Don’t forget about the prayer walk that will be kicking off our Crossover 245 event this Saturday, June 20. Everyone will meet at Thomas Nelson High School on HWY 245 at 2pm and disburse to neighborhoods after that.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 

If you have been around church for any length of time, you have heard this text read, preached and taught. That was the case for me as I was pretty much raised in church. I do not remember a time growing up where my family was not at a minimum of Sunday morning worship attenders. I have heard countless sermons and Sunday School lessons about these verses in my lifetime and even memorized them early on. Each church I have been part of throughout my entire life seemed to focus on the importance of going and sharing the gospel with others everywhere.

As I grew older, God began calling me into the pastoral ministry.  God surrounded me with great men to learn from; my pastor, other preachers, seminary professors and so on. These same scriptures were a focal point and the message was still the same; go and share the gospel everywhere.

Eyes Opened

I began pastoring at River View Baptist Church in Cox’s Creek, KY in 2006. The church was a smaller church of around 150 in attendance. I knew this was a very established church with many traditions much like every church I had been in since my youth. The church was founded in the late 1890’s and there is a picture of a man hitching his horse to a post in front of the church. Now that is pretty established! I also learned that the people of River View were an extremely loving people. However, I did noticed that the same people were serving in many different positions and there were no “Paul-Timothy” relationships. None in leadership seemed to be interested in raising up new leaders.  Again, this was not much different than what I noticed in other churches. God helped me see that this was one area that needed to change not only in River View, but also in my own life. I was not personally investing in one person through a discipleship ministry like Jesus did. I was not following His example. So I asked God to open my eyes and answer the questions: how, who, and when to start a discipleship ministry.

I began reading the Bible purposely looking for discipleship relationships and obviously started with Jesus. I also picked up some books on discipleship and the next step in the discipleship journey became very clear. In this study, a few eye opening moments occurred. One, the Great Commission, does not say go and evangelize. The actual four commands from Jesus are go, make disciples, baptize, and teach. The two words in bold are what God highlighted in my heart. My immediate prayer, “Lord, how did I miss this all these years?” One cannot make disciples without evangelism, but one can lead someone to Christ without taking the time to help make them a disciple.

Second, in John 17:4 Jesus says “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” When reading this in context, all of John 17 is Jesus praying to His Father regarding Himself, His disciples, and those who will believe in the gospel through His disciples’ words. These words were prayed by Jesus before He went to the cross, so how could He have already finished the work God that gave Him to do? It became clear that some of the work which God gave Jesus to do involved making disciples.

Third, in Second Timothy 2:2 Paul writes to Timothy, “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” That’s it! People discipled Paul and he shared with others what God had shown him, and they were to share with others. By examining Jesus with His disciples, Paul with Timothy and others, along with various other examples, God made it clear to me in regards to how to make disciples.

Through God’s word, the answer of who needs to be in this first discipleship group at River View and when to start were revealed to me. In the Gospel of Mark, it states that Jesus prayed all night long before choosing His disciples, so I began praying about who God was raising up. God lead me to some men and women in the church to approach about being discipled. As pastor, I knew women needed to be involved in this initial group if other women were going to be discipled. I knew that the discipleship groups at church must be gender specific, but in order to get started we needed women in this first group. When should we start? The obvious answer was NOW!

Implementation

As I mentioned earlier, I picked up some books on discipleship as well. They were all very informative but three books stand out because they closely examined how Jesus made disciples and then demonstrated what it might look like in a church.

Growing Up by Robby Gallaty

Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman

Real Discipleship by Jim Putman

After God made it clear about who should be in the first discipleship group at River View, the Growing Up book was purchased and given to each one. The expectations were made clear up front that each person was expected to go through this initial training and then walk a group of five or less through a discipleship plan for a minimum of six months. We walked through each chapter of the book over a thirteen week period and met weekly to discuss. The group also memorized scripture from each chapter of the book and prayed for one another. Once this initial training was complete each one was encouraged either to join up with someone else from this current group and begin praying about whom God was raising up to be in their group or after praying lead their own group.

