Small Group World

06.02.10

Programs Don't Make Disciples, They Tempt Consumers to Keep Coming Back Though

If you’ve spent any time with me at all you know that I believe many people who are the church have been duped. They have been drawn to church by programs and involved themselves in the programs of the church only to experience emptiness. But they keep coming back because the programs that they want for themselves and their children are intact. They never become mature disciples, they don’t have significant spiritual growth, and they always see the church as responsible to serve them rather than realizing they are responsible to serve the Kingdom of God. In just a few days Dr. Thom Rainer and Dr. Ed Stetzer’s new book, Transformational Church will be released. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to dive headlong into this game changer (I do believe it’s going to change the way a massive number of churches view and do church.). I just had to give you a preview. Why? Probably because two guys much smarter than me have concluded through a massive amount of study and research that programs miss the mark. The italicized paragraphs below come from Transformational Church.

What do relationally intentional environments look like? What principles are transportable regardless of size, location, and denomination?

1. Relationally intentional environments produce family.

2. Relationally intentional environments practice on-on-one relationships.

Larger and smaller gatherings will never provide all that is needed for real transformation. What the larger groups begin through teaching, worship, and encouragement is completed by God in individual conversations.

One important place that “one size fits all” does not work is discipleship. If we insist on all our discipleship being in large groups only, then we are going to miss the majority of our audience. Relational and intentional includes small-group and informal relationships.

3. Relationally intentional environments provide space for difficult people.

4. Relationally intentional environments do have systems and processes.

Systems and processes make relationships intentional in a local church. Relationships are not program driven. Programs can be relationship driven, however, and should be. Relationships are people driven. We don’t want to replace natural relationships with programs, but we can champion relationship through them.

Yet program abuse by local churches is common. To avoid it, TCs make sure their programs fuel their God-given purposes, and they don’t allow programs to replace relationships. When programs replace relationships they become safe, dead, religious activity.