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- 1. Values [3/9] ‘Cell Groups and Disciple-Making’
- 2. Review 1 …Nets Luke 5: 8-10 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. ‘Let down the nets … again’. We’re going to do more of the same, but this time with different results?!
- 3. Review 2&3 …Love Luke 6: 46-47 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like … …the parable of the wise and foolish builders. ‘Hear and obey’. Never remove your focus from the ‘foundation’ of Jesus … ‘maturity’ camps around this. Keep putting God first in your life.
- 4. Review 4 …Numbers Size matters Numbers matter to God because He loves people. He does not desire that any should perish. But healthy growing churches don’t happen by accident … it takes love, patience, determination and sacrifice to manage the natural difficulties presented by healthy church growth. ‘Count the cost’. Are you prepared to put yourself out for others? This is an expression of God’s love in us and through us. ‘Settle it in your heart.’
- 5. Ephesians 4: 11-13 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
- 6. Ephesians 4: 14-16 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
- 7. Aspects of maturity … Teaching others vs Just being taught Developing depth vs Struggling with of understanding the basics Self-evaluation vs Self-criticism Seeking unity vs Promoting disunity Desiring spiritual vs Desiring entertainment challenges
- 8. Aspects of maturity … Careful study vs Opinions & half hearted and observation efforts Active faith vs Cautious apathy & doubt Confidence vs Fear Feelings & experiences vs Experiences evaluated evaluated in the light of according to feelings God’s Word © NLT Study Bible, 2004
- 9. Small groups 1. What do they do? Connect, care for, grow and equip people Who are they for?Open to all, Mixed sex, 12 – 16 people How do they grow?A combination of friendship growth and adding in new people looking to ‘connect’
- 10. Disciple-making groups What do they do?Care for, grow and equip leaders 2. How do they work? Closed groups, Single sex, 4 – 5 people
- 11. Matthew 10: 7 - 8 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Editor's Notes
- Peanuts is a comic strip that I have loved since childhood. If you don’t know these characters, it would be interesting to know which side of this conversation you have most sympathy for.The little girl, Lucy, is likely to be accurate in her observations of Charlie Brown … but she will also lack love … and she tends to crush people rather than help them.When we’re talking about our cell groups and disciple-making, we’re talking about something motivated by love.I’ll start by recapping where we have got to so far. We’re taking the first three months of this year to remind ourselves of why we are here as a church and what God has called us to … we’re also wanting to introduce some course corrections to some of the things we are doing so that we can increasingly enjoy what God has given us … and so what we do works for us as a community of God’s people. The truth is, we’re in a time of some considerable changes, which some of you will find exciting and will make others of you nervous. As an eldership team we are doing our best to serve the Body by reassuring the nervous, exhorting and encouraging the hesitant, challenging the cynical and calming the impatient.A few weeks ago Nik, gave out to each one of us a little plastic brick /Lego type brick representing us as ‘living stones’ being built into the Church with Jesus as the foundation & chief cornerstone. You and I have a place in the building, we have a role to play, each one of us ...We know that some of you have not put your bricks into the building yet … which is fine ... Reviewing our calling and reminding ourselves of the cost is part of what we are doing through this series.
- God wants us to put disappointment behind us & go again. Nik talked to us about a group of fishermen who were disappointed after a failed all night fishing trip.The morning comes around, and after talking to the crowds from a fishing boat, Jesus asks them to go out and put out their nets again.Here’s the deal, they were already tired and fed up.They’d been on shift work all through the night, and had already put themselves out to stay up and listen to (and help) Jesus. They resisted Jesus suggestion to put out the nets, but ended up doing it anyway, without faith, maybe to humour him, maybe to make a point. The point is, they expected nothing. They had some life experience in this area, they had skill and they had common sense on their side. This carpenter maybe a good teacher, but he knew nothing about fishing. How do we know that this is what they felt?So, what do we need to do?One of the inspiring things about this for me is that I’m pretty certain that practically speaking, we’ve been on the right track … but we have all been disappointed by our apparent lack of progress.The truth is that we are not doing exactly the same thing again, hence wanting to introduce some changes … but much of what we do won’t look very different at all.
