciples?" INTRO BRoad session notes for facilitator Review 3 Convictions, Saturation + Mobilization Overview of the emphasis of Transformation PRAYER 20 minutes Groups of 3-4 The Lord's prayer/coa STORIES Thoughts from Acts 17 Personal story shared by Facilitator Stories shared by individuals, giving examples of how they engaged with one person in their Circle of influence 2

4 CONTENT + EXERCISES READ Matthew 28: There is no Plan B. Exercise #1 Groups of 3-4 How do you think Jesus and the book of Acts would define a disciple? Use Scripture to support your answer. Write out on giant sticky note and then each group shares with whole room. Discussion Arrive at a room definition for DISCIPLE. Transition: How would the people in your congregation define it? How do you measure your effectiveness? Exercise #2 (Apprentice leads) Get into groups with your church team. What is your church s current plan or process, as of yesterday, for making disciples? Write out on giant sticky note and then each group shares with whole room. Exercise #3 (Closing with a Continuum): Lay out the Spiritual Formation Continuum. Have them plot out the normal in their church. Discuss with their church team. 3

5 CLOSING THOUGHTS Video - Bob Reed "Are we making disciples?" Matthew 28:18-20 No plan B Every church needs to be able to answer two questions. First, what s our plan for making disciples? And second, does our plan work? -Dallas Willard Two closing questions: 1. Does your plan work? 2. Who are YOU discipling? SETTING THE TABLE FOR NEXT SESSION: We will look at some measurable outcomes present in the life of any growing disciple. Make sure the Spiritual Formation Survey has been taken. DETAILS PRAY DISMISS APPRENTICE DEBRIEF Work for next time: Bring a working definition of disciple. Read 3 page article on the survey (It will be ed to you). 4

6 In-depth Session Notes for Facilitator: INTRO 5 minutes Review where we ve been: 3 Convictions, Saturation, Mobilization Whatever God wants to do in the world today, He wants to do through all of His people. Whatever God wants to do in the world today, He wants to do through multiplying disciples and churches, giving Gospel access to every man, woman and child. Whatever God wants to do in the world today, He wants to do through leaders who view equipping God s people for His mission as their first priority. Today, we shift to the next part of our AIM: TRANSFORMATION. Our two sessions on Transformation are going to look a little different than our previous ones. We will still begin with our prayer rhythm, but these next sessions are going to be less content-driven and much more interactive. 5

7 PRAYER 20 minutes By now, you ve noticed a theme. We experience a rhythm of intentional prayer every time we meet. yyprayer is our opportunity to collectively declare our dependence on God and to intercede and contend for the lostness in our Circles of Accountability. yyin addition, it bonds us together as one Church and builds our trust with one another. yylastly, these exercises are models that we can utilize to grow our understanding and practice of prayer beyond it being simply an opening and closing for our gatherings. Instead, prayer becomes a vital part of our church gatherings. Please split into groups of 3-4 within your church teams. Today, we are going to use the Lord s Prayer as our guide again, but this time we are going to pray specifically for YOUR PLACE. Where you live. Guide the group through the prayer, spending no more than 3 minutes on each theme: Coaching Tip Use the timer on your phone to keep it to 3 minutes. You want to keep it moving at a steady, brisk pace. We think first about The Father s Character: We focus on the fact that God is a father. What characteristics come to mind about our Father as you pray about where you live? What specifically are we thankful for today as we pray for this place? We focus that God is holy and His name is hallowed because He is the King Of the universe. What are the character qualities of this King? Which are standing out to you today? The Father s Kingdom: If God s Kingdom were fully present right now/ today where you live and all of sin and the effects of evil were banished, what would be different? How can we pray specifically for these people for God s Kingdom to come? We pray remembering we have the authority and power of Jesus. 6

