HELPING YOUR GROUP MAINTAIN AN OUTWARD FOCUS

 by Barry McGee

If your group is experiencing staleness and a lack of vitality, take a look at your focus.  While engaging Bible study is a prerequisite to true Christian community, an exclusively inward focus can stunt the growth of most any group.  The inward journey was made to turn outward.  Such a turn usually begins with the leaders.  What can a small-group leader do to encourage an outward focus?

• Get Burdened.  My fire is stoked by reading of others who burned brightly for Christ.  Two of my favorites are David Brainerd and George Whitefield.  Biographies, journals, and diaries of godly men and women are excellent vision-builders.

• Develop Redemptive Friendships.  Help your neighbor build his fence.  Become a reader at a local convalescent hospital.  Challenge the junior high kid across the street to a game of HORSE.
• Model Involvement.  When you do any of the above, take a group member with you.  Don’t treat it like class time.  Just let him see how easy it is to “hang out” with others for Christ’s sake.
• Regularly Highlight Outreach As A Group Fundamental.  Ask for outreach testimonies as often as you ask for prayer requests.  Emphasize a specific opportunity at each meeting.  By giving outreach more than periodic airtime, a leader can counteract the false believe that outreach is optional.
• Facilitate A Group Activity.  Get a list of newcomers who have visited your church and invite a family or individual to one of your small-group meetings.  Or fill a number of grocery bags for a family in need.  Adopt a pregnant teen through your local pregnancy center.  Repair the roof of a widow’s home.  Sponsor, coach, and cheer on a local Little League team.  Work a booth at a community festival.  Join a community softball team.  Just do it together.
• Celebrate Your Group Achievements.  Periodically throw a party to praise God and reward group members for jobs well done.  Remember, Jesus celebrated with the disciples upon the return of the seventy (Luke 10:17-24).

  As the cliche goes, "keep the main thing, the main thing".

THINGS YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN ….

FOR CHURCH LEADERS: Generosity by LifeWay podcasts: releasing the power of giving - https://buff.ly/2HNH4lN

FOR BIBLE STUDY: Bible Studies for Life: 8 guideposts for discipleship development - https://buff.ly/2Yf8x5G

FOR DISCIPLESHIP:  Register for a free webinar on the 8 signposts of discipleship and how to use it to develop a strategy for discipleship! https://buff.ly/2VjcxE5

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Discipleship Pathway Assessment (DPA) – an online tool to help your congregation see their strengths and weaknesses in their discipleship - https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/discipleship-pathway-assessment-P005216492

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Gospel Foundations - https://buff.ly/2MXGCow

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Homegrown: A Parenting Guide - https://buff.ly/2YJbV8Z

FOR WOMEN’S MINISTRY: Mom Set Free by Jeannie Cunnion - https://buff.ly/2HcLDEe

FOR WOMEN’S MINISTRY: Ministry to Women Handbook - https://buff.ly/2q5Grd3

FOR WOMEN’S MINISTRY:  20/20 Seen. Chosen. Sent. By Christine Caine - https://buff.ly/2HbMOnk

FOR MEN’S MINISTRY: Sign up for the LifeWay Men’s Newsletter - https://www.lifeway.com/en/shop/ministries/men

FOR MEN’S MINISTRY: Christ Centered Parenting by Russell Moore & Phillip Bethancourt, addressing cultural hot potatoes with your kids - https://buff.ly/2JuNBm5

FOR MEN’S MINISTRY:  Here are 3 Creative Ways to Engage Men In Congregational Life. https://buff.ly/2XLlEui

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY:  Student Pastor Network - https://buff.ly/2VsvQtY

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY: Milestones - Use this 6 volume set to establish your youth in 10 key spiritual principles (God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Bible, Creation, People, Salvation, Church, Family, Community & World). Pre-order for its June release. https://buff.ly/2vJmQlS

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY: Show Her the Way by Mary Margaret West - https://buff.ly/2V7Pjgo

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY:  Levels of Biblical Learning expanded to 12^th grade - https://buff.ly/2Wj32Sw

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: KidMin Toolbox (for those times when you looking for that something extra to do) - https://buff.ly/2LB2hmx

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: The Quest for Kids by Beth Moore - https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/the-quest-for-kids-bible-study-leader-guide-P005802362

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: Settle for Nothing Less Parenting Workshop - https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/settle-for-nothing-less-P005810307

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: Kids Ministry Curriculum Comparison Chart - https://buff.ly/2FPKNOh

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: What does it Mean to be a Christian - Here's a brand new resource to help children understand what it means to be a Christian. https://buff.ly/2NVCqBN

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: Kid Event Pro – An online Kids Ministry Event Planning system - https://buff.ly/2PaMurS

SEVEN WAYS TO RATE YOUR CHURCH

Your congregation's spiritual environment can be tested

by Leith Anderson

1.       Sensing the presence of God.

People expect God to come to church. I wish I could define what exactly people are looking for. I can't. I guess it's like beauty—you know it when you see it even though you can't put it in words.  Experiencing the supernatural is such a high priority in today's culture that its importance dwarfs everything else in rating a church's atmosphere.

