Life Group Leadership

 

 

The Work of a Shepherd

Scriptures that warn about shepherds:

• Isaiah 56:9-11
• Jeremiah 3:14-16
• Jeremiah 10:19-22
• Jeremiah 23:1-4
• Ezekiel 34
• Zechariah 10:1-3

Lesson 1: Psalm 23

Life group leaders are actually serving as shepherds under the shepherding ministry of the pastoral leadership (“pastor” is just another word for “shepherd”) and all under the guidance of our Great Shepherd – Jesus (John 10:1-21)! One way to approach your work of shepherding the members of your life group through the lens of Psalm 23. In this well-known psalm, David describes various ways that the Lord takes care of him:

Psalm 23 (NIV)

A psalm of David.

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Let’s break this down verse by verse:

	A psalm of David.
1	The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2	He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3	he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4	Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5	You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6	Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

This lesson and the ones that follow include questions to consider for each of your life group members. When you ask your members these questions, be sure to take notes so that you can incorporate them into your shepherding and praying for them on an ongoing basis.

Checkout the following:

• • The Bible Project – Themes: Gospel of the Kingdom (00:04:50)

Topics to explore in discussion:

• • How familiar are you with this psalm?
  • What did it mean to David to have the Lord as his shepherd?
  • What does it mean to you?

Additional resources to check out:

• • Psalm 23 Archives – Walking The Text
  • The Lord’s Prayer Archives – Walking The Text

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

• • Read Psalm 23 and think through the ways in which you experience being shepherded whether by the Lord or by the pastors in your congregation. Is anything missing? Talk to your own ministry supervisor about your own pastoral needs.
  • Think about the pastoral needs of your life group members. How are they experiencing the Lord as their shepherd? How re they experiencing you as a shepherd?
  • Are you the main, or only connection that your life group members have with the group? If so, you will eventually find yourself carrying an excessive share of the relational burden of the group. How can you make sure that the members develop strong connections with one another so that the groups overall relational burden is shared.

Habits

• • Set up a regular time to pray for your life group members, by name and by need.
  • Set up a regular time to meet with your life group members.

Lesson 2: The Lord is my shepherd

Before we explore the various ways that the Lord takes care of our life group members, let’s consider their overall experience of him as their shepherd.

Checkout the following:

• • The Bible Project – Themes: Gospel of the Kingdom (00:04:50)
  • Episode 034 – Psalm 23 Pt 1: My Savvy Shepherd – Walking The Text

Topics to explore in discussion:

• • Are your life group members experiencing the Lord as a shepherd?
  • What dreams do your life group members have?

The following 3 questions can help you discover the dreams and aspirations of your life group members. Knowing their dreams and aspirations can help you shepherd and pray for them more effectively:

1. 1. • What goals would you be setting for yourself if you knew you could not fail?
      • What dreams would you have on the drawing board if you had unlimited financial resources?
      • What plans would you be making if you had thirty years to carry them out?

• • Are your life group members praying? Do they have prayer partners? If not, how will you address this?
  • Are your life group members showing up for Sunday service? Are they showing up for life group? If not, how will you address this?

Additional resources to check out:

• • The Lord’s Prayer Archives – Walking The Text
  • You may very well have come across a variation of the “what goals would you be setting . . .” question before. It originated with Rev. Dr. Robert H. Schuller. During the course of his career, Rev. Schuller often addressed the subject of dreams and aspirations. Although we am NOT endorsing his philosophy or teaching as a whole, these questions from Chapter 2 of his 1973 book “You Can Become the Person You Want To Be” have proven to be useful and have been quoted and circulated by others.

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

• • Answer the above questions for yourself. Share your answers with your ministry supervisor.
  • Plan to discuss the above question with your life group member at your next meeting. If you don’t have a meeting scheduled, set one up.

Habits

• • Build up your own prayer life. Keep praying for your life grouup members.

Lesson 3: Green pastures

A shepherd provides his/her sheep with nutritious food to eat. The Lord provides us with what we need to sustain us, but it’s up to us to feed on what he provides.

Checkout the following:

• • Episode 035 – Psalm 23 Pt 2: Green Pastures – Walking The Text

Topics to explore in discussion:

• • Are your life group members experiencing green pastures?

Additional resources to check out:

• • ?

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

• • ?

Habits

• • ?

Lesson 4: Quiet waters

Sheep don’t like moving water. A shepherd ensures that his/her sheep have access to quiet water that they will be willing to drink and subsequently to rest.

Checkout the following:

• • Episode 036 – Psalm 23 Pt 3: Still Waters of Rest – Walking The Text

Topics to explore in discussion:

• • Are your life group members experiencing quiet waters?

