Small Group, Big Impact
A few years ago I started the practice of meeting with a small group of students beyond my classes. I refused to do that for years because of a really dumb reason: there were far more students I wanted in a group than I could have, or it would no longer be a “small” group. So, I had no small group in the name of fairness. Dumb. Then I did something not so dumb: I read the Bible, and in particular I studied how Jesus related to people. It seemed to go something like this:
*Jesus taught multitudes.
*He fed 5000.
*He sent out 70 to share good news.
*He pulled aside only twelve to disciple.
*He poured Himself particularly into three.
What was the impact of those various groups?
*Most of the multitude if they were around at all Passion Week screamed “Crucify,” not “Jesus is Lord.”
*The 5000 missed the point and wanted to make Him a physical King (John 6:15).
*I am not sure what happened to all the 70, but I know this: He changed the world with the twelve, not the crowd.
Small groups make a big impact. A small group of terrorists changed our world on 9/11. A small group of Oxford students (the Holy Club) would lead a great awakening. A small group of students (the Haystack Revival) birthed modern missions in the U.S. A small group of men began the Conservative Resurgence in the SBC. The greatest impact on all my years of teaching was not provided by my professors but by a small group of students who still push me toward godliness.
I believe we can disciple informally or formally. I have all of my adult life taken people with me on trips–laypeople when I was a pastor, new believers out witnessing, students since I have been a professor. These informal times of traveling together (hint, Jesus did much of His training of the twelve as they journeyed in ministry together) have allowed me to spend special times with literally hundreds of choice students. This week I will take students to East Carolina where I am speaking and up to Norfolk, Virginia, to teach a group. It also helps that I make them drive J.
But I also see that when I lay my head on my pillow for the last time, the greatest legacy I will leave in ministry after my children will be those students in whose lives I invested much outside of class, and many of those will be informal times of teaching. I actually consider my teaching to be only 50% inside of class anyway. But there is also a place for more formal training with a specific group for a specific season. I am not referring to our standard approach of discipleship: classroom and curriculum, with less focus on capable teachers than those two “C’s.” Seems to me we have acted as though we only need to get enough people into enough classes with enough curriculum, and “poof!” disciples emerge. I do not think that has worked out so well. We need more intimate time with people we respect, we people with whom there is chemistry, to grow.
So the question for me became this: with so many amazing students at Southeastern, how do I choose the few? I always keep the group at ten or less, and often at around a half dozen. It has been quite a dilemma. Here are the criteria I use in picking those with whom I meet:
1. Prayer. This seems a no-brainer, but I believe God knows the people I can encourage and stretch better than I do. I spend much time in prayer, asking God for names. I go over class rolls and facebook networks, seeking wisdom from above.
2. Passion for the gospel. The core of the group is always made up of students pursuing the MDiv in evangelism here. I believe if you come to Southeastern to study evangelism specifically, you should have the chance to spend time with a professor. I love philosophy, but I am not going to meet with a group to discuss the middle knowledge of God or the finer points of Plato’s Republic. So I seek students with a special burden for souls.
3. Maturity. I am working with students, and I do not expect them to be mature in all areas (I am not). But I do not have the patience to spend time weekly with high maintenance youngsters. I know some great students who have remarkable potential, but lack maturity. If you are not going to come consistently and contribute to the group, you should not be in one. Or at least in mine J. I have a small group not just for what I can teach them, but also for what we can teach each other.
4. Teachable. Practically speaking this is by far the most important. There are many amazing, wonderful things about teaching ministry students, and I am so blessed to be around them. I am teaching today many who will become the leaders of the SBC in the near future. They actually teach me more than I teach them. So many love Jesus passionately, love truth, love to learn, and will be used by God. One thing that disheartens me, however, is the percentage of young men who simply think they are God’s gift to knowledge and are unteachable. These fellows actually think they are humble, because they believe pride comes only when you spout your own achievements over God’s work. An unteachable spirit is a far more pernicious sin, for you may think you are honoring God by arguing your views when you are actually a Pharisee who will be of no long term use for the Kingdom unless you repent and embrace humility. Do you really think at twenty-something years of age you have mastered all you need to be a spokesman for God? Some, well just a few, seem to think so.
I will take a young man with average talent and a teachable spirit a thousand times over a gifted young man who thinks he is God’s gift to ministry. The great thing here is I can work with both–the gifted and the humble. Are you open to correction? Do you sit in class pondering how you may need to change when the professor’s lecture gets a little close, or do you sit wishing you could stand up and put him in his place? If so, here is a warning: I have taught long enough to see men more capable than you flame out early because they were so insecure they only read and heard people who continually confirmed their insecurities, or loved the thrill of debating more than the joy of learning. Remember that a smart man is one who knows what he doesn’t know. If you do not learn humility and a teachable attitude while young you likely never will.
I have a group this semester of very gifted young adults who love Jesus very much. But the thing I love about them more than anything else is their teachable spirit. They come every week eager to learn. Their hearts are pliable and open both to instruction and correction. I love students like this. I can in a few seconds picture in my mind students I knew well who lead some of the greatest ministries in the states and who lead the most sacrificial lives overseas, and all of them were teachable.
5. Diverse. While there must be a common conviction about the gospel and a heart to learn, I look for a diverse group. Most semesters I meet only with guys, but I am seeing the wisdom of having men and women for the focus I have in the group on reaching the world, since half the world is made of women! These students come from California, Oklahoma, Texas, Maine, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina–West and East, North and South. One plans to be a vocational evangelist; one wants to plant a church in the Northeast; one is a musician; one is married and another engaged; one wants to be a writer among other things. Most have been Christians since childhood, while at least one came to Christ as an adult. One is my own son. I love these students.
So I expect I will have a small group till Jesus comes. Some may get their feelings hurt because I do not ask them. That is a risk I will take. I have been left out before and survived. Many will relate more to someone other than me anyway–a colleague in another field, a pastor, etc. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a Paul to some fine young Timothy’s. God is good to give me this opportunity, and I pray I will be a steward who pleases Him. And I pray these students will change the world.
October 1st, 2008 at 7:12 am
Prof. Reid,
I remember learning and wanting to practice this discipline of being in charge of many but doing ministry and sharing life and pouring my heart into a select few. I am a youth pastor now since I have taken your evangelism class in fall 2005 at Southeastern College and to this day this method works (after all it is what Christ did). When I first started in January 2006 I had a group of 3 students that are now my core for a group of around 15. These 3 students we have built an accountability and a friendship that has been tailored to reaching the lost and impacting the culture. So much so that now these 3 are seniors in highschool and in Vance County they are required to submit a research paper and one of them came up to me 2 weeks ago and said “John Marks, I want to do my research paper on Christianity.” Of course this is a broad subject but over the next few days we laid out what he wanted to do. Now he wants and desires to present on the authority and inerrancy of Scripture; for his oral presentation he wants to share his faith and tell how his Bible and his faith is different. This young man is one who is on fire and just needed attention and focus and urgency of what is expected of him as a Christian and without this small group emphasis who knows where he would have ended up. I praise God for sending Jesus Christ to be our perfect example is O SO MANY WAYS. Praise God for what is beginning to happen in youth ministry.