Journey Group leadership development: 2009 fresh approach
HISTORY SNAPSHOT
The discipleship focus, mindset, and structure has been in transition for the last few years (2006 to the present) at CCC.
What does it look like to follow Jesus with a community of believers?
How will CCC respond to the next generation on the realities of their spiritual paradigm(s)?
How do we motivate our congregation to spend just as much time loving their neighbor as they do their Bible study?
How do we rally around needs, crisis, and reality for some of our people who are not yet in biblical community?
Who are the people at CCC that need to step up and trust God for deeper spiritual transformation through leadership endeavors?
These are a few of the questions that staff and elders at CCC have wrestled with in order to reach, respond to, and effectively disciple people who attend CCC with the goal of helping them reach maturity in Jesus Christ.
From classes, to groups, to teachers, to seekers, to creativity, new approaches have emerged. More and more CCC people are discovering life on life with a small pocket of people. More and more church-goers are becoming servants, and disciple-makers; and the spiritual temperature of discipleship and evangelism is on the rise. Today, we are seeing the results of not only a structure shift in ministry philosophy (community primarily through Sunday school teaching formats to living room small groups), but also a transformation focus in what it looks like for the average person to encounter Jesus and rely on Him as they experience life transformation in the process. Classes, events, and groups are all part of the structure, and the goal is always to get people into the best environment for their spiritual growth, and ultimately leading to community rooted in discipleship.
This past two years has led us through a major shift towards a discipleship mindset. On the front end of this transition, fostering a mindset of discipleship was the chief challenge and goal to move CCC from what we were used to, to what Jesus was calling us to. Thus, the leadership development approach for Journey Group leaders has focused on the mindset more than anything.
CURRENT APPROACH
It begins with current leaders leading the charge as well as new leaders who want to be a part of the movement. Our current approach to leadership development has focused on fostering a mindset of biblical discipleship with key leaders who can lead others to this small group approach to spiritual maturity and community. Thinking rightly or correctly about what it looks like to follow Jesus and lead others on the journey has been the pivot point.
We are not done examining the proper mindset of biblical discipleship, but due to the influx of new and emerging disciple-makers we must tweak and mold our current approach to develop the future. New and fresh ways are necessary to not only maintain, but lead into the future.
FUTURE APPROACH
A few questions shape the future/fresh approach to leadership development:
What do CCC Journey Group leaders need?
What do we (pastors and elders) want Journey Group leaders to have?
How do we maximize every minute of every leader and their time?
Depending on the time of (ministry) the year, what should we focus on?
Who is sitting in the living room right now and how do help disciple them?
4 ELEMENTS to the FUTURE APPROACH:
To accomplish effective Journey Group leader training 4 key elements will be present at every leadership gathering:
- Vision: leaders need to know why we are doing what we are doing and how their individual leadership effort plays into the big picture
- Huddle: leaders need other leaders / nobody is alone in discipleship efforts; we will learn from each other
- Mindset: leaders need to have specific time set aside to think about and implement discipleship minded ideas, spiritual formation, and more
- Skill set: leaders need tools for the job / practical tips to lead a healthy small group environment
COMPARING the CURRENT with the FUTURE APPROACH:
Frequency: 1X a month / 1X a month
Day: Sunday AM / various times and places
Duration: 50 mins to 1 hour / 2 hours
Focus: discipleship mindset with Q and A / vision, leader to leader interaction, discipleship mindset and skillset
Facilitator: teacher to leaders / teacher to leaders AND leaders to leaders
2009 JOURNEY GROUP LEADERSHIP DATES:
January 17th / Saturday AM Accelerate event / 10:50AM - NOON
February 20th / Friday PM / 7PM - 9PM
March 21st / Saturday AM / 9AM - 11AM
April 25th / Saturday AM / 9AM - 11AM
May 17th / Sunday PM / time TBD