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Step Three: Taking Your Small Group to the Next Level—You Do, I Help!

Okay, we have talked about the first model of being a great disciple group leader—being a model for your class or group of what the Christian life looks like (”I Do, You Watch”).Bible study

That means you do everything.

You are submitted to the lordship of Christ, you do your daily quiet times, you teach, you pray for them, you memorize the verse, and you take records.

All the while, they watch and observe.

The challenge here as I have explained to you before, is that you cannot stay here.

If you get stuck in the teaching style where you do everything and the kids just sit and listen—you have a problem.

 

What usually happens in this situation is that a lot of children in your group will completely check out.

Your ability as a teacher changes drastically when you engage your group in the learning.

That means assigning them responsibilities that give them ownership.

This is the “I Do, You Help” stage of discipleship.

So, if you haven’t given them a spiritual gift test yet, now is a good time to do so to see what their gifts are.

Then, you can make a conscious effort to involve them in your group.

Robby Gallaty shares, “The goal of every D-Group is for the mentee, the one being discipled, to become a mentor; to multiply—make other disciples. In essence, the D-Group is designed forSign Up Bar the player to become a coach.”[1]

So, here are your next steps to becoming a life-changing teacher (“You Do, I Help”):

  1. They lead in prayer; you close the prayer time. Children with the gift of faith can lead the prayer time. You can also see really quickly who the prayer warriors are in your group. When they pray, you know that they are a prayer warrior.
  2. They teach, and you help guide the group at specific points in the lesson. Make copies of the following week’s lesson and assign to one of the children in your group to teach part of the lesson.
  3. They take records. Kids who have the gifts of administration and organization can do your class records without any problem.
  4. They keep your room organized. Give this responsibility to your administrators or those with the gift of helps or service.
  5. Children teach the memory verse. This a simple task, but when a child teaches, it takes their faith to a whole new level.
  6. They write notes to those who were absent this week. Your kids with the gifts of mercy or exhortation can write cards to those who are out that week.
  7. They call those who missed this week’s small group time. The funny thing about children calling their peers is that they are more likely to come back the following week.
  8. They serve. (Come up with a specific service project they can do—for senior adults, cleaning up around church, etc.—and you can help.)

I hope by now you are getting the jest of where I am taking you.

Some people really struggle with allowing children to serve or teach in their classes.

But one of my greatest joys in ministry has been releasing children in their gifts and seeing them thrive.

It has become fun for me to see what their gifts are and then engage them in service according to their abilities.

They amaze me every time!

[1] Robby Gallaty. Growing Up: How to Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013), 13.

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