Prayer draws us towards God’s will for our lives and helps us to hear from Him actively as we read His Word together.  A great culture of prayer in your group can really set the tone for a meeting.  Think about how prayer could impact an unbeliever or new believer in the group.  The ability to speak directly to God may be a completely foreign concept to them.  The idea that someone would pray for them and their burdens could be completely new as well.  We can disciple others in how we pray together.

A group leader is not a sage that needs a stage but someone simply willing to lead others as they follow Jesus themselves.  None of us have arrived, and we all need to model authenticity & humility as we grow together.  As your group sees you wrestling with evangelism and following through on your takeaways, they will begin to wrestle with them themselves. Grow with your group!

This is relational disciple-making!  We want to care deeply for those in our group.  This means that we remember their burdens and pray for them consistently.  We take the time necessary to really get to know them.  We also communicate care by following up on their takeaways from the last meeting.  We want to take great notes each week so that when we revisit it the following week, our people feel like they were really heard and prayed for all week.

This doesn’t need to be a Johnson Ferry huddle off campus.  Think about inviting an outsider to join your group – a neighbor, coworker, or someone you play pickleball or workout with each week…When the group knows that this is more than a typical Bible study, they will take it more seriously and grow in their own confidence to help other outsiders grow.   If you have been meeting for a while and everyone is growing comfortable with just showing up, recast vision and start inviting outsiders into the group.

The true leader of your group is the Holy Spirit.  We want to be watchful of where the Holy Spirit is moving.  The B.O.B. prayer is asking the Holy Spirit to guide us toward movement.  There are so many stories of Johnson Ferry people who were suddenly emboldened to share with someone after praying consistently for movement.  The Holy Spirit can do powerful things through your group.  Our awareness of what the Holy Spirit is doing starts with prayer, and it can be very exciting as the group sees God moving in powerful ways.

Restating the vision consistently is absolutely vital to the group keeping an outward orientation.  Without vision, we will settle for staying together as a comfortable group of believers, just meeting for bible study each week.  You can use key scriptures (Matt 24:14, Matt 28:18-20, etc.) to emphasize the importance of this vision.  We don’t just restate the vision with our words.   We also need to restate our example.  Does the group see you engaging others with the Gospel?  As wins happen in your group, you need to celebrate them with each other.  That keeps the vision fresh in everyone’s minds as you meet each week.

There will come a time when you know your group is ready to start discipling others.  If you end the group suddenly just because they are ready, there could be many things that keep them from following through as disciple-makers.  We want to continue to walk with our disciples as they work through the process of engaging disciples of their own.  We can fan into flame their ability to engage others and to be a disciple-maker.  We can help them push through their hesitations and fears.  We can pray for them as they look for opportunities to invite others.  Launch your people without leaving.

Being a disciple maker is not a one-time event.  It is a lifestyle that we adopt to be constantly on mission.  If you are launching a group, begin the process of inviting new people to join you.  You will still be supporting and encouraging your original group members, but you will also be engaging new people who need to know Jesus and grow in Jesus.  When we repeat, we become true multipliers for the kingdom.

– Discipleship is all about relationships; starting with friends is great and could take your friendship to new levels.

– Jesus modeled ministry with relationships. There are way more personal conversations than sermons in the Gospels.

– Start praying for your friends and acquaintances now to see if some of them may want to join you in disciple-making.

– Mom and dad can lead the family in a 419 group.

– The questions are simple enough for kids to enjoy and learn as well, but make it fun and engaging for them.

– Invite extended family if they are in town to participate.

– Use ZOOM to include family members that live far away if that would be good for your family.

– Jesus told his disciples to love your neighbor as yourself.

– Focus on ways to build trust with your neighbors, including letting them help you.

– Express your need for a close group of neighborhood friends. They need it too, but they want a real relationship with you. No one wants to feel like a project.

– The perk of a neighborhood 419 group is the short commute.

– Invite friends and classmates to join your 419 group.

– Determine if the best time to meet is before or after school? On campus or off?

– Our students deal with lots of challenges on a week-to-week basis. Many would be interested if a friend invited them to a group to share their life and study the life of Jesus.

– We believe this generation of students is ripe for revival, but not necessarily through pastors. It will likely be through their peers.

– Invite a group from work to meet before or after work or lunchtime.

– Be flexible as it can be a weekly challenge to find the right time for everyone.

– If you can’t meet onsite, look for a location close by the office.

– Some companies have formalized ways for affinity groups to meet during office hours or for extended lunch breaks (Toastmasters, etc.).

– Who do you stand at the bus stop with?

– Who do you carpool with?

– Who is in your workout class?

– Who has God put into the natural rhythms of your life?