Count Down
Follow these guidelines to plan, kick off, and implement Daily
Discipleship Groups in
your congregation. Have fun! Be creative!
As early as possible: Bring together a task force or team to promote
this effort. These
people should be passionate disciples of Christ willing to encourage others
to grow in
discipleship. Be sure to work with your congregation’s current Christian
Education
committee or team. Begin to pray for this ministry.
Week 8 - Introduce Daily Discipleship Groups in an article for
the congregation’s
newsletter. Put up posters inviting people to consider participating in a
small group (2-7
individuals) who meet weekly for one hour. The meeting places can be homes,
work
place, church, restaurants, school, or neighborhood. Pray.
Week 7 - Begin to personally invite and plant the seeds of Daily
Discipleship Groups.
- Encourage couples to make a commitment
to meet once a week. The groups can
include only two. Expand the group to include other family members,
neighbors,
or friends.
- Invite groups with similar interests
(married couples, singles, parents, seniors,
young adults, tennis players, etc.) to form their own Daily
Discipleship Group.
- Invite diverse groups to gather
throughout the community.
Think outside the box. Where might groups
gather in your community? Ask for
suggestions. Listen to who gets excited. Pray. Include articles in the
bulletin and
congregation’s Web site.
Week 6 - Expand the task force to include other key individuals in
the congregation. Host
a gathering to explain the concept of Daily Discipleship Groups.
Invite this expanded
group of committed Christians to think broadly and creatively:
- If 70% of the adults of your
congregation would be involved in a Daily
Discipleship Group, approximately how many groups would be formed in
your
faith community? How might this task force and their friends divide and
multiply
in order for this to happen?
- What about the youth and children? How
might they be involved?
Ask each to prayerfully consider convening
a Daily Discipleship Group at a time and
place convenient to him/her. Pray. Recruit this group to fervently pray.
Week 5 - Include a bulletin insert introducing Daily Discipleship
Groups. Continue the
informal invitations around the congregation. What does it mean to be a
disciple of Jesus
Christ? How do we stay connected with Christ and his Word in the
coming week?
Include the plans for Daily Discipleship Groups in the prayers of the
church. Invite
others to pray.
Week 4 - Begin a series of temple talks about discipleship. Include
articles in the
newsletter and bulletin. Send a letter to the congregation explaining the
Daily
Discipleship Groups and sample September 11 session plan. See:
www.elca.org/evangelism/dailydiscipleship
Week 3 - Continue temple talks and bulletin inserts. Provide a
Daily Discipleship
orientation. Invite all who are curious.
Orientation: Host an Orientation
Session to introduce Daily Discipleship
Groups. Before the orientation, make arrangements for a small group to
role play
a typical session. Although there are no official leaders, it will
be helpful to have
someone designated to host the first session.
Sign-up: Recruit the task force to help organize sign-up sheets for
Daily
Discipleship Groups. People can spontaneously create their own groups
beyond
the ones provided by the congregation. Be sure to have more than enough
groups
so no one is left out. It is highly suggested to limit each group to 7
people.
Week 2 - Continue signing people up
for Daily Discipleship Groups. (Even if spouses
create their own Daily Discipleship Group, mark that down for your
records.) Continue
verbal announcements, temple talks, prayers of the church, and bulletin
inserts. Preach a
children’s sermon on discipleship. Pray.
Week 1 - Preach on discipleship. Covenant to follow Christ. Commission
the
congregation to go where God calls, gathers, and empowers them. Continue
signing
people up for Daily Discipleship Groups. Pray.
Afterwards. . .Call, encourage, converse, visit, and do all to
support each other in
following Christ.
6 Weeks later. . . Have a celebration. Share what has been learned.
Make plans to
revise, improve, and expand Daily Discipleship Groups. Look for ways
to include more
people especially those not currently involved in the groups.
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