- God wants us to ensure we continue to build our lives and this church’s life upon the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the solid rock. If we do that we’ll be the type of church the Lord wants us to be. And personally we’ll live life the way he’s designed us to. What will stop us doing that is having no space, no time to put God first, in short not being devoted enough to Him. Because we’ve allowed ourselves to worship idols, self and have a lack of trust in God’s will for our lives and may in reality want to have things our own way and not God’s way.To be a church that lives life like we see in the pages of the NT we need to become living sacrifices a people totally committed to God 100% everything we are & have given over to God. To do that we need to first to understand the magnificent depth & height of what God has done through Jesus in our lives. And allow – give permission, cooperate with the HS as he seeks to transform us completely into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Romans 12 is about love for God, love for the people of God and love for the ‘lost’.
- This means Sunday morning acts as a shop window for our visitors.It matters that we are friendly and welcoming, Taking time to connect with people.It matters that we can start well and finish well. All of our children’s work stays well prepared to deal with a constant the flow of new children who may well just be passing through.It matters that we pursue the presence of God.This means that our Sunday gatherings are intended to benefit three groups.Firstly the people of God corporately – because we’re to build up the body as a whole (children included)Secondly our visitors – so we can be accessibleThirdly, to you as individuals
- The title for this mornings talk is ‘Cell Groups and Disciple Making’ … but in reality I’m going to end up speaking very little about these.My main point this morning is to show why small groups and disciple-making groups are important … what they are for.If a church is to Worship God, Love People, Make Disciples and Plant Churches, it can only be as we help bring one another to maturity. The church exists to worship God by fulfilling the mission of Jesus Christ … but we can only do that in a healthy way if we if have a genuinely growing relationship with God … otherwise it ends up being all rules, regulations, objectives and targets. Instead we need to experience a relationship to God as our Father; understanding who we are as co-heirs of Christ and what it means to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. This is where personal transformation is found and where everything else flows from. If we can settle that, then it isn’t that we have to do all these other things … it’s that we Get to do them!
- When I was growing up, my favourite cartoon strip was ’Peanuts’ with Charlie Brown as a long suffering child struggling with low self esteem.These verses in Ephesians describe how a church is meant to become healthy. The various gifts of leadership are intended to bring people to maturity.Which begs the question … what does ‘maturity’ look like?
- In some ways, this last one is the key.This is why we need small groups … our Sunday meetings, training courses and general Christian friendships are insufficient to help us grow well in all of these areas.We need to be part of a small, close knit communities of people who are desiring growth and determined to grow.
- The truth is we’re still reviewing our small groups, 4W’sConnecting New people into the bodyThe truth is at the moment we have as many people outside of small groups as inside them. We need to do something about that.We have been attempting to figure out how our disciple-makeing groups fit with our cell groups.Between now and Christmas we are wanting to generate a number of new groups and take group involvement back up to 75% of the church
- This has been an important area of our growth in the last few years … I’m talking more about maturity of individuals rather than numbers of people.
- My primary application is that it is time to put out the nets again.During a prayer meeting sometime last year with about 45 people present, I asked anyone who had ever led a small group cell group etc in RRCC or a previous church to sit down … only five people were left standing.In all likelihood this means that there are a good number of you who feel’ ‘I’ve done my turn as a cell leader … I’ve ticked that box and I am not going to do that again’. Well, it may be that for the benefit of others (and yourself) it is time to pick it up again.I remember a conversation with John Elphick about this when he was already in his 70’s. He said to me that he was not going to lead a cell group again … he was past that.I asked him if the Lord had told him that, or whether that was simply his preference and opinion.Freely you have received; freely give.