Discipleship is a concept and practice that is written all over the Bible. Almost every powerful man or woman of God found time out to train and equip the next generation of leaders.
Moses discipled Joshua, Paul discipled Timothy and many others and even Jesus himself took time out to disciple the 12 (even Judas who would later betray Him). Discipleship is an essential tool for propagating the good news and growing the church.
There is no cookie-cutter method for doing discipleship and the contexts and cultures of various organizations and ministries could differ. Some work best under the G-12 format. Other churches find it works for them to do one-on-one while others prefer groups of four to five. Some do small group materials while others work on sermon-based discussions.
The results and methodologies may be different, but there are also some pitfalls that can be quite similar wherever you go. Here are four of the most common pitfalls of small group discipleship that many church leaders fall into.
Turning small groups into care groups
While accountability and transparency are helpful to discipleship, some leaders make the mistake of forcing honesty out of even the newest and shyest members. Trust is the goal of relationship-building and accountability is only a byproduct of that trust.
Making the mistake of turning a small group into a care group is a subtle mistake, but a pitfall many leaders fall into nonetheless. It puts too much emphasis on making discipleship about nurturing hurts over provoking spiritual growth and maturity.
Making Bible expertise the main goal
While discipleship does aim to teach people how to read God's Word, there should be more emphasis on teaching people to apply the Word to their daily lives.
James 1:22-23 states, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror."
Not meeting regularly
Acts 2:46 gives us a description of the routine of the early believers, saying, "And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts."
While it's almost impractical to require daily discipleship meetings, there is a high regard in God's Word for regular meetings. Nowadays, once a week meetings are good practice but it can differ according to culture.
Leaving out the fun and fellowship
Discipleship is built upon the foundation of relationships, and fellowship helps build strong and God-honoring relationships. When discipleship becomes too much about the work of ministry and business of God and too little about enjoying God's grace together, we fall into the pitfall of faulty discipleship as well.
