Jamie’s Blog to Shepherds

There are six elements that we are striving to achieve in our groups.

An environement or a place to:

Belong
Learn and Grow
Be accountable
Be real with one another (Transparency / care)
Apply
Serve

Whether you are in a C-Group or a Sunday school class, these are the expectations that we have because they will bring about individual life transformation in our members. A good exercise for your group would be to continually list these elements and from time to time evaluate yourselves as a group. My guess is that some of these are strengths and some are not. And they are different for each group. If you take time to evaluate them and discuss ways that you can improve the one’s that need improvement.

Another good exercise is for the shepherd to evaluate each member of the group according to the six elements (Please don’t do this publically, I get enough phone calls already). Sure this evaluation is somewhat subjective. However, by evaluating each person mentally or privately on a sheet of paper, you can begin to see opportunities to specifically minister to each individual and encourage each of them personally. This is the advantage of having a smaller group. You are able to spend time with each member. This is the importance of the role of the Shepherd; to help others bring about life change.

I plan on expanding my thoughts about each of these elements in future blogs. But for now take a few moments and go through this exercise with each person and then do a group evaluation. It reminds them why we are here and what we are trying to accomplish.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sandra Hawkins and Tonia Ashley did a great job yesterday. It is obvious that from Tonia’s testimony,she has found a place to experience Community thanks largely in part to Sandra and Jerry’s leadership. That is the goal for every member of our church; to find a place where they belong, a place to grow, and a place to be real. That is a great goal and a huge one at the same time. But For every Tonia Ashley, I could name several people who are yet to get anywhere close to where she is.

The role of a shepherd is a tough role. There are so many dynamics that a shepherd must address. Inconsistent attendance, some people talk too much, others don’t say a word and haven’t in two years, people who have no problem talking until the subject turns spiritual then they clam up, groups that are “surfacy,” people who get it while you just want to shake others are just some examples of what occurs in just about every group. Dealing with these issues are what I am talking about when I say that the role is tough. But let me also run to say that it is worth the investment.

The purpose of today’s blog is to encourage you. The things that I mentioned above have happened to all of us. If you are like me you do what you can not to take it personally but it is very hard not to. So my word to you? Don’t give up! You may need to evaluate, you may need to have your group evaluate themselves, you made need to comment on this blog and ask for help of what is working for others. But what none of us need to do is give up. Believe it or not we are beginning our third year of this format called C-Groups. We are dealing with real people with real issues. Some are willing to address them and others just smile as if their world is always right. Never underestimate the difficulty of this role. But at the same time never underestimate the impact you are making. Even the people who never say a word will gladly admit that they appreciate what you do. Don’t give up!

I intend to address some of these specific issues in the future.

Thanks for tuning in. Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?!

Jamie

As many of you know, My spiritual gift is not Aministration. In addition, one of my New Years Resolutions is to stop procrastinating (I hope to get to that in April or May). These two factors combined, along with sheer busyness have given me a great excuse for not blogging since last April. I will do much better this year and here is why (starting to get serious now).

It’s just too important not to. I can’t communicate North Side’s vision for community enough, there is no such thing as too much encouragement, too much support, too much training, or too much contact. We are becoming more and more mobile and time is so precious to all of us. So I will commit to make this blog a primary source of communication. We will have to meet from time to time but hopefully this site will allow me to convey to you my thoughts and feelings on various topics and give you an opportunity to comment as well.

I need your accountability and you have my permission to keep me from being slack. I don’t want to blog for the sake of blogging but I do want to stay consistent (a couple of times per week). So beginning Monday I will post my first official, non procastinating blog and begin to talk more intently about our expectations of “Community.”

That wasn’t so hard! See you Monday.