Discipleship and Leadership – Page 5

How to Grow Your Victory Group

Have fun in your victory group meeting. Make it more exciting. Pepper it with laughter to make people at ease. But remember that if you go home without talking about Christ, without saying anything about the crucified Savior, without mentioning the purpose of Jesus’ death on the cross for all humanity, you will have skipped the most important reason why we do victory groups in the first place.

Yes we tell them that relationships are important. Yes we tell them that they need to make the right choices. Yes we tell them that they need to be good, that they need to act in love, that they need to be responsible, and excellent, and honest, and polite, and positive. But if we take away the name of Christ from the whole meeting, if we fail to exalt Jesus, what good is your victory group?

Don’t pamper them with pop psychology or cute quotes. Lead them to the foot of the cross. Bring them to Jesus. Show them the fire of the Holy Spirit. You only have this moment to lead a person to Christ. You will never know how small the window of opportunity you have to touch a person’s life. He may be here today. Who knows where he will be next week?

Cultivate friendships within your group but don’t let that blind you of your purpose to eventually multiply your group so you could accommodate more people. Relationships make us feel good but the supremacy of Christ over us is so much better. Trust me on this: our friendships would have more meaning and purpose if we place them under the Lordship of Jesus.

Learn the art of cutting in the long winding talks of overly talkative people. At the same time, learn the art of drawing the “silent type” into the conversation. Do both with grace. But don’t forget that it’s not so much about information transfer. It is about teaching people to follow Jesus. Play with ideas but don’t get stuck there. Drive all the points to real life application. What good is a truth that doesn’t translate to action?

Know when to laugh and crack jokes. But more importantly, be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit and know when to be serious. A person’s life and salvation may depend on that one moment.

Reaching the Next Generation

“Reaching the next generation- whether they are outside your church or sitting there bored in your church- is easier and harder than you think. It’s easier because you don’t have to get a degree in postmodern literary theory or go to a bunch of stupid movies. You don’t have to say “sweet” or “bling” or know what LOL or IMHO means. You don’t have to listen to… well, whatever people listen to these days. You don’t have to be on Twitter, watch The Office, or imbibe fancy coffees. You just have to be like Jesus. That’s it. So the easy part is you don’t have to be with it. The hard part is you have to be with HIM. If you walk with God and walk with people, you’ll reach the next generation.”

Source: Kevin DeYoung, Don’t Call It a Comeback (Crossway Books, 2011)

The Problem With Being Bookish

Today’s evangelical church has discarded the discipleship model in favor of an academic model. Instead of discipling people, we teach them. We put people in classrooms and present them with Bible knowledge. We offer a weekly lecture (sermon) from an educated person with a seminary degree. As for laymen, the more you know, the more accurate your doctrine, the more God is pleased. Christianity is something that happens inside your mind.

Why is this academic approach to faith so discouraging to men? Simple. Men are less comfortable in a classroom.

We cannot expect men to come to maturity in Christ in a classroom environment. Although reading, study, sermons, and classes can help, these academic exercises cannot penetrate to the hidden places in a man’s heart. But discipleship can, because it’s teaching by example. Christ didn’t hand out a study guide; He demonstrated a life pleasing to God. His example, even more than His words, produced eleven men who shook the world. That is why a man who has sat in church for thirty years without much life change will be suddenly transformed after going on a mission trip. Men are changed by what they experience, not necessarily by what they are told.

Excerpt from David Murrow’s WHY MEN HATE GOING TO CHURCH.

Build Up, Build Up

Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people. –Isaiah 57: 14

Make it easy for people to come to the Lord. Remove every obstruction. Take away all the stumblingblocks. Pave the way for people to come in. Don’t let your practices and common habits stand in the way. The return of God’s people should be anticipated and celebrated.

Open up your cliques. Open wide your hearts to receive more into your circles. Do not limit your heart to the few friends you’ve got. Don’t close up your group just because you feel like your intimacy is threatened. The family of God is big, wide, ever-increasing.

Stop looking at your petty concerns when you could be looking at the vast possibilities ahead. Why would you settle for a few droplets when the floodgates are at your disposal? Why settle for meager joys and meager results when you were wired to do greater exploits?

As we stand on the edge of breakthrough at Victory Caloocan, I challenge you to take a ride with the waves of God’s glory. Don’t be left behind when many of us are taking hold of this destiny that God has prepared for us as a corporate body and as individuals.

Build with us. Rally yourself behind the corporate vision God has entrusted to our movement. Tether your life to the greater mandate of Jesus to go and make disciples, to change the destiny of nations and make a difference in your sphere of influence. Your life is meant for greater things. Our time has come. Our time is here. Our time is now.

Challenge the Men

Make things too comfortable for a man, and he’ll lose interest. Try to control a man, and he’ll rebel. Overconfront him, and he’ll resent you as a nag. But challenge him the way Jesus challenged the disciples, and he will grow. A church that challenges its members is a church where men can thrive.

Excerpted from David Murrow’s Why Men Hate Going to Church

In Memoriam

January 24, 2004.

Exactly seven years today, my father died on that grim Saturday morning after more than two years of battle against colon cancer. It was a long, painful battle. Nature won. My father was taken away from us at the age of…

Actually we have no idea.

As embarrassing as it is, no one in the family knew when he was born, not even my mother. According to the snippets that I gathered from listening to their drunken stories when I was a kid, my father, the late Eladio O. Agot Sr., was born before World War 2. He was one of those who ran around and hid in the forests when Japanese soldiers rounded up the locals in their neighborhood. He was about ten years old at that time.

Continue reading In Memoriam