Core Group Values

Core Group Values:  The following values stand as the goal and measure of healthy small groups.  We use the term DNA to describe these basic values.

DNA represents the basic coding of all organisms.  It’s the code that determines who we are and how we function.  Every part of the body shares the same DNA.  Likewise, from the new believer to the person who has followed Christ for decades, all Christians should share a common DNA as part of the Body of Christ.  Here’s what we think should define the basic DNA of all followers of Jesus and the groups they form…

• Divine Truth – The living presence of Christ and his word..
  • How does our group encourage intimacy with Christ and his word?
  • Do we come together in his name or are we dependant on a curriculum or personality?
  • How do our group members experience Christ?
  • How are we exhibiting Christlikeness?
• Nurturing Relationships – Practicing the “one anothers” of the New Testament. 
  • How are the relationships doing in our group?
  • How do we encourage growing closer to each other?
  • How do we practice the “one anothers?”
  • Is there a “one another” that we avoid or struggle to practice?
• Apostolic Mission – Living as God’s “sent ones” to take the light of Christ into darkness.  We have been sent to make disciples of all nations.
  • How does our group encourage mission?
  • How do we practice mission (serving together, praying for lost ones, etc.)?
  • Are the people in our group planting the seeds of the gospel where God has placed them (among their friends, families, co-workers, neighbors, etc)?
  • Who are the potential leaders of a new organic group?  How are they being supported and trained?

Group Principles:  The following principles form the basis of the groups ministry.  The underlying philosophy of our small groups is that they are in themselves a valid expression of what it means to be church, meeting in the name of Jesus, led by his Spirit, designed to multiply. 

• Church: What the group is

How do you define church? Is it a once a week event on Sunday mornings? Or, is church what the New Testament refers to as the “ekklesia” or “called out ones?” Jesus said, “wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst.” And, where Christ and his people are, there is the church. Your small group can function with the purpose, mission and Spirit of a church. For many people, their small group experience is much more meaningful, helpful, transformational than their Sunday morning experiences.

So, what does a small group need to be a church? DNA.  Divine Truth, Nuturing Relationships, Apostolic Mission. When you gather, focus on honoring God, connecting with each other, and engaging God’s mission to make more disciples.

Why is this important? Church really comes alive when you consider it as something more than a once a week event. “The Church should be more powerful on Mondays than it is on Sundays.” We must regain the vision of being the church rather than “going” to church. We must see ourselves as Christ’s “called out ones” rather than just Christians who gather for a home Bible study. We can begin to see church as a 24/7 lifestyle rather than just an event we passively attend each week.

It’s also important that we determine why we meet.  Meeting in the name of Christ stands above all the other good reasons for coming together as a group.

• Christ the center: How the group is energized

Why do we gather? To study a curriculum? To develop relationships? To do something? These may be important elements of a group, but they are not the reason we should gather.

We gather in our groups as followers of Jesus, in his name, because of him, for his purposes. A group receives its life from Christ. It can exist for a time built around a study. It can grow for a time built around great relationships. It can even feel worthwhile to do a great project together. But, life comes from intimacy with Christ.

If a group becomes about something other than Christ, it will soon begin to lose energy. The study better be excellent to keep people’s attention. The relationships better be without conflict for the group to stay together. Once the project’s done, what next? But, if it is about knowing and following Jesus, of experiencing his Spirit in the group, then that source of life is always available. Christ will draw us together. If our goal is to love and become like Jesus, then we must make our reason for gathering to grow closer to Jesus and each other.

• Open Participation/Flat leadership: How the group functions

Everyone has a gift to offer your group. Every member who is a follower of Jesus has a spiritual gift to build up the body of Christ. How do you help people exercise their gifts in the group? The New Testament Church valued open participation by all those in the house churches. Some had a song. Some a hymn. Some a word. But, all had something to offer. All their gifts existed to build up others in the group. All people, thus gifts, were equal.

What gifts exist in your group? How has God uniquely equipped people to build up the group? Are the gifts being exercised? Is anyone hanging back, showing reluctance? Is everyone aware they have a gift to offer and is the group a safe place to exercise it? Do people understand their role is to edify (build up) the other members of the group? Is there someone you should seek out to encourage them to participate more in group life?

• Multiplication:  How the mission of Christ is realized

All living things are meant to reproduce in order to continue their species.  The same is true for the organism of church. It is meant to reproduce disciples of Jesus.  Unfortunately, many churches do not reproduce because their systems are not designed to do so.  They are too complicated and require the leadership of a few trained professionals to lead them.  They serve the needs of the organization rather than the need of the world for more followers of Jesus. 

At best, some churches are content to “add” – add groups, members, or even satellite churches.  “Franchising” is also not the same as multiplication.  Most “multi-site” churches are simply franchising a system which will eventually fall in on itself. 

Multiplication occurs best when all followers of Jesus are equipped with simple, reproducible, accessible ways of discipling others.  Therefore, our groups are meant to be as simple as possible with the idea that anyone could lead one themselves.  We envision a movement of small, organic gatherings of Christians who are growing in intimacy with Christ (Divine Truth), loving God and neighbor (Nurturing Relationships), and praying for and serving the lost (Apostlic Mission).  For this to happen, all followers of Jesus must see their potential as disciple makers, not just a trained few.