An ancient Greek philosopher named Heraclitus once said, “The only thing that is constant is change.” I would humbly add tax increases to his list, but his point rings true; change is an ever-present reality, and even more so in today’s fast-paced, tech-loving, information-frenzied world.
Here at Fellowship, our mission is constant; we exist to bring glory to God by making disciples who proclaim Christ, mature in the faith, and give their lives away. While this will always be our purpose, our rapidly changing world requires regular re-evaluation of our ministry methods.
A SHIFT IN HOW WE GATHER
Part 1 of this “Discipleshifts” post, highlighted a ministry shift in how we gather as a body. Instead of investing in facilities for a highly centralized church model, our strategy has shifted to a more decentralized multi-congregational approach. We believe that this shift will enable Fellowship to more effectively extend the reach of the gospel throughout greater Nashville by growing leaders and making disciples. This first “DiscipleShift” naturally leads us to a second shift.
A SHIFT IN HOW WE MAKE DISCIPLES
At the core of Fellowship is a commitment to continually grow towards following Jesus in every area of our lives. In our early years we used a singular, programmatic approach to adult discipleship and asked every member to belong to a community group. A lot of time, energy and staffing resources were poured into running the community group structure as the primary means of making disciples in our body. For years, the faithful efforts of community group pastors and leaders were largely effective in helping people connect relationally and process truth in smaller groups. Many of these groups continue to meet faithfully today, providing connection and spiritual support for some members of our body.
A few years ago, our leadership began re-evaluating the broad-scale effectiveness of the community group structure. Can this singular programmatic approach continue to support the weight of a growing mega-church? Is this strategy the most effective way to develop leaders and make disciples? Is there a ministry shift that would set us on the path to more effectively equip our people to give their lives away as participants in God’s redemptive mission? Answers to these questions did not come easy, but one thing is certain; while programs don’t necessarily make disciples, mature disciples do! So around 2013, the vision was cast to make another ministry shift: away from a one-size-fits-all “structure-centric” strategy to a more organic, “leader-centric” approach.
So while there is no plan to roll out a new ministry structure and ask leaders to “get with our program,” we do plan to invest deeply in a few leaders at a time, ground them in their identity as disciples, and unleash them to give their lives away in the mission of making more disciples of Jesus. While this approach will most definitely be slower, our conviction is that it will be exponentially more effective in fulfilling our mission over the long run.
Jesus’ concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow.
–Robert Coleman
FOLLOW AT FELLOWSHIP
This coming Sunday I am excited to launch one aspect of this leader-centric ministry shift entitled “Follow at Fellowship.” I recently invited six couples to join my wife and me in a nine-month disciple-maker development experience with the following four objectives:
1.) Ground participants in the centrality of the gospel for growing in Christ.
2.) Equip participants to become more “fluent” with the gospel where they live, work and play.
3.) Form disciple-makers who internalize and incarnate the methods and message of Jesus.
4.) Unleash leaders who give their lives away in the mission of making more disciples of Jesus.
Follow at Fellowship is just one of several leader-development initiatives that are beginning to bubble up here at Fellowship. We’ll be honest; we don’t have it all figured out yet, but we do know that when Jesus made disciples, he started small. As we make this shift to a leader-centric strategy, would you pray with us for wisdom in developing and multiplying these opportunities within our body?
