2016 Victory Address for the Discipleship Ministry

By Jonathan | January 18, 2016

I decided to follow suit with my presentation at last year address by drawing inspiration from classical writing, and again from the French Revolution as I reveal the work accomplished and unveil the work to come.

Who has ever seen the play or the musical, Les Miserables? Many people overlook the fact that this classic tale was originally a book by the French author, Victor Hugo. This 1500 page monolith is testament to the human will. While it is easy to get lost in the themes, symbols, and vast nature of the book, Allow me to briefly describe the driving force of the novel.

Jean Valjean is a criminal and upon his release finds himself indebted to a priest who lies to the police about him being given silverware (and more importantly to the story) and a set of silver candlestick holders as a gift when the truth was he stole them to sell for money. This compassionate pardon from the priest altars his destiny and throughout the remaining chapters and pages Jean Valjean seeks to honor the grace bestowed upon. (sarcasm) And while I could share with the destinations and excursions of his journey as I know all of you would love (sarcasm), time would simply not allow. On his death bed he looks back on his life to see if he lived within the light or in the darkness and on the table are the silver candlestick holders, lit and causing a glow within the room as if to ironically say he did.

This past year has been a learning experience for me. I’ve learned about who you are as a church and many of you individually, where the church is with regards to discipleship and where to go next, and that this church has a lot of love to give.

First, my biggest goal was assembling a Discipleship Team. Gary Clark, Rusty Willis, and Ben Hamm are all team members. We think through strategy, curriculum, and vision for all discipleship related areas. So they deserve the praise for our success in 2015.

Second, I’d like to talk about the Neighborhood groups. We spent a lot of time preparing for the roll out back in September. It took a while to craft together a small group ministry that compliment both the needs of the church and the existing programs. Neighborhood groups are about relationships with those in the church and those outside of it. They are to balance between fellowship and outreach with a vision of reaching everyone within our sphere of influence with the love and gospel of God. And by September 13 we had 135 people respond to a leader’s invite to attend a group. In our first week we had 109 people attend a group. All throughout the fall, our groups averaged 81 which exceeded the goals I presented to the Elders back in March. And for that, I thank you for your willingness to support this new ministry. More than mere attendance, our groups have done tremendous kingdom work. Prayer walks, feeding families, reaching out to the local schools, serving those who need help, doing the Kingdom Cards we gave out back in September, sharing with the local fire fighters, volunteering to ring a bell outside of stores, and backing pies for next door neighbors are just some of things that our groups did this past fall to spread the Love and Gospel of God in Henry County. And to those groups I say thank you and I am proud of you.

If you are not in a group but would like to see what they are about, we do have open enrollment right now and truthfully, always. We can get you plugged in to a group that hopefully meets close to where you live.

Third, Sunday School remains our primary Bible education program outside of the sermons. We have new teachers that are stepping up and will be helping with the biblical literacy of our congregation in the next year. We would like to see our Sunday School program grow. So to do that allow me to shift from the past to the future.

If 2015 was primarily about Neighborhood Groups then it can be said that 2016 will primarily be about showing a person what is next in their walk with Jesus.

We have developed a few ways to show people what is next for them.

First, We have developed intentional language that is descriptive to where a person is at in relation to discipleship maturity. Having key words and phrases will help administer spiritual triage as new people enter our doors and to show them what is next for them to become a fully mature follower of Christ. We will develop logos for each stage in the discipleship process and place them on the walls throughout our building. We will also have a sermon series dedicated to defining and explaining each intentional descriptive.

Second, Ben and I are working on a plan to further develop our Sunday School program. In the next year, we would like to see greater participation of our adults and challenge them to join a class either first or second service. Some ways we intend to do this are by offering electives in the spring and fall semesters, temporary groups of people who come together to study a topic and then it’s over. These will be like on ramps, directing people to a permanent class.

Third, and this really goes along with what I just mentioned. We want a place for visitors and new. So we will be launching a new program called Starting Point. This will be a one week event where they have a chance to ask questions, be offered a free lunch, and see what opportunities there are at New Lisbon. From here, we will direct them toward a Next Steps group. This group will meet during the Sunday morning study hours in the Family Life Center to talk about who Jesus is, what the Bible is, and what the church is for. And this is the first and formal invitation to any of you who might be new (within the last year or two) to come and see on a deeper level what we are about here.

Fourth, discipleship is always a goal of ours. And we are continuing to do things on the peripherals under the guidance of the elders and staff that you may hear about and see happening if you are paying attention. This will help to adjust the culture of our church to become a disciple-making machine. Our agenda for 2016, I believe is what will help us achieve this goal.

Victor Hugo’s story contains many Christian themes such as resurrection, forgiveness, redemption, love, compassion, and repentance. So many illustrations could be pulled from it. Something I’ve learned about discipleship over the last 6 years that i’ve been in ministry is that it is only successful in the realm of relationships. You can’t truly program it, you can’t force it down people’s throats from the pulpit in a sermon. We may do those things to foster growth, but those devices are not adequate on their own. In Les Mis, Jean Valjean learned to love by adopting and caring for a little girl named cosset and at the end of his life, He reveals his greatest wisdom as he looks back on his fortunes and misfortunes. He says, “to love another person is to see the face of God.” And since our new mission statement is to Love God, Love Others, and Make Disciples, I am directing my team, all the group leaders, and all the sunday school leaders attention to the fact that discipleship starts as a relationship. And when we love others, we are loving God, and when we love others, we can make disciples. It is not easy to make a disciple. It is not easy to show people what is next and direct them on the path. But none-the-less, it is what we are called to do.

Because of this, it is easy to get discouraged and frustrated and tired. And I could easily pull a verse that you all have heard before but I thought, Since Victor is my inspiration let’s see what he might say. This is one of his famous quotes, “Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.”

And that’s my charge to you, We are going to be laboring over all these goals this year, but even in our most vulnerable hours and weakest moments, God is awake and he is there. And all God’s people said… amen.

Thank You.