The LIFEHouse Church LifeGroup Values

Recently I met with a group of leaders and highlighted two words that I think are essential as we move forward in our ministry.

1) Perspective

As we continue to grow as a church, we are inevitably experiencing facility strangulation. While this is an inconvenience, it is a good problem, and God has solutions for all our problems. The New Testament church did not have adequate facilities and yet they turned the world upside right. As our Children's Ministry continues to grow, we will be forced to become more creative in doing adult ministry outside the walls of our buildings, and outside of the Sunday morning hours. Many churches dream of having the kinds of challenges we are experiencing as an ever growing, expanding ministry.

2) Team

We are beginning to take steps to develop teams for ministering more effectively to various people groups. We want teams of people who focus their attention and best energies in strategically planning to reach men, women, single parents, singles, newlyweds, young marrieds, old marrieds :) and parents with kids of various age-stages. In essence we want to infiltrate enemy territory with "green beret" units.

Sunday morning LifeOutfitters classes are the "home base of operations", where these small fighting units are healed up, equipped, and encouraged in the battle for the Lord.

I think the words of Marshall Shelley are appropriate here,·"Besides death and taxes there is one sure thing in life for church leaders: people don't like you messin' with the status quo. Making changes at church is a little like kicking a sleeping grizzly. Or playing with her cubs. You risk getting mauled. People say they want change and improvement, but I've never heard a layperson say, "I love our pastor because he is so creative and makes so many wonderful changes." 1.

The overall goal of our ministry is to make more and better disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus had time to preach to the multitudes, but He focused His best, and finest energies on impacting a small band of men who would provide the leadership for the church when He left this earth. I know that when I have to teach a subject, I always learn far more than I am able to pass on. This is why I believe that a person's ability to learn and grow in the faith is accelerated when that person chooses to teach someone else. This is proven out by those who have researched this principle of learning.William Glasser, an educational psychologist, describes the effectiveness of different modes of learning:

What we read 10%
What we hear 20%
What we see 30%
What we see/hear 50%
What we discuss with others 70%
What we experience 80%
What we teach someone else 95%

Research also shows that people learn better when they are encouraged to collaborate. The LifeOutfitters class is designed to teach people who desire to pass the blessing on to others. It also is designed to encourage people to learn from one another and collaborate on how to most effectively grow people in the faith.

Many of you are carrying a heavy load of responsibility as you uncover complicated issues in the lives of people in your LIFEgroups. No one has to convince you that you are on the front lines of the battle. Don't lose heart! The next generation will bless your name one day. You may never know the difference you are making for future generations (should the Lord tarry), by salvaging one marriage today. The Lord knows!

I agree with Roberta Hestenes when she writes, ·"without slighting the importance of children and young people, I've always felt that the heartbeat of the church is adults. Jesus loved children, but he did not call children as his disciples. He called adults. We have no example in the Gospels of Jesus teaching children. But we have many, many stories of Jesus teaching adults.[2]

I was a Youth Pastor for 14 years, and I can tell you that, after meeting with some students three and four times a week in our regular ministries, the parents of these students could undo my influence in a heartbeat by modeling hypocrisy in the home. It took me a few years in youth ministry to realize that much of my most important ministry had to do with the parents of the students.

Finally one last comment, Garth Icenogle writes, "the Australian small group leader John Mallison has said that ·intimacy with Jesus is the best of all teachers.· He has further described Jesus as ·the living lecture.· As Scripture itself asserts, he is ·the way, the truth and the life· (John 14:6). Jesus lived for the Twelve so that the Twelve could live for the world. He trained the Twelve so that the Twelve could lead the church into Christian discipleship and change the world forever. Fascinatingly, Mallison quotes Fidel Castro in affirming Jesus' discipleship strategy: ·I began my revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I would do it with 10 or 15 men and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are, providing you have faith and a plan of action.·

Mallison points out that the disciplined, focused action of a few dedicated people can change the course of human history, while undisciplined mobs achieve little."[3]

Have you been convinced yet that Jesus' example of selecting a few people for focused ministry is His master plan for impacting the world? Powerful rivers are narrow and deep. A magnifying glass can focus sunlight to burn through objects. Won't you prayerfully consider whom the Lord would have you give your focused attention of ministry?

.[2]Hestenes, R. (1991). Mastering teaching. Series statement from jacket. [Mastering ministry] (Page 82). ortland, Or.; [Carol Stream, Ill.: Multnomah Press; Christianity Today.

.[3]Icenogle, G. W. (1994). Biblical foundations for small group ministry : An integrative approach. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.