You are Called To Minister

A few years back I had a person speak into my life and they spoke these words over me: Luke 4:  18-19 "God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, This is God's year to act!"

I know that I have been called to minister to the addicted, the afflicted and the rejected. That calling does not have to be found in a positiion with a church or organization. It could be right where I work. For example I work for a major retail store and I often have the opportunity to share an encouraging word with my co-workers or customers. God can use me at my job to minister to the hurting and the same is true for you.

I found these words in "Without Walls" by Randy White and they describe what the church should be doing today: "Our job is not to build a church but to impact a community." and "We must be fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium." Without Integrity that comes through Accountability we cannot impact our community by freeing the people who are stuck in the aquariums of alcohol, drugs and deception.

This is God's call to the church: "God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, This is God's year to act!" Each of you have the opportunity to touch the lives of hurting people who work right beside you at your place of emplyment.

I encourage you to take the time this week to listen to God as He speaks to you about someone who is hurting and in need of the help only you can provide.

This was first posted at REAL Men RoCK blog 

Are You Being Responsible in Your Investing?

The Story About Investment

 
Matthew 25: 14-18 "It's also like a man going off on an extended trip. He called his servants together and delegated responsibilities. To one he gave five thousand dollars, to another two thousand, to a third one thousand, depending on their abilities. Then he left. Right off, the first servant went to work and doubled his master's investment. The second did the same. But the man with the single thousand dug a hole and carefully buried his master's money.

 19-21 "After a long absence, the master of those three servants came back and settled up with them. The one given five thousand dollars showed him how he had doubled his investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.'

 22-23 "The servant with the two thousand showed how he also had doubled his master's investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.'

 24-25 "The servant given one thousand said, 'Master, I know you have high standards and hate careless ways, that you demand the best and make no allowances for error. I was afraid I might disappoint you, so I found a good hiding place and secured your money. Here it is, safe and sound down to the last cent.'

 26-27 "The master was furious. 'That's a terrible way to live! It's criminal to live cautiously like that! If you knew I was after the best, why did you do less than the least? The least you could have done would have been to invest the sum with the bankers, where at least I would have gotten a little interest.

 28-30 " Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this "play-it-safe" who won't go out on a limb. Throw him out into utter darkness.'

When we accept Jesus as our savior we receive gifts to be invested in the lives of others. Some have been given the ability to speak words of wisdom into the lives of others. Other gifts are words of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues or interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12: 8-10).

We are givien these gifts by the Holy Spirit according to His will and they are given us to be used for the glory of God. With salvation comes a responsibility to serve within and outside of the body of Christ (The Church).

Later in Matthew 25: 31-46 We find that when Christ returns he will separate people according to how they used their gifts. Those who got out of the pew and the walls of their church building and went out to the poor, the hungry, the hurting, the ones in prison will find a greater reward than those who comfortably sat on their gifts and responsibilites.

The question for you and me is, "What are we doing with the gifts and responsibilities we have been given? Are we investing them in the lives of others or have we safely buried them deep in our heart?" 

I want to encourage you to turn off the television one evening a week, get up off the couch and take a risk of using at least one of your gifts by investing in the life of another person. 

Real Change Results from....

Which of the following brings about real change in the life of a Christian?
a. Church Attendance
b. Home Group Involvement
c. Baptism
d. Joining a Church
e. Becoming a Disciple of Jesus

I will speak from my own experience as I give the answers. I became a Christian in January 1982, I have been Iientified with and faithfully Attended church almost every week for those 28 years, I was Baptised in May 1982 and during the last 10 years I have attended some type of Home Group. I did not experience great long lasting change because of any of those things. The change began when I became a disciple of Jesus.

Dallard Willard in an article "Looking Like Jesus" describes three sides to a Golden Triangle that make up being a Disciple of Jesus. One side is "Acceptance with Joy everyday situations", Another side is "Interaction with God's Holy Spirit" and the Last side is performing "Spiritual Disciplines"

I will briefly explain each but for a more indepth look visit "Looking Like Jesus" .

1. "Acceptance with Joy everyday situations". It is explained simply in James 1: 2-4 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

2. "Interaction with God's Holy Spirit". This can be summed up in three scriptures:

John 16: 8-11 "When he comes, he'll expose the error of the godless world's view of sin, righteousness, and judgment: He'll show them that their refusal to believe in me is their basic sin; that righteousness comes from above, where I am with the Father, out of their sight and control; that judgment takes place as the ruler of this godless world is brought to trial and convicted.