8 The Father s Provision: Daily bread is not just the nourishing food for our bodies, but all the things we need as a human to sustain us physically, emotionally and spiritually. What daily bread do these people need so that they may know God is providing for them? The Father s Forgiveness: Where does forgiveness need to be given where you live? Where does it need to be received? Pray that the people where you live would recognize the need for the Father s forgiveness and their need for relationship with him. Pray specifically that God would intervene in relationships in their lives where forgiveness is needed and that God would show them the reconciliation of Jesus. The Father s Guidance: We know that all we need to do is ask for wisdom and it will be given to us. Where do I need the wisdom from heaven today in engaging with the people in my COA? What things need to be revealed to me that I don t know of without the Holy Spirit s guidance? The Father s Deliverance: Are there places where you perceive the enemy is at work where you live? Pray against those places, asking the God of Angel Armies to fight and win the day. Are there strongholds of which we need to be aware? What are they? Are there places the enemy is clutching at my life and I need deliverance in regards to this place? Pray for the realization of God s victory on the cross, over sin, death, hell and the grave. Close in prayer for the whole group. STORIES 15 minutes As we discussed in our last session, if we as leaders do not own the lostness of each man, woman and child, the people in our churches will share our weakness as well. In other words, we won t be able to lead those that we shepherd to reach every man, woman and child unless we as leaders own reaching EACH man, woman and child. Coaching Tip Contact 2-3 people ahead of time and have them ready to share a story. It gives permission for other people to share and gets the ball rolling. 7

9 In our last session, we each committed to engaging with one person in our Circle of Influence who doesn t know Jesus and who we sense might be open to the Gospel. We want to take a few minutes and share some stories of how that went. Remember, we are defining success as faithfulness, not conversion. Bringing people to saving faith can only be done by God. Before we do that, one thought from Paul s story in Acts 17: Acts 17:16-21 In Paul s waiting, he recognized that God placed him in the midst of lostness. He recognized that he had both an opportunity and a responsibility to proclaim the Good News. Acts 17:32-34 Some dismissed him. Some ridiculed him. Some embraced the Gospel. He wasn t successful because people came to Christ. He was successful because he faithfully proclaimed the Gospel in the midst of the lostness of Athens. Facilitator shares personal story of sharing the Gospel. Others share stories of sharing the Gospel with someone in their circle of influence. CONTENT + EXERCISES SET-UP READ Matthew 28: Quite a familiar passage and one of the most important passages for us as Christians because Jesus doesn t give a PLAN B, does he? There s only PLAN A: Make disciples. 8

10 We don t have time to waste our lives on a nice, comfortable spin on the American dream. -David Platt We ve been both commissioned and empowered for this task. God s plan for the evangelization of His world is the imperative of disciple-making. EXERCISE #1 15 minutes Get into groups of 3-4. On a giant sticky note, answer this question: How would Jesus, as well as the book of Acts, define a disciple? Use Scripture to support your answer. Have each group report out to the whole room, using their sticky notes. (Ask clarifying questions as they share.) CONTENT + DISCUSSION minutes Guide the room to decide on a general definition that you believe accurately speaks to how the New Testament understands a disciple. Examples: Someone learning to have the Character and Competency of Jesus as they follow him through the power Coaching of the Holy Spirit Tip Someone who daily follows Christ The aim of this and compels others to do the same time is to write Someone who is learning to live, love an explicit and simple/memorable and look like Jesus definition of a A disciple is what Jesus would look disciple that is like if he were you. Dallas Willard shared by the room. Someone who does the things Jesus could do for the reasons Jesus did them 9

11 TRANSITION If someone were to randomly come into your worship gathering and ask 20 different people how your church defines a disciple, what would they hear? If making disciples is PLAN A and there is no PLAN B and it s what Jesus clearly mandated as a necessity for us to give our lives to, do you think it s important that we have it clearly defined? Do our definitions look anything like what the BIBLE says a disciple looks like? CONTINUE TRANSITION If you were asked to assess the effectiveness of your disciple-making process, how would you measure it? Would you put it on a scale of 1 10? Give it a grade of A to F? How would you quantify it? How would you know it s a 6 and not an 8? Or a C and not a B? In business, success is measured by the bottom line. Money. Profits and Losses. If the church s business is making disciples how is business? EXERCISE #2 (Apprentice leads it) 20 minutes Get into groups with your church team. On a giant sticky note, answer this question: What is your church s current plan or process, as of yesterday, for making disciples? In other words, it can t be a future plan, but rather what you re currently doing. If they don t have a specific plan or process, have them write out their current practices. What does their programming indicate? Have each group report out to the whole room, using their sticky note. Give each group 2 minutes, using a timer, and ask qualifying questions as needed. 10