Additional resources to check out:

• • ?

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

• • ?

Habits

• • ?

Lesson 5: Refreshing the  Soul, Paths of Righteousness; His Name’s Sake

Sheep can lose their way.  A shepherd retrieves lost sheep and leads them back along the proper path as the Lord’s representative. 

Checkout the following:

• • Episode 037 – Psalm 23 Pt 4: Paths of Righteousness – Walking The Text

Topics to explore in discussion:

• • Are your life group members experiencing refreshment?

Additional resources to check out:

• • ?

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

• • ?

Habits

• • ?

Lesson 6: Through the Darkest Valley

Sheep can lose their way.  A shepherd retrieves lost sheep and leads them back along the proper path as the Lord’s representative. 

Checkout the following:

• • Episode 038 – Psalm 23 Pt 5: Valley of Deep Darkness – Walking The Text

Topics to explore in discussion:

• • Are your life group members going through any dark valleys?

Additional resources to check out:

• • ?

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

• • ?

Habits

• • ?

Lesson 7: Rod and Staff

Sheep can get into trouble. A shepherd is equipped to rescue and guide an unfortunate sheep and to ward off predators.

Checkout the following:

• • Episode 039 – Psalm 23 Pt 6: Rod and Staff (and Sling) – Walking The Text

Topics to explore in discussion:

• • Do any of your life group members need rescuing?

Additional resources to check out:

• • ?

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

• • ?

Habits

• • ?

Lesson 8: Preparing a table for me; anointing my head with oil, my cup overflows,

David recognized that God is a generous host. We want to make sure that the people we shepherd are experiencing this important aspect of God’s nature.

Checkout the following:

• • Episode 040 – Psalm 23 Pt 7: A Generous Host – Walking The Text

Topics to explore in discussion:

• • Are your life group members experiencing God’s generous hospitality?

Additional resources to check out:

• • ?

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

• • ?

Habits

• • ?

Lesson 9: Pursued by goodness and love

A shepherd looks out for what might be following the flock. David recognized that God caused goodness and mercy to pursue him. We need to be aware of what is pursuing the people we shepherd.

Checkout the following:

• • Episode 041 – Psalm 23 Pt 8: They’re Chasing Me – Walking The Text

Topics to explore in discussion:

• • What is pursuing your life group members?

Additional resources to check out:

• • ?

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

• • ?

Habits

• • ?

Lesson 10: Permanent home in the Lord’s house

David recognized that God is a generous host. We want to make sure that the people we shepherd are experiencing this important aspect of God’s nature.

Checkout the following:

• • Episode 042 – Psalm 23 Pt 9: Practicing God’s Presence – Walking The Text

Topics to explore in discussion:

• • Are your life group members experiencing quiet waters?

Additional resources to check out:

• • ?

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

• • ?

Habits

• • ?

Putting Psalm 23 To Work

As you pastor your life group members, take some time to think about each member and prayerfully reflect on each of these benefits that the Lord is trying to accomplish in his/her life. How can you cooperate with what God is doing in each of these areas?

Psalm 23 Resources

Please check out the following resources:

• Psalm 23 Archives – Walking The Text

Teaching

Life group leaders must be prepared to teach.

• 2 Timothy 2:1-2 – Teaching someone to teach someone else to teach
• Titus 2:1-5 – Teaching various groups
• Hebrews 5:11 – 6:3 – “You ought to be teachers”

Teaching means more than just encouraging.

• You will need to plan what you want your disciple to learn.
• Life is busy – you will need to take advantage of teachable moments:
• At any moment you have choices:
  • Find out what dreams and/or fears your disciple has.
  • Find out how life is treating your disciple.
  • Offer feedback
  • Reinforce an old concept.
  • Introduce some new concept.

• You will make mistakes:
  • Consider the Parable of the Minas: Luke 19:11-27
    • A mina is worth 3 months wages.
    • Spoken to a general audience.
  • Consider the Parable of the Talents: Matthew 25:14-30
    • A talent is worth 60 minas – 15 years wages.
    • Spoken only to the disciples.
  • Don’t let your fear of mistakes keep you from obeying God.
  • Teach your life group members how to be faithful in their allegiance to Jesus and to God’s Kingdom. Teach them to teach others to do the same.
  • You have two choices:
    • Make mistakes while you are trying to do God’s will.
    • Make mistakes while you resist doing God’s will.

Life Group Meetings

You can read more about life group meetings on our Life Group Meetings page.

Life Group Goals

We have goals for both life group members and life group leaders. You can read more about them on our Life Group Goals page.

Revisions

05/31/2012 – Created.

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