Galatians 5: 22-23  But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

2 Corinthians 3: 16-18 Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

3. "Spiritual Disciplines".  2 Peter 1: 5-9 So don't lose a minute in building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can't see what's right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books. Spiritual disciplines include solitude in Bible study, service in secrecy, fasting with worship.

Being a follower does not come automatically from church membership, church attendance, small group invovlement or baptism. If you are interested in studying how to become a Disciple of Jesus I recommend the following books or articles and that you find a mature biblically sound mentor to study under.

"The Great Omission" by Dallas Willard

How Does the Disciple Live?  by Dallas Willard

"Passport" by Tim Davidson

What is the Commission of the Church?

I recently posted three questions on my facebook page:

1. As a Christian are you called to draw people to God? Yes or No

Most people would answer this question with a Yes. I want to share a scripture with you that will release you from feeling you have the responsiblility of leading people to God.

John 14: 6

Jesus said, "I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me."

My answer is that you are not called to draw people to God that is the job of the Holy Spirit. 

2. As a Christian are you called to convert people to Christ? Yes or No

Most people would answer this question with a Yes. All of us have heard people say,  "I brought so and so to Christ." Or "I have lead this many people to Christ." or even "I have this burden to save the lost." I want to share a scripture that I believe will help free you from feeling a burden to convert people to Christ.

John 6: 44  We will begin in 43

Jesus said, "Don't bicker among yourselves over me. You're not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that's the only way you'll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, 'And then they will all be personally taught by God.' Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father. No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father—and you can see me.

My answer is you are not called to convert peeple them to Christ that is the job of the Holy Spirit.

3. In one sentence what are you commissioned to do?

Most people would say our commission is to go and make disciples.

We find this commission in Matthew 28: 18-20 (The Message)

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

The American Standard

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

My answer is our job as the church is 1. to go out to the nations (people groups) and make disciples, then 2. baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and then 3. teach them to observed what Jesus taught. No mention of us converting them or leading them to Christ. If we look at John 16: 8 we are told that it is the Holy Spirit that will convict and therefore convert people to Christ and draw them to God. That frees us up to do what we are called to do which is to witness about the Good News and make people disciples of Christ.

What most churches too often try to do is convert people to being a Christian and a denomination. We get all worked up about how to lead them to God when all we are commissioned to do is follow the formula Jesus gave us: Make Disciples + Baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit + Teach what Jesus taught = Healthy followers of Jesus.

In his book, "The Great Omission" Dallas Willard says this: "All that is needed from us to change things--whether in the church or the world--is sustained apprenticeship of individuals to Jesus, the Savior of the world so loved by God. Our directions "as we go" are clear: to be disciples--apprentices--of Jesus in Kingdom living and by our life and words his apprecntices to wit-ness, to bring others to know and ling for the life that is in us through confidence in him."

Our responsibility as the church of Jesus Christ is:
1st to be his disciples,
2nd go to others and be a witness of the Gospel,
3rd help them become disciples of Jesus,
4th baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
and 5th teach them what Jesus taught the disciples. I hope you find this as freeing as it is to me.

Recommended reading:
"The Great Omission" by Dallas Willard
"Passport" by Tim Davidson
"Hope Lives" by Rick Olmstead

Coming in February 2010 is a Discipleship of Jesus Life Group which will be held on Saturday mornings. Contact Larry Clark at lnclark@mokancomm.net for details.

Discipleship group

Are You Open to Allowing the Holy Spirit to Speak into Your Life?

The Holy Spirit never forces His way into your life but always steps in when we invite Him to do so. Sometimes He does so thorugh unexpected ways and through people who share something in a prayer that they would not normally have knowledge of.

About a year ago I attended a worship service called "Presence and Power" and during the prayer ministry time the leader asked if anyone was feeling the movement of the Holy Spirit and gave several examples of how we could tell if He was moving on us. I identified with one of the examples and I raised my hand. There were about twn of us that raised our hands and the leader chose 3 of us to receive prayer and I was one of the three.

He asked the three of us to come up front to receive prayer. He then asked the rest of the church to look at us and ask God to show them something to share with us. Several people who knew me came up but there was a couple of people who knew of me but did not really know me who came up. One of those was a woman and after the others had prayed she moved in and prayed a prayer based on Luke 4: 18.  God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, "This is God's year to act!"

