How To Lead Transformational Gatherings

Where should church leaders focus their attention?

One of the main responsibilities that Laura and I have is to travel to our various churches in different cities to see our leaders and encourage them in the mission together. Most often, we do this by joining them for our Sunday gatherings. These gatherings take a wide variety of shapes and formats, some as small as five people in a house, others as large as several hundred in a rented venue. Common to all of them is the preaching of the Word (from our Daily Devos), worship, and, in most cases, sharing a meal together.

A Framework for Our Gatherings

Regardless of the format or size, I’ve often found myself asking, “When we gather together, what should we seek to accomplish from a leadership standpoint?” Of course, the central objective of the gathering of the church is to glorify God. But what should we seek to accomplish together in the body of Christ when we gather?

This is a serious question because, if we can’t answer it clearly, the natural inertia of a gathering is to drift toward larger, more sophisticated, and more time-consuming events that attract larger and larger crowds. This carries the added danger of feeding the egos of those leading the gatherings by equating praise from people with success in ministry.

Alternatively, we could eschew any pursuit of growth for fear of being corrupted by the perceived success that comes with it. The resulting actions can sometimes even sabotage the very mission we’ve been called to.

Whether we are growth obsessed or fearful of it, we need a grid to help us aim at something when we gather together.

The example of the Apostle Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14 provides a helpful framework based on how they interacted with churches they visited. I’d like to draw out four primary goals of gathering. We developed this a number of years ago as the “transformational gatherings framework”. Notably, these goals apply regardless of size or format.

Acts 14:21–23

They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

1. Inspire Faith

“They preached the gospel…”

We preach the gospel. That is to say, we inspire people toward faith in Christ.

Perhaps this is one of the most important components of a gathering: inspiring our brothers and sisters in their faith in Christ.

Inspiration comes by reminding people once again of the hope they have through Christ Jesus. The three greatest tools we have for this are preaching, worship, and testimony.

Inspiring faith is not reserved only for believers. It is equally an evangelistic activity. Toward this end, our gatherings should always include a meaningful number of non-believers.

2. Multiply Disciples

”…strengthening the disciples…”

When Paul and Barnabas returned to places where they had previously won disciples, they focused on encouraging and strengthening them. There was a clear connection between inspiring people and strengthening them, motivated by a desire not merely to make converts but to multiply disciples who, in turn, would multiply disciples.

The heartbeat of our gatherings is to see people become disciples who make disciples. This is primarily accomplished by ensuring that every person is integrated into an intentional discipleship relationship (what we call Simple Church).

It should be impossible to be merely a consumer or an attender of church. The idea that someone could repeatedly show up at a gathering without being called to obey Christ by making disciples is unthinkable in the New Testament paradigm.

3. Strengthen Family

”…encouraging them to remain true to the faith.”

A church gathering should feel more like a family reunion than a congregation of a crowd.

In fact, I take some issue with referring to a church as a “congregation.” A church is much more than people who have congregated. A church is a miraculous family made possible by the precious blood of Jesus.

When we gather, we do not gather to serve ourselves or to see our own needs met. We do not come expecting to be satisfied or fulfilled. We come to strengthen and encourage one another as we serve the Lord together.

Our objective in coming to church should be to seek out our brothers and sisters in Christ and encourage them.

This isn’t just about investing in those closest to us. We also strengthen the family by intentionally seeking out those who are struggling, weak, or becoming disconnected, and drawing them back into the life of the church.

4. Build Leaders

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Every one of the various functions that take place during a gathering should contribute to developing the leadership capacity of others. The teams that serve together provide opportunities for people to develop practical leadership skills that will one day serve the Kingdom far beyond the particular ministry they have been entrusted with today.

Interestingly, the vast majority of our leaders go on to build successful business careers where they make good use of the emotional intelligence, leadership, and administrative experience they gained while serving as team leaders.

More important than résumé building, however, is that every church needs leaders in order to multiply. Our gatherings are one of the primary environments where we identify and develop the skills, competencies, and character of those who may one day be sent to plant a church in a new city.

A Simple Grid for Every Gathering

So, if you are leading a gathering, perhaps these are the questions you should ask as you think about where to focus your energy:

• Does this inspire faith?

• Does this multiply disciples?

• Does this strengthen the family?

• Does this build leaders?

I would submit to you that if it doesn’t accomplish one of those things, it’s probably not worth doing.