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Allen Kleine Deters
I am the church planter for the Niagara Falls, ON church plant yet to be named. I am married to an amazing woman full of compassion for the marginalized hence she is a special ed teacher of severe needs children. We have three boys (men) and one daughter-in-law. I am committed to Kingdom Theology and deeply believe in a biblical community that develops disciples for Christ. I am a small group geek and believe they are the best avenue in this endeavor. When managed with vision and mission small groups can cover most areas needed in developing as disciples of Jesus Christ and guiding people to live in missional communities.
Oh yeah, I'm also "The Reverend" formerly of the blues band, Reverend and the Blues Pushers, but now playing solo in my new parish community.
"Agape love alive and breathing, the Word and the power of Holy Spirit = reached people and changed lives"
Posted in: The Organ and the Praise Team
Some good thoughts and ideas for transitioning and the use of organ. I have a wonderful organist in my church who is 83 and is commited to the transition. She is innovative and willing to stay in the back by padding and playing bass notes with the organ then piping in with some accents during other verses. Other times she sits at the keyboard.
The truth is that most contemporary music is not organ friendly, especially guitar led pieces.
Posted in: Media Workshop
We use Easy Worship which is more affordable than Song Show Plus. EW allows you to also import video, DVD, and Power Point if you put sermon notes on like I do. It is versatile and is specifically designed to use for worship. Media Shout works well too.
You are looking for something data base driven so once you import a song either from CCLI Song Select or type one in yourself, it is forever there and you just have to drag and drop it into your order of service.
Posted in: Preparation for Ordination Interview
Greg,
I've sat through and been a part of a number of ministry associate candidacy exams and found them to be nearly as difficult as as MDiv candidacy exam. Generally if you're solid on personal spiritual practice, Reformed Theology, the key parts of scripture and some wise practical knowledge and understanding of ministry and the denominational stances on issues, you'll be all set.
All the best.
Posted in: Sermon Study Group
Mike,
Sorry for getting to this so late. The forums were incredibly slow for awhile so I haven't been back for awhile.
To answer your question. Yes, we do sermon-based small groups. Larry Osborne's book, "Sticky Church" is a big help here. But the truth is the pastor is the one who knows the best questions to ask. I tend to write out questions as I'm prepping and studying a sermon -- especially questions that would take people further into the text and especially particular to personal life application.
Another source that I frequent is the Serendipity Bible which is the small group leaders' best friend. It has good discussion questions for every pericope in the bible. Get one -- you won't be disappointed. I use it to fill in gaps for each lesson. And since I do a lot of my sermon study on Logos 4 I can make the handouts for discussion right there with the "handouts" app.
Works great.
Hope that helps.
Allen
Posted in: Discipleship Small Group
WOW, how did it take me this long to read this post? My apologies livingcrc.
If you read my blogs in this section of the CRC Network, you will certainly find that I believe very strongly that the the primary calling of the church is to make disciples who partner with God in his mission to redeem the world. Of course the primary calling of the pastor is to equip the saints to works of ministry. But as a pastor I very much believe that part of the equipping is discipling others. But of course we must all primarily work within our giftings, that is to say discipling another person(s) may not be our passion, but it is still a calling for all Christians.
I am always mentoring one or two people at different levels in their discipleship journey. I believe that every small group plays a part in the discipling process for every member in the congregation because everyone must be a disciple. Too many people are locked into a "Bible Study" and know a lot about the Bible but have never lead someone to Christ nor ventured into serving outside of their comfort zone or the four walls of the church. I do not believe that is partnering in the mission of God. So yes, I am out their doing it and modeling it for my congregation.... as best I can.
BTW, did those elders get the groups going? Be sure to look at the resources on the small group page here for articles on starting groups, coaching leaders etc.
Let me know if there is a particular resource you are looking for.
Posted in: Discipleship Small Group
Fernando,
I have not yet received anything from you via email. Have you sent it?
Posted in: Discipleship Small Group
Certainly. Now that I am a Network guide, I will check it a number of times during the week.
:-)
Posted in: Discipleship Small Group
Fernando,
I have the draft and am working my way through it. I will get back to you.
Allen
Posted in: Synod Webcast - Input?
I'd like to see a link where you can go and watch the proceedings while a chat window is on the side. I've been able to attend online conferences like that. On one I logged in via my Twitter account and another I had a special registration sign in. Nonetheless, we had some great discussion happening while the speakers were on ... something you can't do when you're at the event listening, but would sure like to.
Posted in: Using Skype to Communicate
I've been thinking about something like this for our church too. It would come in handy sometimes especially with our missionaries in Zambia and Nigeria and elsewhere.
What type of webcam is best? Or should I ask, if even the cheap $20 webcams work well?
Posted in: Synod Webcast - Input?
I appreciated it. But you're right, some folks were a bit inappropriate at times.
Posted in: Small Group Ministry in the CRC
"2. Don't fix what ain't broke --> usually, established churches already have men's groups, women's groups, bible studies, prayer groups, etc. Instead of replacing those for people, recognize that they work and grandfather them into the small group structure. Start calling all your bible studies small groups; call your worship teams small groups; then encourage them to act like small groups and work unconnected people into new groups.
What's your take on this?"
I don't think this is valid at all. Just the amount of groups you've listed show that the church is just too busy for small groups to be effective.
We've begun a visioning process here and already we are looking at how to simplify to make disciples. I am convinced that many church systems inherently keep people from actually becoming disciples even though they have lots of what they call disipleship ministries.
I think we talked about this during our coaching times, that churches need to have a structure for growing disciples that actually works. Business kills it. If the small group doesn't take you to deeper personal application and hold you accountable to these new commitments then chuck 'em. Keep it simple so people can actually be involved without feeling guilty.
You know what I mean?