I knew that this woman was moved by the Holy Spirit to come and pray over me because she did not know what my heart's call was and she barely knew who I was. The ones who knew me and prayed over me prayed on those things they knew I needed prayer for. I drank in the encouragement they gave which I believe came from the Holy Spirit.  When the woman who did not know me prayed I knew the Holy Spirit had moved her to pray it because she was confirming what I felt I was being called to do. As she finished I not only had received encouragement that I needed but I received confirmation for what I believed I was made to do.

I believe that through this post God is telling you that He wants you to step out and allow someone to speak into your life so that He can through the Holy Spirit share with you what He has made you to do. Once it is revealed to you your job is to find a way to make it happen.

Here are several suggestions for you to consider:

1. Read or rent the movie "The Ultimate Gift" by Jim Stovall.

2. Read "The Dream Giver" by Bruce Wilkinson.

3. Find someone to mentor you.

4. Acknowledge that the dream you have belongs to God but He is going to do it through you.

5. Consider this: "If you do not respond to what God is calling you to do it will never be done."

This blog and my REAL Men RoCK blog are a direct result of that prayer. My goals for this ministry is also a direct result of the prayer the woman prayed that evening. I know that if I submit to God's will that I will achieve the dream and that He will be glorified by it. I also know the same is true for you. I encourage you to open yourself up to allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you through someone you do not know. But I warn you that you may have to give something up to achieve what God wants in your life.

Encouraging Words - Stories for a Man's Heart

     Someone has said that encouragement is simply reminding a person of the "shoulders" he's standing on, the heritage he's been given. That's what happened when a young man, the son of a star baseball player, was drafted by one of the minor league teams. As hard as he tried, his first season was disappointing, and by midseason he expected to be released any day.

    The coaches were bewildered by his failure because he possessed all the characterisitics of a superb athlete, but he couldn't seem to incorporate those advantages into a coordinated effort. He seemed to have become disconnected from his potential.

    His future seemed darkest one day when he had already struck out his first time at bat. Then he stepped up to the batter's box again and quickly ran up two strikes. The catcher called a time-out and trotted to the pitcher's mound for a conference. While they were busy, the umpire, standing behind the plate, spoke casually to the boy.

     Then play resumed, the next pitch was thrown--and the young man knocked it out of the park. That was the turning point. From then on, he played the game with a new confidence and power that quickly drew the attention of the parent team, and he was called up to the majors.

     On the day he was leaving for the city, one of his coaches asked him what had caused such a turnaround. The young man replied it was the encouraging remark the umpire had made that day when his baseball career had seemed doomed.

     "He told me I reminded him of all the times he had stood behind my dad in the batter's box," the boy explained. "He said I was holding the bat just the way Dad had held it." And he told me, 'I can see his genes in you; you have your father's arms.' After that, whenever I swung the bat, I just imagined I was using my Dad's arms instead of my own."     - by Barbara Johnson from "We Brake for Joy!"

This story speaks to me in several ways:

First, as a follower of Jesus I must consider who my Father is. The Father who loved Jesus so much also loves me. - John 3: 16

Second, as one of the Father's kids I have to remember whose strength I can operate in. By being a follower of Jesus, the Father has come to dwell in me by the Holy Spirit. - John 14: 16

And Third, when I am faced with struggles and need encouragement I need to have confidence in what the Father will do by the power of the Holy Spirit in my life. - Acts 1: 8

If you are a follower of Jesus you have the same ministry that He mentioned in Luke 4: 18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.

I encourage you to remember whose shoulders you stand upon anduse your talents and gifts to reach those who waiting to hear the truth that the Holy Spirit has to deliver through you.

What Are You Becoming?

Posted at REAL Men RoCK blog

It just hit me this evening as I read some posts on FaceBook and then posted my own comments. We Christians are becoming so much like the world. I read at least 6 posts by Christians that focused entirely on what they were doing in their own life not the lives of others. It just seems like we are becoming so much like the rest of the world, self focused, self promoting and vain. I am talking about me as well as many other Christians.

It appears to me that we are rapidly becoming the people Paul spoke about in 2 Timothy 3: 1-5  Don't be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they're animals. Stay clear of these people.

The question for you and me is this: "Do we even reflect one of those items in that list?" When I look at it I have to admit I am guilty.

