The goal of all our training efforts has to be, first and foremost, Christ being formed in the lives of everyone involved. That is why a small group leader's greatest asset is always a tight-knit relationship with God. Small group leaders need to learn about group dynamics, time management, delegation, multiplication, etc.; but most importantly they must be growing spiritually and helping their small group grow spiritually. This is tough work, because spiritual maturity is not a matter of mastering a few lessons to gain biblical knowledge. There is also character, habits, relationships, and vision. When I founded ChurchTeams.com, part of the original vision of this ministry was to build an Internet tool to help assess disciple-making and team-building progress and to help track the ebb and flow of spiritual growth.
Biological growth is recognized by maturity of different systems of an organism. In humans, these include the cardiovascular, skeletal, reproductive, digestive and nervous systems. Similarly, spiritual growth can be recognized by the maturity of different spiritual systems. There are many models of these systems among churches today that are very useful for patterning and tracking individual spiritual growth. However, many churches do not have a system developed or one that is easily accessible by group members and leaders.
Because of this need, ChurchTeams.com developed a system called GrowthFinder, which is designed to use the Internet as a tool to help individuals, small groups and whole congregations to see clearly how they are growing. It also gives them quick, customizable access to tools available that can help them to focus on needed areas of attention. GrowthFinder is built around a generic discipleship model. GrowthFinder uses 12 categories each within four systems for a total of 48 spiritual growth discovery subcategories. The result is a fully customizable template that helps small group leaders or pastors develop their own evaluation and tracking processes for spiritual growth and training.
Ladell Thomason is the point person for small groups and spiritual formation at North Heartland Community Church in Kansas City. The staff at the church had studied the issue of spiritual formation and knew fairly well what they wanted to see. The problem was that none of the other models quite fit who they were. When they found GrowthFinder last fall, they customized it to fit who they were, complete with customized resources, and have begun to pilot its use with their key leaders. They are going to include the development of a spiritual growth plan in their membership process and provide options for tracking and follow-up, such as a mentor, small group, spouse/friend, and automated e-mails. GrowthFinder will assist them in much of the administrative work of implementing this entire process.
The Church on Rush Creek is beginning to use the GrowthFinder tool to help identify spiritual growth areas for coaches first, then small group leaders, and finally each group member. Once identified, the coach or pastor helps the leader identify and then meet with a spiritual director once a month for six months to go over these growth goals as well as ministry goals. Using the coach area of GroupFinder, pastors and coaches track their interactions with these leaders for follow-up.
There is a huge learning curve right now in the area of training and discipleship. To learn more about GrowthFinder, check out www.churchteams.com/GrowthFinder.asp. Take the assessment (it's free!), then if you are interested in joining the growing number of churches learning together around the Churchteams tools, go to www.churchteams.com to learn more.
