So it’s been a few weeks
since I last penned a post here about our search for church, our exploration of Discipleship as the church’s primary mission and how to understand the best ways to accomplish that. The pilgrimage I’ve been on since we closed Lifesong’s doors two and a half years ago has continued and while searching for church, I found something else: my mission. As I’ve been blogging, I have been simultaneously conducting an experiment on the possibility of building a church in which Small groups were the primary vehicle, more essential than Sunday Morning (or Saturday Night) large group services.
In essence I’ve been slowly building a church plant toward this end. God had even granted me to work as an intern at Paragon to financially fund this endeavor.
Oddly though the experiment, while still ongoing and producing a very satisfying small group with real discipleship, is also leading me to question if pastoring a church, as much as I enjoy being a pastor, may not be the plan God has for me going forward. As I was pondering this, my wife and I were out with two of our longest lasting and fondest friends (people who also have been among my flock for more than two decades) suggested to me that I had reached a stage in my life where perhaps pastoring an individual church was not the plan God had for me. They suggested that it would be harder for me to mentor pastors if I was in any way in competition with them. Although such competition between churches should not exist, it frequently does, even if in mild ways between friends. Furthermore, God is calling me to simplify my own life as I seek to help churches simplify their missions and pastoring a church is far from simple. This is not to say I know that I will not be pastoring a church again, but as trusted and wise friends who know me well, their words resonated within me and I have been considering seriously the implications.
All this is to say, while I’m not sure what will happen with the church plant, I have found that the exploration of what makes a church has not lead to a certainty about planting a church but has lead to a refinement of the already existing vision to support, encourage, coach and mentor church pastors to achieve what they desire most, which, contrary to popular opinion, is not a large church ,but rather a disciple making church. Pastors long to lead thriving communities of discipleship more than anything else, and yet instead often find themselves leading merely busy communities of believers. There are certainly worse things than this, but it is not at all the same thing.
There are many parts to this story, many exciting things which came together, and I’m sure I’ll share them all in time, but for now I just wanted to say that this refinement came at the same time that God lead me unexpectedly to a very talented group of individuals who are not only redesigning my website, but inspired me to redesign my ministry model and I’m very excited about the new direction. As my new website takes shape I will be enthusiastically sharing their name and business with you, should you also be looking for such help.
Some of these changes are happening around you as you read this blog, although the final product won’t be revealed until early next month. You’ll notice already, a new logo and a new name: Discipleship Matters. These are only reflections of a new clarity, focus and direction for what used to be called Hidden Life Church Resources. You’ll notice many more new things in coming weeks, but it’s the expanded ability to build relationships with pastors and truly help them develop effective discipleship in their churches which excites me the most.
What’s Changing?
The video above is a taste of the changes to come. This video will ultimately find its home on its own page on my site and be widely distributed to interested parties, but I offer it to you as a bonus for being a faithful follower of my blogs.
While all the conferences I’ve been doing will still be available on an ala carte basis, they are also now available as part of a customized plan that can be created for each church: A plan which not only includes these teaching resources, but also other materials and most importantly, regular coaching, and a dedicated committed prayer team all focused on matters of discipleship. All of this is available for a monthly subscription rate; three rates, actually, designed for different needs, different churches and different budgets.
So, If you know a pastor pass this video on to him after you watch it; if you are a pastor give it a look and keep your eyes open for more information to come, or contact me directly and we can see if I can be of help to you right now. Together we can come up with a customized plan to answer the questions posed in the video and more, all at a realistic budget for your church. It’s tough being a pastor and it’s hard to find help from someone who isn’t in competition with you or evaluating you as an employee. I will do neither but only desire to help you achieve your desires to glorify God with a thriving community of discipleship. Please contact me if this video speaks to you.
Next week, I’ll give you all a taste of the possible resources as we discuss “How to build GRACE groups” This is one of the lessons in my Small Group Training for Leaders which I offer churches as part of the subscription, and you get to see it for free to use as you wish. It also dovetails with our “searching for church series” nicely, so any of you who have been following this series will find it interesting and useful as well.
I have a dream of seeing thousands of new thriving discipleship communities across this country. Together we can make this happen. I’m reignited with hope for what God can do through such communities discipling as He designed and called us to disciple. I am thrilled and humbled with expectation that my place is to help serve those who serve these communities.
Smiling at the future,
David (pastormac) Megill