aim
This is a key meeting for building relationships in our group - relationships which operate on a deeper level and which help us grow in our relationship with Jesus. This series of meetings will give people a clear understanding of how discipleship benefits us and the principles of honesty and accountability.
Fusion emphasizes relational discipleship as a very important model. The emphasis throughout our lives is summed up in the value ‘Jesus at the centre’. Jesus is the primary focus of all Christian discipleship and with the help of others we can grow into the person God intends us to be.
ingredients
Paper for everyone [several sheets each] for different sections.
welcome
What is your favourite memory of time spent, as a child, with your mother, father or guardian? OR did you have a hero when you were young? Who were they and why did you admire them?
worship
Try to write a letter to God expressing your love without asking him for anything. Ask people voluntarily to read them out and use them as a basis for thanking God for the relationship we have with Him. As you praise God and worship, encourage people to focus on God’s character, his attributes and His interaction with us as His children.
word
Say the word ‘discipleship.’ Pause and say it again a few times. People will look at you with confusion/expectation but don’t react to anyone or respond to any interruptions. Take your time.
Get each person to write the word ‘discipleship’ on the top of a piece of paper. Take a few minutes by yourselves to jot down what the word ‘discipleship’ says to you.
share
Do people have any experience of discipleship? What have they been? Who has influenced your life and how? How have you grown as a Christian so far? Encourage people to note down their first reactions/thoughts.
read
2 Kings 2:1-14; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 and 2:7-8.
What are some aspects involved in discipleship?
questions
- Why is discipleship such an important part of our small group community life?
- What does a small group look like where people are being discipled?
- What do people’s lives look like where there is now discipleship?
- How would this impact the group?
Be specific: Is discipleship happening, as it could be? If so, great! If not, why not and what can be done to encourage it?
application
A suggestion as to how we could apply these things to ourselves is to ask everyone to answer, by themselves, these questions, writing down the answers:
- Who are the people I have been accountable to [i.e. honest and open in a consistent and deliberate manner] to in the last six months?
- Is there anything at the moment I would like to tell them?
- What are the areas I find hard to talk about? (E.g. sex, finances, insecurities etc.)
- In what areas would I like advice or to be understood better?
- Is there anything that I don’t particularly want to mention but maybe ought to?
Encourage everyone to make decisions, write them down and to act on what they have written down.
witness
How open and honest are we with our friends who aren’t part of a church? How do we handle the fact that we need to share our lives with people openly for them to be saved but that sometimes they wouldn’t understand or what we are going through may not help them on their journey to get to know God?
Does anyone have an example of how they were open & honest with someone in an area of weakness which actually got the respect of the other person? How much do we like to appear to have all the answers and how often do we feel that a different approach would work [saying ‘I don’t know’ or ‘that puzzles me too]?
