Discipleship in Small Group

Pastor Eddy Leo
LEAD2015 Leadership Stream 1, 04/06/2015

Jesus told us he gave us a new commandment to love one another. Not just to love somebody but one another. Discipleship must take part in a small group setting.

Pastor Eddy saw the decline of many small group movements, including the cell church and G12. He realized there is a need to re-learn. He found out that the church has lost the purpose and the substance.

1         The Eternal Purpose of God

This is God’s purpose set before the beginning and will continue until the end.

Some people think it’s evangelism. But evangelism was needed after the sin came into the world. And after Jesus comes, there is no more need for evangelism. Evangelism is important but it must be connected to an eternal purpose.

In the beginning, there was only God. What was he doing then? This has something to do with the eternal purpose. God was not busy before creation. Our God is a three-person God.

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. (John 14:10)

God the Father and Jesus dwell in one another. They love one another. God to made a radical decision.

that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. (Ephesians 3:3)

Adam walked with God; Moses spoke with God, Noah built the ark, David was after God’s heart but they did not know this mystery. If the church is not built according to this mystery, it has no apostolic and prophetic foundation.

according to his eternal purpose (Ephesians 3:11a)

We should read the previous chapters. Chapter 2 explains the eternal purposes. We love verses 1 to 10. We read that we are saved through faith. Why God wants to save us? It is not just about going to heaven.

We read from verse 11 to 22, we read that God’s purpose is to have a dwelling place.

2         They Mystery of Christ Revealed

God’s dwelling place is the church and it is symbolized by 3 metaphors:

1. The Body of Christ (Eph 2:11-17)
2. Family of God (Father) Eph 2:18-19
3. Temple of the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:21-22)

A church is a community. Communitas came from 2 words, Cum (together), munus (gifts). A community is then a group of people giving gifts to one another.

Some Cell Groups have Dracula members, they suck the blessings / blood from the Cell Leaders. We need to kill the Dracula spirit today.

We cannot practice the 3 metaphors without one another.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (Colossians 3:15, 16)

The basic unit of the church must be small enough to teach one another. It’s not practical to teach one another in a congregational setting. In the Cell Group, we sing together, we do not sing to one another. This is the lifestyle of the trinity.

3         What is the Cell of the Fullness of Christ?

The body is the fullness of Christ.

The body and the head need one another. The body need the life flown from the head. The function of the body is the expression of the head. Standing, walking, siting, are all done by the body.

The goal of the CG is to become the Corporate Christ. We often emphasize on the personal Chriat.

• Head – The invisible control centre
• Brain – Father
• Mind – Word
• Spirit – Holy Spirit

The Trinity God is the invisible control centre.

Christ (for the Trinity God) could only be fully expressed if all the body member are fully connected with Christ (the Head) and fully functional.T

4         The Fullness of God

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. (1 Cor 12:4-6)

The Holy Spirit distributes the 9 spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12). Exercise them if we want to see the Holy Spirit in the CG. Practice the 5-fold ministries of Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 4:7-12) if we want to see Him in the CG. God the Father also dwells in the CG. He backs up the ministries of the Son by giving the 7 motivational gifts (abilities / energies, in Romans 12.)

5         The Maximum Cell

We are not the house fully because we are just a part of the house. We become the house when we are built together. The goal is to have the fullness of God. To build the house, we need 3 elements

5.1         5 Works to build the body of Christ

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (Ephesians 4:11-12)

To build a stone house, we need to

• Get material (stones) – evangelism. Find stones and transform them into living stones. They are just a pile of stones but they are not house yet. God cannot dwell among them. They can sing, and jump and pay tithes but they are in irregular form. Some are long-faced, some are sharp and rough. Although we are reborn, we still react based on the nature of our old self.
• We need to knock and chisel them so that they take the form of the Chief Cornerstone. This is teaching and discipleship. Some stones refused to be worked on (to be taught), and the roll from one house to another. If they are not planted into a house, they cannot grow. Some stones are so hard we call them flint stones.
• The stones need to be put together and care for one another. We apply cement to connect them. They have relationship with one another. Fellowship means giving to one another. This is the pastoral
• And we need to place the right stone at the right place. To do that, we need to read the blueprint. This is the work of the apostle. Pastor Eddy’s CG spend 5 minutes to explain the apostolic mission. Each one must give something, each one must take part. If we do not give the blueprint, the cell members will take the cell group in their own way.
  What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. (1 Cor 14:26)
• Lastly, we need quality control through the prophetic The prophetic ministry will confirm whether the CG is working according to the apostolic blueprint. If it is, the prophetic ministry will affirm it (edification), otherwise, it will correct it (exhortation.) The prophetic ministry also has a third function to comfort us so we can continue.

Building the house of God is not easy. There are chaos. When we renovate a house, it’s messy and dusty. When we build a CG, it’s like that.

5.2         7 Skills / Abilities from God the Father

To do the 5 works, we need the 7 skills / abilities from God the Father. We need the workers.

• Doing the work
  • Leading (apostolic leaders)
  • Prophesying (more prophetic than others but not necessarily a prophet)
  • Showing mercy (more pastoral than others.)
  • Teaching (facilitate teaching.)
  • Encouraging (like Barnabas, most suitable for evangelism work.)
• Supporting the work
  • Giving
  • Serving

5.3         9 Tools from the Holy Spirit

We then need tools.

• Supernatural Detection Tool
  • Discernment (what kind of spirit is working)
  • Gift of knowledge (reveals the cause)
  • Word of Wisdom (shows the way out)
• Supernatural Power Tool
  • Gift of Faith
  • Gift of Healings (not just physical body, but also marriages and businesses)
  • Gift of Miracles
• Communication Gifts
  The workers need to talk to one another and to get explanation to the architect (Jesus), to get more resources from the owner (God the Father) or to report faulty tools to the contractor (the Holy Spirit)
  • Tongues
  • Interpretation of Tongues
  • Prophesy (God talks to us)