Not missing an opportunity for fellowship and Christian growth, the Young Adult 1 class just started to meet on Wednesday nights.  They are studying Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Love and Respect.

ChristianBook.com had a great price on the book and workbook.  We placed a single order and each couple turned in $25 for the book and workbook or $15 just for the book.  (The additional cost was to cover the cost of shipping.)

July 2010 Quarterly Team Huddle

Here are the slides that we will go through at this Saturday's Quarterly Team Huddle. Do let me know of anything additional you would like to add!

See you Saturday at 4pm!

July 2010 Teacher-Coordinator Meeting

Teaching

There is a lie floating around in churches throughout America and the world that say Sunday school and the Sunday morning service is discipleship and that is good enough. Then they focus on evangelism or some other program that people don’t come to. The reason they don’t come is because they have never been discipled the way God intended.
We want to break that mold. Discipleship is not only about Sunday Morning. Being a disciple of Jesus, which we are commanded to do, is about learning, growing, and committing our lives to Christ every day.
The role of the Discipleship team here at Brookwood is to assure we are giving people these opportunities to grow.
There are three main areas of discipleship:
1. Relationship Building and Mentoring
2. Teaching
3. Service
Last month we looked at Relationship Building and Mentoring.

This month let’s look a little bit at teaching.

One of the main principles in discipleship is teaching. We are all called, as a church, to teach one another--not only the kids in Sunday school, but also all Christians at all ages and levels--how to live the Christian life. The new Christian (and all Christians for that matter) needs sound instructions on how to live the Christian life. We do not learn by magic or osmosis. Although the Spirit will lead, it is still our responsibility to learn and grow, and then to teach others! In most churches, there are some opportunities to be in Bible studies, and even teach. The focus must be to teach the basics first--how to study the Bible, how to pray, how to worship, essential doctrine, etc And, as we grow, how to be a Christian family, how to find God’s will, our conduct in the work place, discovering our spiritual gifts, leadership, and so forth. Then, the deeper expressions into the faith can be explored, along with accountability, and so forth.
As our Growth Groups grow closer to God they will also dig deeper into His word. Solid Biblical teaching can take place in the home setting.

Check with your Lifegroup leader to find out what Growth Groups are meeting or how to start one of your own.

Building Relationships and Mentoring

We are called to build a network of relationships so we can build one another up in the faith through friendship and mentoring! (Fishers of men) Most people are intimidated by discipleship out of ignorance, fear, unawareness, or just not wanting to be bothered out of their “comfort zone.” The term, discipleship, has been viewed as something only for the spiritually mature, or just for certain people, such as Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders. What we need to see is Barnabus and Paul, and, later, Paul and Timothy, where the elder, more experienced Christian takes the inexperienced Christian under his wing, and helps him to become a better, deeper, more effective Christian for God’s glory. Keep in mind that Paul was highly educated and an experienced leader, and although Barnabus may have not been educated formally as Paul was, or at Paul’s level in the world, Barnabus was Paul’s superior in the experience and knowledge of the Word. Friendship, knowledge, experience combined into mentoring, and the quality of the relationship are the keys for this spiritual growth to have happened. Discipleship equals friendship with a Christ-centered focus. However, it is very important that we make disciples in His image, not ours! (Taken from article What is Discipleship? by Richard J Keicer)

When we looked at the health of Brookwood one of the things many people mentioned was that they did not feel like they had close relationships with others that attend church here. Our goal was to help in this area and one of the ways to do that was to create growth groups. The Growth Group is designed to allow a small intimate group of people to grow closer to God and each other. The main goal of the Growth Group is to build relationships. Those relationships allow us to be open and honest, or transparent with each other, in turn allowing us to grow closer to God.

Find out what Growth Groups have formed out of your lifegroup and start building relationships for God.

Growth Groups and being a Disciple of Christ

There is a lie floating around in Church's across America that says the Sunday Morning programs are all the discipleship we need. All of our growth and teaching should come on Sunday morning and that should be enough to get us through. Satan has perpatrated this lie and we are buying it. We want to break free from that lie here at Brookwood and we want to encourage people to be a disciple of Jesus, learning, growing and commiting ourselves to Him everyday.

There are three main goals of Discipleship: Relationship building or mentoring, Teaching and Service.

The Growth Groups we are trying to establish here are designed first and foremost to build relationships. These relationships that we build are what all of us need to continue to grow in our own relationship with Christ.

If you are looking for a way to grow closer to God and build relationships that are not superficial Sunday Morning ones then consider a Growth Group.

As we begin the process of growth groups starting out of our lifegroups please continue to check back to this page for a list of growth groups and what they are studying. Growth Groups are a great way for each of us to grow in two ways; 1) We grow closer to God as we study the Bible in more intimate settings with fewer people; and 2) We build relationships with a small group of people. I encourage you to join an existing growth group or start one for your lifegroup. If you are interested in starting a growth group please contact me (David) at the church office.

Current growth groups meeting:

Love and Respect: Led by James Pressley
Truth Project: Led by David Smith

February Life Group Training in the Northwest Postponed to April

The NWBC has postponed the Life Group Training in the Northwest in order to allow for more churches to participate.  The schedule as we know it is listed above.