Our church is doing a 21 day fast beginning in a few days. Maybe instead of fasting from food some of should fast from FaceBook, MySpace, Twiter, the internet all together, taking the best parking place or seat, or eating rich foods. Maybe we pastors and leaders should serve instead of being served. Maybe some of us parents should spend more time playing with our children instead of playing with our toys or working. Maybe some of us should not fast at all because we have promoted the fact that we are fasting to the whole world.

What if we spent as much time focused on giving the addicted a hand up, giving an encouraging word to the rejected or maybe even giving up ourselves for others. Doing the things Jesus gave the church to do.

Right now I feel the Holy Spirit convicting me and I hope that you feel the same.

Do You Know Who You Are?

Men love to read stories about those who excell in their particular sport. I want to share a story about one of the great boxers, Joe Louis. This is another story from "Stories for a Man's Heart".

Joe Louis was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 until he retired in 1949. During his time of service in the army, Louis was driving with a fellow GI when he was involved in a minor collision with a large truck. The truck driver got out, yelling and swearing at Louis, who just sat in the driver's seat, smiling. "Why didn't you get out and knock him out?" asked his buddy after the truck driver had moved on. "Why should I?" replied Joe. "When somebody insulted Caruso, did he sing an aria for him?"

This is a great illustration about knowing your identity. The truck driver clearly did not know the real identity of the person he was cursing, for if he had, he would have treated him in a dramtically different way! On the other hand, Joe Louis knew who he was--the best boxer in the world--and therefore he had nothing to prove.

For those of us who are leaders we should ponder how this story is relevant to us. Personally for me if I know who I am and am secure in that identity I will be more likely to trust others to be who they are. I will not need to outshine them, upstage them, overshadow them, or have the last word. Knowing who I am gives me the freedom to allow them to be free.

In Mark 6: 7-13 we read about the 12 disciples being sent out by Jesus. It says He gave them authority over unclean spirits; and instructed them. Then they went out to preach, to cast out demons and to heal. Notice it does not say Jesus went with them. He trusted that once they were equipped and empowered they would perform so He released them to service.

Too often leaders are not secure in who they are and so they equip and empower but never release people to service. They instead equip people, verbally say they have empowered them and then stnad right behind them watching their every move to make sure they do it their way.

God did not create robots and neither should we leaders. Jesus equipped and empowered servant leaders who later equipped and empowered servant leaders. Shouldn't we be doing the same thing?

Are You Jesus to Another Person?

I read a story in "Stories for a Man's Heart" that I would like to share. It goes something like this: Five salesmen were at a conference and they had all told their wives they would be home in time for dinner after the conference was over. The conference ran a little late but each man hurried off to the airport to catch the train home.

They were in such a hurry that as they passed by a stand with apples set up by a boy one of them knocked the stand over.  They ran through the terminal and were just boarding their train when one of the men stopped and asked one of the guys to phone his wife and let her know that he would be late. He turned and went back through the terminal and out to where the boy's stand was.

Apples were scattered all over the area and the boy who was blind was on his knees trying to find them. The man bent down and helped him round the apples up. As he was placing them on the stand the man noticed that several were damaged so he opened his wallet and gave the boy a twenty dollar bill. As he turned to leave he heard the boy ask, "Sir, are you Jesus?"

I encourage you to take the time today to be Jesus in the life of someone by doing something out of the ordinary so that God can perform the extra-ordinary.

Growth - An Example

posted at REAL Men RoCK

In 1999 I began to attend a church in Overland Park called the Vineyard and I want to share with you how it grew from 150 members to 850 members in about 10 years.

The Vineyard did not have an organized evangelistic effort, nor did it do slick mailings, and it used no gimmics to draw people to services. So what caused it to grow like it did? I believe three key things created that growth.

1. The Vineyard tapped into the power of the Holy Spirit in a Naturally Supernatural way. Each week the pastor giving the sermon would preach a Biblically sound sermon and then invite people to respond. As people responded he would invite the Holy Spirit to interact with them by having the church personally pray for and with them.

2. The lead pastor put together a competent team of men and women to oversee various departments and ministries of the church. He had them set measurable goals for their areas, empowered them to pursue them and then released them to do the work. He trusted completely in their abilities and demonstrated that by getting out of their way. When they led a meeting or gave a sermon or stood on stage he took a place with the rest of the church and listened. In a mentoring class with some future leaders he told us he purposely removed himself from the picture because if he didn't the church would look to him as the leader instead of the ones he had entrusted leadership over that area.

