This post will make the most sense if you understand that it is part of  The Leader 101 Course:  Cultivating Habits of Highly Effective Spiritual Leaders

*Watch the video and then continue with the assignments below the video (click on the picture to watch this video).

Review

This is the second of a series of articles on facilitating a group.  The first article is here.

The LK10 Community has three primary goals for house churches.

1. Personal transformation.  That is, that their members would be increasingly conformed to the image of Jesus (Rom. 8:29).  That they would become passionate disciples of Jesus.
2. Vibrant Family of Jesus.  That is, that each group would truly be a spiritual family led by Jesus that, as a result, is vibrant (“pulsing with life”).
3. Viral multiplication.  That is, these “vibrant families of Jesus” would multiply like a benevolent virus. “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”  Hab. 2:14.  (Rabbit churches vs Elephant churches)  Fulfill the Great Commission by seeing a vibrant family of Jesus in easy access of every person in every region and people group.

To that end, we equip people with simple but powerful practices (tools) like CO2 (churches of two) and The 10:2b Prayer.  Discipling the group as a group (facilitating) is one of those practices.  Here’s the key idea…

• If you, as the leader, will disciple the group, the group will disciple its members.  (And, the group has a far greater capacity for discipling its members than you do as an individual!)

Three steps in discipling a group as a group

We will explain the first two steps in this article and the next step in a future article.

1.  Evaluate the group.

Skilled facilitators (like skilled parents) think developmentally.  That is, they are always evaluating the maturity level of the group (family).  The maturity level of the group determines how the facilitator relates to the group.  A less mature group will need more leadership and direction.  A more mature group will need less direction. Leadership is dynamic (always adapting to the group), not static.  The skilled facilitator is always thinking about how to help the group take the next step towards greater maturity.

The effective facilitator has a picture in his/her mind of what a mature group looks like.  The “one anothers” in Scripture are a great place to start.  A healthy group is where people love one another, honor one another, teach one another, etc.

There are many places in Scripture where groups are addressed as groups.  For instance, in Rev. 2 and 3, Jesus is evaluating seven churches (groups).  To the church in Ephesus, one of the things He says is, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance.”  (2:2)  Notice that Jesus is not addressing individuals in the church.  He is addressing that church as a whole.

Periodically, involve your church in evaluating itself.  This teaches the individuals in the group to be more aware of the group.  Ask them to write for a few minutes about these questions:  “What does our group do well?  What is healthy about our group?  Where does our group need to grow or improve?”  Then, discuss together what people wrote.  (A good place for a “round”!)

An accurate evaluation of your church/group allows you implement these two guiding principles for helping your church mature…

*As a facilitator, do as little for your group as possible but as much as is necessary.  (Accurate evaluation helps you determine what is necessary.)

*Never do anything for your group that they are capable for doing for themselves.  (Accurate evaluation helps you determine what they are currently capable of doing.)

2.  See the group.

In 1 Tim 3, describes the person who leads a church.  The term that he uses is “overseer”.  In the Greek, this word is episkopos.  This is a compound word.  skopos = to see or notice (we get words like microscope and telescope from this word).  epi = over, above.  So, the first quality of a leader is that they are skilled at seeing.

(Interestingly, one of the qualification of an episkopos is that they “manage their own family well”  (1 Tim. 3:5).  The focus here is on the family as a group.  So, leading/discipling one group (family) is preparation for leading/discipling another group (church).  In both cases, skilled seeing is an important part of the process.)

This is actually more profound than it seems.  Most of us primarily “see” individuals in the group.  One reason for this is that America is a very individualistic culture.  We must train ourselves to see the group as a group.  The facilitator is part of the group but must also develop the ability to mentally stand apart from the group to see how the group is functioning.

Seeing and evaluating are closely connected.  Seeing leads to evaluating.  And, evaluating leads to seeing.

In addition to themselves growing in the skill of seeing the group, they are also continually teaching the group to see (and evaluate) the group.  One way this is done is by concluding group meetings with a closing round.  This is done by asking questions to the group like, “What did you see today?  How did our group/church function?  What did you see God doing in our midst?”  Each individual learns to see by responding to these questions.  In addition, they learn by hearing what others in the group saw.