One of our newest group leaders came by to talk this afternoon. He’s new to the church, and loves it! He tried to lead a group with our “Blessed?” series, but the group didn’t make it. Two guys in the group did, however, agree to meet with our new leader to continue to study the Bible outside of the group. That’s a win!
The question came when he discovered one of these guys has been attending our church for almost six years, and still didn’t own, or read, a Bible. His first Bible study lesson was, “now here’s the table of contents.”
I know this seems like an exageration, but when my new leader asked me if we were doing more than reaching thousands on the weekend I had to admit – we have a lot of work to do. He knew all about our discipleship strategy, our next steps brochure, our purpose classes, etc. But still he asked, are these people closer to Jesus because they are attending our church. Admittedly, this is not a new question for us. It is something we as a leadership team are taking very seriously.
I said plainly, “you’ve identified a serious problem and we’re working to address it, but you have to decide…do you want to stand on the outside and point out the problem, or stand on the inside and help us fix it?
Here’s what I think…he’ll help us fix the problem. A year from now, if I’m right, we will have 4000 people in small groups. Every group will be reading and applying the Bible, praying, and serving. This will be a huge win – especially when you consider that for 2500 of our current attenders the weekend is their only exposure to the Bible.
I love my church, and I embrace this challenge. We are already taking significant steps to grow our people, and we have lots of steps still to take. Tonight, I thank God for young men like this new leader, who are bold enough to ask, and willing to invest in making a difference.
