Moving people to become everyday missionaries is the goal of an intentional four-step discipleship growth process at Greenwood Baptist Church, Florence, where 50 percent of the active membership has engaged the process and another 20 are expected to engage it this fall.
Pastor Mike Gay, Greenwood Baptist Church“When I came to this church 12 years ago, it was an older congregation,” said pastor Mike Gay. “Now we are a younger congregation; a strong missions-minded church with a motivation to do things beyond the walls of the church and into the community.” He credits the church’s focus on spiritual growth.
Gay said it is intentionality that drives the discipleship growth process. “We have modified the Saddleback (Community Church, Lake Forest, Calif.) material to fit our church,” Gay said. “We are convinced that learning does not produce spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is produced by the incorporation of truth into lifestyle. We have found people want to incorporate truth and they want to live changed lives, but they just don’t know how to do it. We take away the guilt, confessing that we all take steps backward, and that has proved to be very helpful to our people.”
As people engage the process, they begin with Step One, which is an introduction to Jesus and Greenwood Baptist Church. “We couldn’t start the process until we, as a church, came to an agreement about this first important step. No other church can write the material for this step because it’s about our church history, how we are organized, how we do business, and what we believe is both essential and non-essential. It really caused us to think and work together.” Step One is a two-week course with two, two-hour sessions.
Step Two in the process helps believers understand Christian habits like Bible Study, prayer, fellowship with believers, tithing, and service through spiritual gifts. “We get to a point at the end of this step when we take about a three-month break before the final two classes,” Gay said. “We want people to incorporate and reflect; then we invite them back to find out where they are in the journey. We ask them, ‘What disciplines do you need to move forward?’ From that, we’ve learned that people are looking for solitude and silence. So, this fall, in Step Two, we will talk about solitude and silence as a Christian habit.” Step Two, Gay said, takes about one year to complete. He estimates 50 percent of the church’s active membership has progressed through Step Two.
In Step Three, believers learn how “they were created and gifted, naturally and spiritually,” Gay said. “We use a blend of Saddleback and other resources here. This step helps people discover spiritual giftedness and to take risks. It involves a counseling session afterwards on how to incorporate giftedness into the lifestyle.” It’s in Step Three that the small groups get smaller – down to 10-15 people maximum. Group members hear about ministry opportunity within the church, but also hear from other ministries that exist within the community. “A person doesn’t wait on this step to engage ministry; we have people who get to this place in the process and are already involved,” Gay said. “This step helps people discover options for service based on spiritual giftedness. Some will want to take a step back from current service and start over.”
Step Four is available, Gay said, but no one has moved there because the overall process has only existed for three semesters. “Around here, we say that ‘everyone is a missionary’ not ‘everyone is a minister.’ This step is when you fine-tune your personalized ministry; where you sense that calling from God to serve with passion in your own mission field. This is where personal ministry becomes part of your 24/7 life.”
Gay said, “We want people to explore accountability and incorporating truth into their lives. For a long time we were wrong, believing that ‘learning truth’ leads to ‘living truth.'”
Already, there are success stories. Gay said, “Through Men’s Fraternity, we have seen our men step up and take leadership in our church. The men have gotten involved in Awana and it’s one of our stronger ministries, reaching children in our community we’ve never reached before.”
Henry Simmons, director of missions, Florence Association said, “Mike has done an outstanding job at Greenwood. The church did future planning a number of years ago and has intentionally embraced an outward focus. The church has moved toward an intentional pathway for discipleship. As director of missions, I can see the development of disciples and the positive impact that it is having on church members. I am looking forward to seeing the fruit that is to come.” – SCBC