#drystonediscipleship

[drystonediscipleship]

Principle 2-

The second principle of our discipleship communities is 'one size doesn't fit all'. In the same way that the different shapes and sizes of rock make up a dry stone wall..... groups with a variety of focus, demographic, size, make up communities at Life Church. These groups are not neatly shaped identical blocks but different in the way that they meet.

It means for example that some groups are centred around a stage of life whilst others are a mix of ages. Some around area of ministry, other not. Some use the Sunday preaching series whilst others have a more defined focus for example alpha, word plus, going deep and from September Core and Worship community. This is so helpful as we recognise that people are at different stages within discipleship

1 Corinthians 3

2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.

 and different stages in life. As we continue to develop this principle I would love to see groups meeting in the day, men's groups, women's groups, geographically based groups...... In our third principle we'll look at the ways these groups are defined.

[drystonediscipleship]

Principle 1- Moveable cycles of discipleship

Dry stone walls are not stuck together like bricks with cement. They are made by stacking stones on top of each other. They are strong and can last for hundreds of years. However if the farmer decides to extend his field and move his wall, dry stone walls are mobile. He can dismantle the wall and build it up somewhere else. He can dismantle parts of the wall and add in different shaped stones filing the gaps.

How does that principle work out in discipleship communities? We have a yearly cycle to our groups. Going deep and word plus both run on a yearly cycle and now Core. At the end of the year  people are either invited to going deep or choose to do word plus or Core and come out of their Life groups for a season to commit to these. This means that each year we come to this point where we are able to rearrange some groups as the wall changes. This allows space for people to step up into different areas of leading or support leading. It allows people to spend a year on a more specific area of discipleship and it means that we have a natural point where we can launch new groups and in some cases close others.

 Does that mean that all groups change? No. Does that mean that I can’t remain in the same life group for more than a year? Absolutely not! But there is a regular flow or cycle of people being able to commit themselves for a year for different seasons of life to meet in different ways with different people. I think this really positive keeps things fresh. As a result this year we saw 12 new Life group leaders, 6 new groups started half of which are led by those who had finished Going Deep the year before.

[drystonediscipleship]

On Sunday I introduced three principles of discipleship communities and Life groups at Life Church. These principles are based on a dry stone wall. In the same way as these walls are made up of carefully placed rocks of different shapes and sizes. Discipleship at Life Church is not one size fits all but instead there is a growing menu of options. Over the next few weeks i'll talk about these principles in more detail.