Is your group growing? Pt.1Posted by Patrick Scott on November 3rd, 2008

We can look at two different aspects of this.  The first, “Is your group growing spiritually?” and the second is, “Is your group growing in numbers?”.  Which of these questions is most important to you?  Does one have a direct impact on the other?

In this first post I want to talk about some things that have worked for me with the student group that I am currently working with.  I want to focus on the first question.  Is you group growing spiritually?  If we cant answer this question then the second question is irrelevant.  I have had the privilege, this semester, to work directly with a small group of high school boys.  The first thing that I wanted to confirm is their understanding of salvation and what it meant to be a Christian.  Once we were able to talk through this and I was confident in their understanding we could move on to determining other things.  This approach not only allowed us to get to know them better but showed them that we cared about them beyond the scope of this world.

Next, we wanted to see what foundation they had to build on.  We spent time asking them questions.  How often do you read your Bible?  How often do you pray?  These are just some questions to help determine discipline and  practice in their lives.  This gave us answers as to the areas, in which we needed to work with them.  Through conversation we were also able to determine how they saw God and how they saw themselves.  We asked them questions such as, “When you die what is the most important thing you would hope people would say about you?”  Some people may say that this is pretty intense but substantial growth cannot be made unless it is intentional.

Now I look forward to working with them to lay the necessary foundation for them to grow.  I want them to know who God is.  I want them to grow up to be the spiritual leaders that their homes and countries need.  If we coddle then we get a bunch of babies, but if we meet them head on with compassion, acceptance, and truth we will build a man chasing after God.  How can we train students if we never ask the questions?  How can we meet their spiritual needs if we never know what they truly need?

Tomorrow, I will be posting part two of this topic and focusing on the question “Is your group growing in numbers?”.  I will talk about the how and the why?