What does a D-Group look like? Each week multiple gender specific groups of five or less meet for two hours or more. The meeting places vary from church, homes, and restaurants. They go through discipleship material provided free of charge by the church Robby Gallaty pastors, Brainerd Baptist Church in Chattanooga, TN. The material is on the church website and it is what their church developed and utilizes. The material covers such topics as assurance of salvation, a follower’s identity in Christ, developing a daily quiet time, prayer, God’s word, overcoming sin, and much more. Each person is given scripture to read daily and a verse to memorize each week. During the meeting, lessons from the reading or handouts are shared and each one holds the other accountable. During the week, each member of the group is encouraged to pray for each other and stay in contact before the next meeting to encourage one another.

The Results (So far)

The River View church family is now on its second round of D-Groups not including the initial group. A total of 32 people are involved in D-Groups. The church has averaged 80 people in Sunday School for many years. Multiple strategies had been attempted to increase the average attendance. After implementing the D-Groups less than a year ago, the Sunday School average is now around 94 and going over 100 in attendance is becoming a regular monthly occurrence. Worship attendance has increased and there are new visitors each week. Fewer people are serving in multiple roles since more people are becoming spiritually mature and serving with the spiritual gifts and talents God has given them. More men are now willing to be called on to pray during worship services. More people are now sharing their testimonies and the gospel than before. People are even sharing their testimonies of how Christ has changed their lives during the worship services.

As a pastor, I am very excited to see what God is doing and going to do through the discipleship ministry in the River View church family and in me. We are now being obedient in the area of making disciples and not just evangelizing people. It has been a much needed journey for me and the church family, and I have made a commitment to God that I will make disciples and lead others to make disciples until He comes to take me home!

Chad Morrow has been a pastor for 17 years and in that time pastored two churches. He has been the pastor of River View Baptist Church going on 9 years. He has been married to his high school sweetheart Krystal for 21 years and they have two children, Austin & Meagan.

By: Mike Nalley

Recently I read an article written by the pastor of Boston Christian Church, Bro. Mike Bradford, “Finding Treasure in Small Churches.”  While I might not agree with him on everything theologically; I found myself nodding in agreement as I read his article.  He made a statement in this article that I absolutely love:

“In the small churches you are needed.  You are needed now more than ever.”

There is gold to be found in our small churches: 

• A small church is a place of love,  where new people are quickly invited into the fold and welcomed as family. 
• A small church is a house of prayer.  We all come together to pray for one another and to pray for our friends and our family members who are in desperate need. 
• A small church is family oriented, a place where you can bring your family and not be embarrassed. 
• A small church is a place to plant your roots.  You can raise a family in a small church and teach your children the core values of the Christian faith.  Maybe your family roots grow deep in a small church.  It is a place where you came to church with your parents or grandparents and now you desire to raise children in the same environment. 

Bradford says in his article,

“I love the warmth of fellowship.  I love knowing that everyone there knows me and cares about me.  I love how newcomers are soon part of the family.”

I love the fact that when someone is absent from Sunday service, we immediately take notice and wonder if anything is wrong.  I love having fellowship meals and I look around and see everyone having a good time.  I love being taught in Sunday school by our elders and I being led in worship by the music director.  I love when we take the time between hymns to shake one another’s hand.  There is treasure in small churches and I wish everyone could experience it at least once.

There is so much in the small rural church setting that we can take joy in.  But we have to be careful in where we find our joy.  Churches everywhere take joy in many things; their large membership roll or attendance, the size of their campus, the design of their buildings, their wealth, the social status of their members, the prominence of their pastor, their influence in the community, or their zeal for a certain mission or theological cause.  Although these things may be good to a certain extent, let’s be careful in what we boast about and what we glory in.

I believe it is right and good to boast about the fellowship, the children, the love, and the concern through prayer that characterizes our churches as long as we keep all of it Gospel centered.  Paul told the Galatian church, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14 KJV).  I love that, in Mt Carmel, we have a cross right up front where everyone who walks in our doors can see it.  Paul desired to keep everything focused on Jesus.  He wanted everything to center on Him who died for us.  This is where we find our joy.

