Sometimes I just want to give up. Ever felt that way? I suppose most of us have at some point. In the thick of a day full of drudgery, slow-going, and a general sense of spinning our wheels, we all fantasize about checking out of what we are doing and checking into a beach-side resort and taking a nap in a hammock for about 30 years. OK, so that is my fantasy, but you get the point. We all hit those times when we wonder if it is all worth it.
I think I hit these times most often when it seems like I am not making any progress, when my best efforts are for naught. At least they appear to be. At a very minimum, my efforts are not producing anything that meets my expectations. So what am I expecting? I have been thinking about that question a great deal lately. What am I really expecting? Are my expectations reasonable? Honestly, I expect results: instant, immediate, awe-inspiring results. If I do something then I should see something happen. Now! If I don’t, then I am just spinning my wheels. Funny. That’s pretty crazy. Life doesn’t work that way, and yet it is the expectation I have. Where did it come from? I suppose I have picked it up from the culture around me, a culture that pushes for results, big ones, and the sooner the better. Every now and again, I smack into life and recognize that my expectations don’t match reality. I have found this to be no truer than in working with people.
Let’s face it. People are complex beings. They don’t have switches that we can flip that change them from thinking “A” to thinking “B.” We just don’t work that way. Isn’t that how we approach people? Isn’t that how we approach them in our churches, in our discipling relationships? Think about it. Last week I wrote about investing in people, a form of discipleship. We invest in people so that they can grow into the people God intends them to be, people who look and act like Jesus. How do we expect that to happen? How long does it take? If you looked at the way we speak to people, you would think it happens over night. “Just take these five steps.” “Just change your mind so that you have this attitude.” “If you will claim these two promises, your life will change.” Funny, how elusive that life-change seems to be in my life. In the lives of others I am investing in.
When I am investing in others, I want to see life-change. Yesterday. “Why do you keep doing that? Can’t you quit already?” Actually, no. They can’t. Not yet. Change takes time. Real, deep, authentic life-change takes time. It takes time because change doesn’t start on the outside. It starts on the inside, in the heart, and has to work its way out. This truth has implications for how we invest in people. Investment can’t be something we do in passing, nor can it be something we do over a brief period of time. Investing in others for the purpose of helping them become like Christ is a long-haul process. It is something we can’t do with a lot of people expecting big results. It is something we do with a few people and expect incremental results. You know, when you hang in there and don’t give up, change happens.
Just yesterday I was encouraged that change, real, lasting change is possible. One of the methods I use to invest in people is something called Life Transformation Groups (LTG’s). Basically, a LTG is a group of three people who invest in one another over a one to two year period of time. Long-haul kind of stuff. It is slow going with a lot of highs and lows. Sometimes we want to give up. But, we hang in there. It pays off. One of my former LTG members came up to me yesterday and with great enthusiasm told me about a group he is leading. What made it extra special was that I met one of the members of that group in the hall and he expressed in no uncertain terms how God was working in his life. In one day I saw the dividends of long-haul investment. I saw life-change in my friend and the life-change that was happening in the life of one in whom he was investing. I walked away praising God, thanking Him for the grace to hang in there for the long-haul.
So, if you are wrestling with not giving up, hang in there. Keep investing. It pays off in the long-haul. Also, if you are interesting in seeing what I do in an LTG, I have included an explanation of what I do below. Keep reading and see if it might work for you. Whatever you do, just keep investing in others.
A fellow traveler,
Blake
Spiritual Formation Pastor
Life Transformation Groups
Browncroft Community Church
What is a Life Transformation Group?
A Life Transformation Group (LTG), is a group of 3-4 persons who covenant to walk together in relationships of mutual submission for a period of 12-18 months. The purpose of this group is to facilitate the experience of radical transformation by the Holy Spirit within the context of community.
What are the principles that guide a Life Transformation Group?
- The guiding principle of all LTG’s is the truth that transformation is the work of God through the Holy Spirit, and that this transformation is best facilitated within the context of a small community of no more than 3-4 persons who walk together in relationships marked by honesty, integrity, encouragement, mutual submission, and vulnerability. (Ephesians 4.14-16; Philippians 2.12-13; Romans 12.1-8)
Transformation is God’s work, but we participate with God through the practice of spiritual disciplines (Phil. 2.12-13). These disciplines are not designed to get God’s attention but facilitate the process of God getting our attention (Psalm 46.10).- Transformation is God’s work, a work that is facilitated by the exchanging of false narratives for true narratives. These narratives inform our most fundamental understandings of God, the world, and ourselves. These narratives are changed as we learn basic truths about God and allow God to drill these truths down into our soul and work them out in our thoughts and actions (Romans 12.1-2; 2 Timothy 3.16-17).