2.       Others-centered.
Some churches are self-centered. Some are others-centered. It's not hard to tell the difference. A friend recently entered a church lobby on a Sunday morning and walked straight into a donut-and-coffee hour. The people were talking and laughing and having a good time. They liked their church, but they never noticed her.By contrast, an others-centered church is immediately interested in new people, what they need, and how the church can help.

3.       Understandable terminology

Healthy churches tend to speak in terms everyone can understand. The most alienating lingo is abbreviations: BYO may mean "Baptist Youth Organization" to church members but "Bring Your Own" beverages (or booze) to everyone else. Blessed are those churches where everyone can understand what is being communicated!

4.       People who look like me

Our level of comfort can be high or low depending on how quickly we find someone else who looks like us. In a room full of women, a man thinks, I'm in the wrong place. In a church where all the people up front are men, women wonder if they are welcome. In a gathering where everyone is young and casually dressed, the older person in a business suit feels out of place. When everyone else is white, the person of color notices.

5.       Healthy problem handling

You can often tell more about a church by the way it handles problems than by the way it handles success. This makes for an easy measure because every church has problems. What happens when the sound system emits a squeal or drops into embarrassing silence? Do nursery workers apologize or become defensive when they can't find your baby's diaper bag?  What makes a healthy church is not the absence of problems. It's how problems are handled.

6.       Accessibility

Wheelchair ramps and parking stalls are only the beginning of accessibility. Is there clear and easy access to getting questions answered, meeting new people, talking to church leaders, joining the membership, discovering opportunities for spiritual growth, becoming part of a small group, resolving complaints, and signing up to serve? High ratings go to churches that are "barrier free" in every sense of the term.

7.       Sense of expectancy

 Listen to hallway conversations about the church, and you can decide if the primary verb tense is past, present, or future. Most healthy churches are hopeful churches. They are permeated with high expectations of God's blessing for the future.

The majority of people who come to church feel beaten up Monday through Saturday; they are not looking for another beating on Sunday. They come to church for healing and hope. They want to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. They want to be told that God is there, God has not forgotten them, and God will bless them in the future. The church that truly believes and says that "because of Jesus Christ the best is yet to come"—that is the church that breathes spiritually healthy air. 

THINGS YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN ….

FOR CHURCH LEADERS: Generosity by LifeWay podcasts: releasing the power of giving - https://buff.ly/2HNH4lN

FOR BIBLE STUDY: Bible Studies for Life: 8 guideposts for discipleship development - https://buff.ly/2Yf8x5G

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: The Balanced Discipleship Pathway: A Catalog of Studies to Develop Disciples - https://buff.ly/2Gv3CY6

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Gospel Foundations - https://buff.ly/2MXGCow

FOR DISCIPLESHIP: Homegrown: A Parenting Guide - https://buff.ly/2YJbV8Z

FOR WOMEN’S MINISTRY: It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lysa TerKeurst  - https://buff.ly/2GqxtkQ

FOR WOMEN’S MINISTRY: Ministry to Women Handbook - https://buff.ly/2q5Grd3

FOR WOMEN’S MINISTRY:  What Matters Most by Karen Ehman - https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/what-matters-most-leader-kit-P005802633

FOR MEN’S MINISTRY: Sign up for the LifeWay Men’s Newsletter - https://www.lifeway.com/en/shop/ministries/men

FOR MEN’S MINISTRY: Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur - https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/twelve-ordinary-men-P001294909

FOR MEN’S MINISTRY: Kingdom Disciples by Tony Evans - https://buff.ly/2GlN9SW

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY: “Always be Recruiting” Student Ministry podcast - https://studentministry.lifeway.com/2019/02/14/always-be-recruitin/

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY: Show Her the Way by Mary Margaret West - https://buff.ly/2V7Pjgo

FOR STUDENT MINISTRY:  Levels of Biblical Learning expanded to 12^th grade - https://buff.ly/2Wj32Sw

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: The Quest for Kids by Beth Moore - https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/the-quest-for-kids-bible-study-leader-guide-P005802362

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: Settle for Nothing Less Parenting Workshop - https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/settle-for-nothing-less-P005810307

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: Kids Ministry Curriculum Comparison Chart - https://buff.ly/2FPKNOh

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: What does it Mean to be a Christian - Here's a brand new resource to help children understand what it means to be a Christian. https://buff.ly/2NVCqBN

FOR KIDS MINISTRY: Kid Event Pro – An online Kids Ministry Event Planning system - https://buff.ly/2PaMurS