The idea of being a growing disciple and a disciple-maker requires patience and a willingness for thinking long-term – like preparing to run a marathon. I like this illustration from Robbie Gallaty’s Rediscovering Discipleship:
- A student asked the president of his school whether he could not take a shorter course than the one prescribed. “Oh yes,” replied the President, “but then it depends on what you want to be. When God wants to make an oak, He takes a hundred years. But when He wants to make a squash, He takes six months.
Ha! Great point. Are you seeking to be a squash or a mighty oak?
A mighty oak of course. So how will you get there? You need to be thinking of your Christian life as a marathon, which takes a very different type of preparation than a sprint.
For such a life-change, I keep encouraging you to consider joining a small discipleship group. Here’s why I’m sold on them… because they have been instrumental in changing my life.
First, through a one-on-one Paul/Timothy model with a Mr. R.G. who mentored & discipled me as a college freshman and sophomore. (As he is still doing this with others in various places around the world, we try to keep his name off the internet so as to not pose difficulty for him entering certain countries.)
Then at FBC Bay St. Louis, Al Green invited me to be part of a group of pastors including LaRue Stephens, Paul Crowley, and D. Broughton. This group had a huge impact on me! And from there, several men in my Sunday School class at BSL formed a group that provided great growth. And in Newton, I have been in several groups with men of all ages, and each has challenged me in unique ways.
God has changed me through D-groups and continues to do so through them. Wherever I am, I guarantee that I am going to find a small group of men to be in a d-group, so that they can encourage me, support me with prayer, and hold me accountable to walk more like Christ.
Robbie Gallaty:
- Are small groups indispensable for life change? Ed Stetzer and Eric Geiger think so. In their book Transformational Groups they provide evidence to support the indispensability of meeting in a smaller context. The findings revealed that people in a group read the Bible more attentively, pray more regularly, confess sins more frequently, share the gospel more freely, give more generously, and serve more faithfully than those by themselves.
Wow. The research shows that d-groups create mighty oaks for God. Isn’t that what you said you wanted to become?
I believe that the reason such groups are so impactful is due to the fact that the group members are holding each other accountable to reading God’s Word. God’s Word transforms lives. And yet too many of us are reading too little of it. We read a brief devotion that has 1 scripture verse, a ½ page of comments, and a prayer to recite. It is not that these don’t have some value, but the Bible is meant to be read in larger chunks. And a chapter of a day isn’t much. Make the commitment to read large chunks (at least a chapter a day) of God’s Word. It will transform your life.
“The Word of God contains all the practical, real world advice a man needs. When you get in the Word, you learn how to be a better father, a better parent, and a better follower of Christ.” (Robbie Gallaty)
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