Paul, writhing to the church in Thessalonica, wanted the Thessalonians to have a church they found joy in.  But the Thessalonian church didn’t have any buildings, they met in an individual’s home.  The church there didn’t have any programs, performers, or publications.  It was not a large or wealthy church; the congregation lacked social and political influence; nor did they have a famous pastor.  They could not offer prospective converts a comfortable, entertaining environment.  In fact, this church suffered from persecutions and tribulations according to chapter 1 verse 4. 

It was a small church that offered the world nothing but the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Does that sound familiar?  Yet despite what they lacked, the apostle Paul could still write, “We always thank God for all of you, remembering you constantly in our prayers.  We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing your election, brothers loved by God.” (2 Thessalonians 1:2-4 HCSB).  Paul is telling them that he speaks proudly of them in all the churches.

Many people do not share my affection for small churches. In reality, they are leaving the small churches.  This is the greatest challenge that ministers will run into in small rural churches.  People have left the small churches around America by the thousands. Now there are numerous reasons why people are leaving small churches.  Many have left to benefit from the superior programs, offerings for youth, and larger evangelistic outreach in a bigger, better church.  Some have left because the “Old Guard” in their small church was stuck in their old ways, refusing to listen to any new ideas that came along.  Some left so they could hide in the big church, so they wouldn’t be volunteered for every job that came along.  Which unfortunately, comes from being a part of a small church. Therefore, some find the crowed auditorium of a bigger church to be a great hiding place.  And, yes, some left because they were discouraged by the near-empty pews of the little church.  Let’s face it, some left because they grew tired of the scraps, squabbles, and disagreements that sometimes take the place in smaller churches.  The list goes on.

How do we revitalize our small rural churches before their doors close?  I’m sure there have been numerous books written on the subject by greater minds than mine.  I can only speak from experience of what worked in my own ministry.  Show the people love.  More importantly, show them the love of Jesus Christ!  Too often, small rural churches are the victims of ministers who are just passing through, gaining the experience they need, to get the bigger inner-city church with the bigger budget.  People are left in the wake of the storm that hits a church after the pastor moves on.  Why don’t we try something new?  Let’s try staying and investing ourselves in our small rural churches before it is too late.  Yes, it is going to be hard work.  The people are going to want you to be there for them during every season of life.  Some of them you will have the privilege of joining together in the covenant of marriage.  You will need to be there after new children are born to your congregation members and you will lead the new parents, as well as the church, in dedicating this child to the Lord.  Many of your members will suffer from heart disease, cancer, broken marriages, rebellious children, the passing of family members, and even natural disasters. You will suffer heartbreak when you bury some of your people.  Be there for them in every hospital, correctional facility, nursing home, funeral home and love them.  Paul said in Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”  They will become your extended family.  Love them like your family!

Also, they are going to be examining your life to see if there is any evidence that you possess a deep and unshakable confidence in Jesus Christ.  Yet, many today lack confidence in the Gospel, arguing that we should speak less about our faith so that the world will be less offended.  Some look to new marketing techniques, changes in worship style, and modern management strategies, claiming that the Gospel is no longer enough to reach the new and upcoming generation.  In our rural churches we have to get back to the Gospel, “because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16 HCSB).  The Gospel is enough defeat all of the challenges that small rural churches face.  Jesus Christ has the power to totally transform lives, change hard hearts, open blinded eyes, and reveal the glory of God.  Our small churches need the Gospel now, more than ever.  We must boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And there is no Gospel except that of Jesus’s death whereby He bore our sins and our judgment.  His glorious resurrection whereby we are justified by His grace so that now we are those who have been forgiven, accepted, and adopted as God’s children. 

Yes, there are challenges that come with small rural churches.  But there is also  astonishing joy that awaits those who are lead to pastor these remarkable churches!

Mike Nalley has served as pastor of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church for the past 5 years.  He is married to Amanda and has two beautiful daughters, Christiana Rose (age 2), and Arabella Grace (age 4 months).