Mid-Week Discussion September 27 and October 4
1. When thinking about leadership development, who invested into you, which caused spiritual growth or maturity?
2. How do you define spiritual maturity?
3. How do you define ministry success? How does that compare with the ministry of Jesus? (rather than a slick ad campaign, he invested into the lives of 12 ordinary men who would carry on the mission).
4. How would you describe the difference between spiritual consumption and Christian discipleship?
5. Why does the modern church naturally drift toward spiritual consumption?
6. Think about the group leaders you have had in the past, were they more like facilitators of shepherds?
7. In what ways have you seen people develop “Christian” skills yet still have little evidence of a transformed heart?
8. In what ways do you see American Christianity being more skilled and less sanctified?
9. Why is it true that maturing followers make better leaders?
10. Why would people rather follow a leader who is always real rather than a leader who is always right?
11. Why is spiritual giftedness in the body of Christ so important?
12. Why is it so difficult for leaders to accept their limitations? How should the body of Christ step up when their leaders are deficient in some way? Why is it a vulnerability for a leader to admit to their own weaknesses?
13. How might a congregation protect their pastors from embracing a dependence model?
14. In what ways do you see the value of incarnational model of ministry?
15. What is your reaction to the following statement? Classes should not grow by adding new members, classes should grow by members starting their own group.
16. Mike Breen says, “You can’t be a disciple if you aren’t willing to invest in and disciple others.” What is your reaction?
17. Since faith is more caught than taught, why is it imperative to live a life worth imitating? Where might you fit in this model?
18. How is it wrong to believe that we can we can disciple others with more information without imitation? (Information is not enough, information must become knowledge, which is incarnated in everyday life).
19. How is this church (and more personally, your life) involved in the five functions of the church? (Evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, worship).
20. How do you define discipleship? (It is a lifelong journey of obedience to Christ that transforms a person’s values and behavior and results in ministry in one’s home, church, community, and world).
21. The Bible seems clear that discipleship is not an option, so, in what ways might we sacrifice to be disciples of Jesus?
22. How do you respond to Gene Mims’ statement? “When fellowship is missing in a congregation, the Holy Spirit is not in charge.” What does this fellowship look like in a congregation? What does this say about people in the church who do not demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit?
23. If “ministry grows out of a transformed and serving life,” what does this say about people who claim to be followers of Jesus yet are not involved in ministry?
24. What are some specific challenges we face in our community, and what are some unique needs and opportunities where God has placed us?
25. What are some unique resources and capabilities that God brings together in us? (giftedness, training, education, experiences, finances, abilities…).
26. Jesus and Me vs. Jesus and We – Christianity is a team sport (it is corporate), so we cannot embrace an individualistic mindset. Why is it so difficult to grasp the “community” aspect of the Christian faith? Why is it inaccurate to believe that our faith is a personal matter?