12 EXERCISE #3 Closing with a Continuum: I want you to think about the most exceptional disciple of Jesus you know and have observed the one who most closely resembles the definition we ve talked through (outside of yourself of course). This individual not only looks like Jesus but also is coming alongside the work of the Spirit to make disciples who look like Jesus. Write down his or her name. Now I want you to think of someone you know who is completely lost and living in the continual bondage of sin. Write down his or her name. These mark the two ends of your continuum. (NAME) (NAME) 10 LOST NOMINAL ATTENDEE PARTICIPATING MEMBER GROWING + MATURING DISCIPLE DISCIPLE MAKING DISCIPLE 11

13 Take a piece of paper and on the left side, write down the name of the lost sinner. He is a 1.. And on the right side, write down the name of the exceptional disciple-making disciple. He is a 10. He/she has a life worthy of imitation. Now, draw a line in the middle of your continuum, and write the words Participating Church member. He is a 5. Now draw a line halfway between Participating Church member and Disciple-making disciple. Mark this person as a Growing and Maturing Disicple. This person is someone who is growing as a disciple as the Fruit of the Spirit is more evident in his life. He is a 7. Finally, draw a line between the lost sinner (1) and the growing disciple. This person is a Nominal Church Attendee. He is a 3. So from left to right, you have: Lost Sinner Nominal church attendee Participating Church member Growing and Maturing Disciple Disciple-making disciple/worthy of imitation Coaching Tip Make sure it s clear that if people are a 7 or a 10, that would also make them "participants" as they are part of the lifeblood of the church. Now think about your church. Using percentages and thinking about your worship service attendees, plot out the percentage of your people for each of those 5 categories. Example: Lost: 15% Nominal: 50% Participant: 20% Growing and Maturing: 10% Disciple- Making: 5% 12

14 What is the normal outcome of those who have been shaped by your process? Not the exceptional few. The norm the vast majority. Where would you plot them? Take 5 minutes and do that now. Don t run through it quickly. Honestly assess. Now, join together with your church team and share your thoughts. Each team member should share, with the senior leader sharing last. CLOSING THOUGHTS 5-7 minutes video: Bob Reed, Riverside Church Are we making disciples? READ Matthew 28:18-20 again. Remember, there is no Plan B. This is the only plan Jesus has given to us, to those who would come after Him: Make disciples. One of the great writers and thinkers on discipleship, Dallas Willard, said this: Every church needs to be able to answer two questions. First, what s our plan for making disciples? And second, does our plan work? Two closing questions to think and pray about between now and our next session: Does your plan work? Does it produce the kinds of disciples we ve identified and looked at in the New Testament? Have we lowered the bar so that it matches the kind of fruit we re getting? Who are YOU discipling? Leaders go first and we reproduce who we are. If we want people to own the lostness of their circles of influence, we have to own ours. And if we want people to make disciples who can make disciples... we need to do it as well. Are you making disciple-makers, or just collecting followers? 13

15 SETTING THE TABLE FOR NEXT SESSION 3 minutes Many of us might have a sense of angst at the end of this session, which is intentional on our part. We intentionally want to bring into question whether or not the church today has a clear definition of what it means to be a disciple. Does it have a clear process for making disciples? And lastly, how will we measure success? In Session 6, we will identify some measurable outcomes that should mark the life of every growing disciple. We will revisit the Spiritual Formation and Missional Behavior survey that we introduced in our last session. If you haven t had your community participate yet, we want to encourage you to do so now. DETAILS/PRAY/DISMISS Give details for next meeting time Homework: Some of you came to this conversation today with a definition for a disciple in your context. For others of you, this is your first attempt at nailing it down. Some of you had a definition but are re-evaluating it now. Wherever you are, come to the next session with a working definition of a disciple. We are going to to you a brief explanation of WHY you should take the survey and how to interpret it. Please read that before our next session. Pray Dismiss 14

16 APPRENTICE DEBRIEF Go over the wins from the session to help form the discussion. What did he/she think worked well? Give your reflections as well. What didn t go as well? What might he/she change? Give your reflections as well. How did your apprentice do leading Exercise #2? Both of you give affirmation. Both of you give critique. Share some of your observations on how you navigated through the session. 15