People learn to discover and follow Jesus in community. Few environments do that better than a small group. This begs the question, what did Jesus focus on when he trained His disciples.
Jesus was a disciplemaker and leader developer.
Excellent small groups do these two things consistently:
- Make Disciples
- Train Leaders
I have learned that people benefit when they understand what a “win” is for one process (disciplemaking) and a “win” for the other (leadership development). I have also learned that these two areas bleed into each other. I love the phrase Neil Cole coined: “Raise the bar of discipleship and lower the bar for leadership”. I have one other nuance to add:
Clarify the developmental path so people know where they are and where they are going!
What does excellent “people development” look like?
In the small group I lead with my wife, Gina, we have established a nourishing environment for people to navigate their disciplemaking journey. Just as critical, we have communicated that we are looking for a few good leaders to reproduce our group. I find the clearer we define the “win”, the more secure people feel and confident they are knowing where they are in their development. BTW – these two processes continue throughout our lifetimes – right?
Here are two developmental processes that simplify the people development process for:
Three questions to strengthen people development process in your small group:
- What behaviors does a fruitful disciple demonstrate as a disciple of Jesus?
- What behaviors does an effective leader demonstrate as a leader?
- What does that developmental process look like for a:
- disciple?
- leader?
Please respond below if you have a process you follow for either:
- Disciplemaking
- Leadership Development
