How Should A New LIFEgroup Get Started?

Using an agricultural analogy, the ideal process for LIFEgroup formation looks like this:

1 -- Germination. A group of people decide they would like to partner together for spiritual growth. They determine together to launch a new LIFEgroup.

2 -- Formation. Having determined how they plan to be formative, caring, and missional together; they invite a few people to join them. At a given time, they launch their group.

3 -- Invitation. Once the group is moving, they are careful to not lose sight of the ongoing need to expand their relationships to include others in the group. Living missionally will mean people are regularly being invited to and added to the group.

4 -- Multiplication. Eventually a group will grow in two ways. They will grow numerically and reach a point where they can no longer foster the same type of relationships. They will also grow spiritually, and some group members will discover and develop the necessary gifts to launch and lead a new LIFEgroup. Rather than fear a divisive "split", the group should embrace and celebrate this growth as an opportunity to begin the process again by germinating a new group.

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Discussion Questions for Easter

Have several people ask the question, “What’s the most important thing you’ve ever done?” Ask other people, “What do you hope to accomplish in the next several years of your life?” Tell your class that today you’ll be talking about “life mission” or the one most important thing you do that drives everything else. Tell them that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the defining moment in history, so it should be the defining moment in our lives. Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-19. How does the resurrection impact some of the crucial beliefs of Christianity? How would Christianity be different if there was no resurrection? How would you be different without the resurrection? Read 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. What are some specific ways that the resurrection gives us hope? If you had been a friend of Jesus when he was on earth, how would the resurrection have impacted your life? How do you think his followers then were effected by the resurrection? Read 1 Corinthian...

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Community Killers Part Four: Complaining

Nothing can tear a group apart faster or more effectively than a spirit of complaining. For some reason, complaints seem to breed faster than rabbits. Once one person’s complaining goes unchecked, it won’t be long until others have joined in and eventually the entire group is sucked into a hopeless vortex of swirling complaints. Often these complaints have little to do with the group, but they have the potential to sideswipe and destroy a group meeting, or if left unchecked, an entire group. Complaints may cover a variety of subjects. Group members might complain about their job, their day, their neighbor, their spouse, or even the church. The role of the leader is to deal with these complaints in a way which is formative for the person, instructive for the group, and glorifying to God. Because a LIFEgroup should be a place where people share their struggles and receive support and prayer, it can sometimes be difficult to know when someone is sharing a difficulty or...

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