Building%20Christian%20Community

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Building Christian Community

• Small Group Ministry in
  Todays
  Seventh-Day Adventist Church

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Building Christian Community

• SESSION FIVE
  THE GOAL OF SMALL GROUPS HOLINESS AND HARVEST

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The Challenge of the New Millennium
Growing Christians Making Christians
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Disciples Making Disciples

• Go, then to all peoples everywhere and make
  them my disciplesand I will be with you.
  Matthew 2819,20

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Whats A Disciple?

• A Disciple is...
• An apprentice
• An apprentice-maker

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The Two Disciplines of Discipleship

• 1. EDIFICATION

• 2. EVANGELISM

Growing in holiness
Growing in numbers
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1. Edification Spiritual
Body-Building
Edification (Oikodomeo) building up/
strengthening
Let all things be done for building up the
church. I Cor 1427

• The church is the body of Christ. Eph 123

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A. Building Community

• He gave gifts to prepare Gods people for
  works of service, so that the body of Christ may
  be built up (Eph 48,12)

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B. Building Believers

• Therefore encourage one another and build each
  other up (I Thess 511)

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Believers Grow

• Through personal spiritual disciplines
• Through ministry of spiritual gifts
• Through accountable relationships
• Through mentoring

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People Grow Faster in Small Groups

• I believe that people grow at least eight
  times faster when theyre in a small group and
  attending weekly worship celebration on (Sabbath)
  than if they just attended the service itself.
  Dale Galloway

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Through All to All
Christ ministers to His body through
body members. He ministers TO ME through other
body members,
and He ministers THROUGH ME to other
body members
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God Uses People to Build Up Other People

• God has so ordained things that we grow in the
  Spirit only through the frail instrumentality of
  one another. Alan Jones

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Mentoring

• building friendships that point to God
• one person coming alongside another person

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A Friend to Keep Us On Course
Sin always tends to make us
blind to our own faults. ..We
need a friend to stop us from
deceiving ourselves that what
we are doing is not so bad
after all. We need a
friend to help us overcome our low self-image,
inflated self-importance, selfishness, pride, our
deceitful nature, our dangerous fantasies, and so
much else. James Houston
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Two Alternatives...

• a) Mature believer meets with new believer for
  one-way mentoring
• b) Two mature believers meet for mutual mentoring

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How Does it Work?

• we agree on plan
• meet regularly
• we reflect on what God is doing in our lives
• we pray for each other

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Mentors Offer

• encouragement
• prayer support
• challenge
• all that a real friend can be

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2. EvangelismThe Growth Potential of Small
Groups

• ...Just Suppose
• Small church of 50 members involved in small
  groups
• Groups grow by 20 per year (e.g. group of 10
  grows to 12)
• Total in groups after 4 years 100
• Total in groups after 10 years 310
• Total in groups after 15 years 770
• Total in groups after 20 years 2,358

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2. Evangelism Growing in numbers

1. Reaching the unchurched
   majority
2. Post-modern thinking
3. Bridging cultural differences

The challenge of evangelism in western society
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Engel the Process of Spiritual Decision-Making

• -8 No awareness of God
• -7 Awareness of God
• -6 Some knowledge
• -5 Understand basics
• -4 Grasp implications
• -3 Positive attitude
• -2 Intention to act
• -1 Decision to act
• 1 New Creature

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How Far From the Cross?(Engels Scale)

• Where are the unchurched?

Now
Then
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1
2 3 4 5 6 7
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The Friendship Evangelism Process

• Stage 1
• Friendship
• Stage 2
• Christian Friendship
• Stage 3
• Adventist Friendship

Combines personal, group and public evangelistic
witness
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The Power of Friendshipin the Church

• Friends in 1st Year 0 1 2 3 4
  5 6 7 8 9
• Active Members 0 0 0 1 2
  2 8 13 12 12
• Dropouts 8 13 14 8 4
  2 1 0 0 0

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Introducing Friends to Your Small Group

• pray that God will guide you to the other
  Christians or non-Christians He wants in the
  group
• take other group members to Bible study contacts
• offer something of shared interest, e.g.
  parenting, stress

• introduce friends socially to group members, e.g.
  anniversary, concert, birth-day, barbecue,
  etc.
• use a course to introduce Christian beliefs like
  Alpha
• just invite them to the group

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Why Small Groups Work Well in Evangelism

• Small Groups
• encourage teamwork

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Why Small Groups Work Well in Evangelism

• Small Groups
• encourage teamwork
• offer a bridge for shy people

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Why Small Groups Work Well in Evangelism

• Small Groups
• encourage teamwork
• offer a bridge for
• shy people
• personal and informal

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Why Small Groups Work Well in Evangelism

• Small Groups
• encourage teamwork
• offer a bridge for shy people
• personal and informal
• maximum participation

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Why Small Groups Work Well in Evangelism

• Small Groups
• encourage teamwork
• offer a bridge for shy people
• personal and informal
• maximum participation
• flexible

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Why Small Groups Work Well in Evangelism

• Small Groups
• encourage teamwork
• offer a bridge for shy people
• personal and informal
• maximum participation
• flexible
• low cost, minimum organization

• A B
  C

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Why Small Groups Work Well in Evangelism

• Small Groups
• encourage teamwork
• offer a bridge for shy people
• personal and informal
• maximum participation
• flexible
• minimum organisation

• localized evangelism

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Why Small Groups Work Well in Evangelism

• Small Groups
• encourage teamwork
• offer a bridge for shy people
• personal and informal
• maximum participation
• flexible
• minimum organisation

• localized evangelism
• natural and spontaneous witness

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Four Essentials in Small Group Witness

• 1. Opportunity for questions to be asked in a
  safe and non-threatening environment
• 2. Transparent honesty
• 3. Authentic relationships
• 4. Relevance

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The Equipping Track
Each new convert is placed on an equipping track
that seeks to mature that person and equip them
for ministry in one year.
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OHP 9.2
The Equipping Track
.
4. Disciple-Making
3. Gifts for Ministry
1. Membership
2. Spiritual Disciplines
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Process of Multiplication
Cell Leader
Cell Leader
Apprentice Leader
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A Small Group Prayer...

• Lord, lead us to those people, or lead those
  people to us, whom You want to include in this
  group.