- Transformation is God’s work, a work that is facilitated as we learn to behave differently. As we act differently, we see the validity of God’s truth, walking as Jesus did and experiencing God’s promises and presence. This experience leads to a retraining of how we think thus shaping what we believe (1 John 2.6; Psalm 37.4; Matthew 5.1-12). We learn to live differently through relationships marked by accountability and the experience of God’s grace which empowers us to live a transformed life (Galatians 2.15-21; James 5.19-20).
How does a Life Transformation Group work?
- A Life Transformation Group is formed through the initiation of a single individual, preferably one who has participated in a Life Transformation Group.
- The group initiator looks for persons with whom to walk and personally invites them.
i. Inviting
1. Initiator prays for God to reveal future LTG participants
2. Initiator looks for persons whom display a spiritual velocity, integrity, and firm commitment. These persons need not be long-term believers.
3. An initiator avoids choosing people based upon perceived influence or importance. They never invite persons who have requested to be part of an LTG as the motives for such requests are almost always impure to some degree. Rather, the initiator prays for these people that they would be invited by another.
4. The one initiating draws individuals aside and personally invites them to join an LTG.
a. Explain that God has led them to the person and why.
b. Explain the commitments to the group.
c. Explain the covenant requirements.
d. Request a response within 2 weeks. Do not take immediate responses but ask that the person pray first.
ii. Starting
1. The initiator should wait to start the group until all participants have agreed. He or she may meet to pray with a fellow participant that the final participant would agree.
2. Agree upon a common time and place to meet.
3. Draw up a schedule that accounts for vacations and work related travel.
4. Exchange phone numbers, email addresses, and all other pertinent contact information. Be sure to note the preferred method of contact for each individual.
- Group meetings occur weekly and last for at least 90 minutes.
- LTG’s meet at a mutually agreed upon location. Third places (coffee shops, cafés, etc.) offer an easy place and often provide the opportunity to build evangelistic relationships.
- LTG participants do not meet or meet and do not engage in a study unless all participants are present.
- When meeting, participants only go as far as each person is prepared. If a participant is not prepared, the group stops at this point and picks up at this point with the next meeting.
- Participants strive to maintain a balance between progressing through materials and recognizing individual needs. Normally, groups cover one topic per session. However, groups should consider remaining on a topic until each participant feels they have a basic understanding and are ready to move forward.
- Groups press down leadership. The group initiator should lead the first 2-3 sessions, but then the leadership mantle is shared with each participant leading in rotation.
- LTG participants are ruthless about application each and every time they meet. Because the bulk of their time together is spent focusing on core truths, participants recognize the temptation to give mental assent to doctrine or view knowledge acquisition as the primary goal. The group recognizes that they have not fully grasped these truths until they have sought application in their lives. Participants drive to application each meeting realizing the fallacy of a “try harder” approach. Participants understand that application is best sought through prayer, the practice of the disciplines and through mutual encouragement and accountability.
- Scripture memory is a vital part of each LTG meeting. Scripture memory provides an important means for pressing truth into the deepest part of one’s soul. Therefore, group participants memorize Scripture for each meeting and hold one another accountable for such memorization. They also seek to develop a mutually agreed upon practice for reviewing these Scriptures.
- Group participants call and meet between LTG meetings. They understand that community cannot be built just around a study but it is best developed as participants seek to share life together in other formats and contexts.
- Life Transformation Group meetings follow a set path that covers core truths in both a systematic and narrative manner.
- Materials
i. Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden
ii. Prodigal God by Tim Keller
iii. Forgotten God by Francis Chan
iv. Crazy Love by Francis Chan
v. Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith
- Path
i. Discipleship Essentials (Chapters 1-10)
ii. Prodigal God (1 session)
iii. Discipleship Essentials (Chapters 11-14)
iv. Forgotten God (1 session)
v. Discipleship Essentials (Chapters 15-17)
vi. Crazy Love (1 session)
vii. Discipleship Essentials (Chapters 18-25)
viii. Good and Beautiful God (9 sessions)
- Life Transformation Groups maintain a hard ending point.
- When a LTG has completed all the materials they end and cease to meet as a group. This usually occurs around the 12-18 month mark. The desire to continue as a group will be strong, but participants recognize this as the natural tendency of people to become inward focused. Rather, in a disciplined manner, participants turn their focus outward in keeping with Jesus’ command to make disciples.
- Each participant seeks to form a new LTG within 30 days. Participants recognize that the likelihood of continuing the chain of discipleship drastically drops if they allow a lull between groups. In order to begin a new LTG within 30 days, participants should begin the process of forming a new group within 60-90 days of the ending of their present LTG.
What makes up the basis for a Life Transformation Group covenant?
- The basic covenant used by many LTG’s can be found the Discipleship Essentials book on page 14. However, a LTG may decide to draw up its own covenant. In so doing, participants should seek to maintain the following elements in their own covenant at a minimum.
- Relationships of mutual submission that lead to climate of honesty and vulnerability
- Submission to the work of the Holy Spirit
- Agreement to complete all assignments and to participate fully each meeting
- Agreement to continuing the discipleship chain