New Wine Leadership 2012 -part 3

 Alan  now moved onto suggest a way forward  I have captured the bits that spoke most to me but it was a really interesting session


Firstly he said we need to focus on discipleship because if we fail in discipleship we fail everywhere. (-"if we dont make disciples we cant grow 
movements" ) Alan suggested the church in the west is generally not good at this but it is important because discipleship is the way we show people what God is like "If you hold to my teaching,you will know truth and truth shall set you free"
Christian leaders therefore need to raise the bar on discipleship and lower the bar on ecclesiology as if we don't disciple are leadership is not Christ like - because Jesus did disciple.

HIrsch then went onto suggest one or two ways we might do this including setting up small groups with this intent. Alan  spoke specifically about acting our way into a new way of thinking 
Alan finished by describing an example of a group he knows that uses  an acronym


BELLS as a focus for action 
They
Bless x 3 – Everyone in the community has to do three acts of blessing a week, how and why they do it is entirely up to them.
One to a person inside the community of faith
One to a person outside of the community of faith
One to either side
Eat x 3 – You’re going to eat with people at least three times.
One to a person inside the community of faith
One to a person outside of the community of faith
One to either side
Listen 1 hour/week – One hour a week of contemplative prayer, just listening to God.
Learning reading each week:
1 Gospel
1 Other Book of the Bible
1 Other Book – Doesn’t matter what kind of book, but it has to be a good book, the best you can find in any given category.
Sense – Everyone in the community spends at least 10 minutes reflecting on their day, answering 2 questions:
Where did I work with Jesus today?
Where did I resist Jesus today?

I think this would be difficult to do in a large group but very possible in a small grouo. If we were  committed itself to this kind of accountabilty and intentional discipleship we  should really grow in Christ

I am attracted by the idea!