Chapter 3 Questions

OGDEN - Discipleship Essential Chapter 3 – Questions

In relating the story of how Jesus prayed before calling out His disciples, Ogden suggests, "that Jesus was not so much trying to settle on the right ones as he was praying that they would become the right ones." (63) How might this suggestion change the way you see those in your small group?

Ron & Carolyn:

We would begin to look at them as potential small group leaders, rather than merely discussion participants; watching and noting how their faith appears to be developing.

Florence:

It encourages me to be nonjudgmental, to be accepting of all and to realize that we all have the potential of growing together in Christ. Similarly, St. Timothy’s is allowing me the opportunity to become a better leader. The important thing is that we are accepting of one another and eager to grow.

On page 66 Ogden states, "Jesus ministered to the crowd in order to call people out of it. One was not on the road to discipleship unless that person came out of the crowd to identify with Jesus." Is there anyone in your small group or at St. Timothy's that Jesus might be asking you to call "out of the crowd"? (No names but I encourage you to pray about this). If so, what might this call "out of the crowd" look like? Do you even have time for this?

Ron & Carolyn:

(1) Yes

(2) Invite that person to dinner or coffee, invite them to join a small group and ask them why they haven't joined a small group.

(3) No

Florence:

Within our group we are always most encouraging of one another, in a way inviting one another to come out of the crowd to identify with Jesus. Our strengths and talents are very different, but we all have talents to foster and use to help others.

On page 70 Ogden quotes Robert Coleman, "Perhaps today's pastor should imagine that they are going to have three more years in their parish (church) as pastor – that there will be no replacement for them when they leave. If they acted as if this were going to happen, they would put the highest priority on selecting, motivating, and training lay leaders that could carry on as much as possible the mission of the parish after they left. The results of three sustained years of such an approach would be significant. Even revolutionary." If we replace the word "parish" with "small group" how would you respond to this idea? What would you focus on? What priorities would change, if any?

Ron & Carolyn:

(1) That we probably be training additional leaders. It would be good to know that our demand is greater than the supply of small group leaders.

(2) Encourage those you see as having potential to lead or assist in leading a session. Get a good "starter" course with tons of supplements (e.g. DVD's) to get them used to doing it. Develop a training course designed to overcome apprehensions, focussing on the "how to", the backup support and the resourses (atlas, dictionary, how to read the bible book by book, etc.) available and at their disposal.

(3) Don't know what priorities we would change.

Florence:

Within St. Martin’s our Pastor left us at a crisis point because he felt that God did not want him to face the splitting of the congregation, but that someone else should lead us. This meant that during the first months, lay people were working together to try to see the way forward. We felt very clearly that we were being helped by god and in time there was help from the leaders of other parishes which had left the diocese and formed a cohesive group. It is important for parishioners to be involved in church matters and to feel they can carry out parts of the priest’s role.

In a small group context, it’s important to encourage group members to take on more of the leader’s role – which has frequently happened in our group. However, it needs to be worked on as all too easily people can become comfortable being “fed” and not wanting to use more energy on searching out knowledge for themselves and to share with others.