ORDINARY PEOPLE – PART 4

Introduction

1. Seeing how special that ordinary people are.
2. Seeing how ordinary that special people are.
3. Learning to treat everyone with dignity, respect and honor.

When ordinary people become organized.

Review

• Matthew 15:8 (ESV): ⁸ “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; God is constructing a new system of pastoral care based on ordinary people taking leadership in small gatherings week to week, in person and online.

A Blast from the Past

Discipleship in Practice

Discipleship Explained

Leading a small group is a simple exercise that most believers can do.

Groups can be customized by . . .

• Subject Matter
  • Bible Verse
  • Bible Passage
  • Bible Story
  • Book of the Bible
  • Christian Book
  • Jesus
  • Character study
  • Seasonal
  • Biblical views on world events
  • Biblical views on topics customized for the target demographic
• Activity
  • e.g. hiking
  • e.g. knitting
  • e.g. gaming
  • e.g. cooking
• Demographic
  • e.g. common focus areas: men, women, married, single, youth, adult
  • e.g. cancer survivors, parents of LGBTQ+ children, mothers of small children
• Location
  • e.g. Home
  • e.g. restaurant
  • e.g. online
• Day of the Week
• Time of Day

Basic Requirements for Small Group Meetings:

• Meetings are 1 hour.
• Groups meet at least twice a month.
• If you are an online group, meet in person at least four times a year.
• Groups participate in month-long breaks 3 times a year (April, August and December)
• Groups consist of no more than 12 people.
• Groups must multiply after they exceed 12 people.
• There is a grace period for groups of 12+ while they are working out their multiplication strategy.
• Groups must be together one full year before they can multiply.
• Each leader must have at least one assistant (small-group-leader-in-training)

Small Group Ground Rules

• Civility
  • Respect the people and their perspectives
• Consideration
  • Think about others and not just yourself
• Confidentiality
  • Do not share what happens in the group without permission
• Contribution
  • Engage with God and the group

Basic Requirements to Be a Small Group Leader:

• Be a member for a full year.
• Attend Sunday service regularly.
  • In good faith
  • Attending in person more than you’re not attending in person
  • The principle: you’re modeling ideal behavior and optimizing opportunities to engage with small group members in person.
• Maintain a devotional life.
  • Praying and reading Bible on most days
• Complete basic training.
• Complete a vetting process.
• Participate in periodic gatherings for assessment, updates and ongoing training

The Big Picture of Small Groups

The vision for small groups at Zoe: Discipleship

• Discipleship is Christ being formed in me and God using my life to form Christ in someone else.

Three-Fold Purpose of Small Groups:

• Spiritual growth
• Relational connections
• Leadership development

Small Group Culture

• Relationship rich

Small Group Objective:

• The goal is that 60-80% of the church participate in small group ministry.

Introducing New Models for Pastoral Care

Exodus 18:13–23 (ESV): ¹³ The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. ¹⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” ¹⁵ And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; ¹⁶ when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” ¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. ¹⁹ Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, ²⁰ and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. ²¹ Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. ²² And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. ²³ If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

Acts 6:1–7 (ESV): ¹ Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. ² And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. ³ Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. ⁴ But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” ⁵ And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ⁶ These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. ⁷ And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

1 Corinthians 12:28 (ESV): ²⁸ And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

Matthew 18:18–20 (ESV): ¹⁸ Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. ¹⁹ Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV): ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024