3. The most important factors were Jesus was presented as the leader of the church and the Holy Spirit was always invited to come into every meeting.

C. Gene Wilkes in his book, "Jesus on Leadership" puts it this way. Filling organizational charts with warm bodies regardless of heart attitude or spiritual giftedness will certainly kill a church. Freeing God's people to serve as God has gifted them to serve makes a church grow. Knowing how God has gifted you for service in the body will give you the confidence to take risks and pioneer new ministries.

I experienced this first hand at the Vineyard. I enlisted a group of men to join a core group to develop a men's minsitry at the Vineyard. We met each week for several weeks, praying and putting together a plan. We made an appointment with the lead pastor and presented our ideas. After we had done our presentation he asked us to add a couple of things and then told us to go and do the ministry. He encouraged us to let it be a ministry under Jesus Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit.  He then finished by saying the ministry would be a men driven ministry and that he would not be involved except to promote it. Go and do it!

Out of the group of men who made up that core group two of us have gone on to become ordained pastors, one is involved in a men's ministry and he travels across the United States and to Kenya to minister to men and another has become a leader in Alpha. Out of the men who attended men's events the men's ministry promoted one is now a pastor of a church plant in Independence, MO and another is the leader of a growing men's ministry at the Vineyard.

The Vineyard grew because Jesus was presented as the answer to life problems, people were empowered and released to ministry and the leadership knew their limitations and allowed the church to lead in areas it lacked gifts in.

The Passionate Church

I have began 2010 reading a book called, "The Passionate Church" by Mike Breen and Walt Kallestad. In this post I want to share with you a little from this book that I believe God wants you to consider.

For those of you who work for a church organization you might find some of what I share disagreeable. I have been known to be somewhat of a challenge because I think outside of the box and because I challenge leaders to look outside of the box they have placed themselves in. I have to admit that I am influenced by a church model that is outside of the traditional church model but in my opinion it is what unchurched people are looking for.

On page 20 the authors state this: "As pastors, we understand the turmoil church leaders are dealing with today. For the past decade it has become apparent that the modern church models and methods are no longer effective. High control/low accountability church leadership systems are not working. The preoccupation with programs, property, and products is missing the mark. We know that you want to see real life-change in your people and to see your church grow. We know you want your church to make a difference in your community and in the world. Jesus showed us the way in his teaching his disciples 2,000 years ago. It is the only way."

If we take an honest look efforts at evangelism some are based on mailings, service projects and sometimes hype. Those things in themselves are not necessarily wrong but they do not produce disciples.

On page 21 Mike & Walt state this: "Jesus left only one plan for church growth: multiplication through disciples making disciples. "but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1: 8

It has been my experience that leaders sometimes do all of the things to get people to attend services but fail to develop the discipleship process that will keep them coming back. That process involves the whole body of Christ and requires a development of close relationships with those who come as a result of the evangelistic activity.  We can have great worship and even a meaningful relatable sermon but unless we have community people who we would look at as unchurched will not keep coming.

As leaders in the church we need to do three things: 1. Study the culture we live in, 2. Read the Bible and 3. Build the church. Many in our culture today come from broken homes and to many family was not a safe institution. Many in our culture today even if they attended church as youth do not know the scriptures. Many in our culture believe that the church is an organization with a name and a building. If we study our culture we will know that we might find that talking church talk on Sunday mornings is something unchurched people in our community do not get nor relate to and might even be turned off by. If we study our culture we might find that many cannot relate to refrences about the church being a family and it might even cause fear in them. If we study our culture we might find that even people who grew up in the church were not taught scripture and do not understand how to study the Bible. Finally, if we study our culture we might find that we need to build disciples is how to build the church.

Creating disciples requires two things: 1. Building relationships 2. Teaching the Bible. Both of these are best done through the concept of home groups also known as small groups or life groups. What we pastors do on Sunday mornings are important but what takes place in the home group is far more important. The church through home groups develop relationships and a more intimate study of scriptures is experienced, which results in disciples of Jesus Christ being formed.

Suggested reading: 

"The Every Church Guide to Growth" by Elmer Towns, C. Peter Wagner & Thom S. Rainer

"The Barbarian Way" by Erwin Raphael McManus

"Power Evangelism" by John Wimber"Reap the Harvest" by Joel Comiskey