If you are a community group leader here at Frontline, you can probably relate by analogy to the newlywed couple who are grateful they received some pre-marital counseling, but increasingly feel like they could use some post-marital counseling! The initial training is designed to launch you into leadership, but this ongoing training plan is designed to help you stay the course, and flourish in the process. The ongoing training plan is designed for you to work through at your own pace during your first six to twelve months of leadership, under the guidance of your hub leadership team. We would like you to work through this plan for multiple reasons: (1) to help you grow in maturity as a leader, (2) to protect you from burnout, (3) to help you lead your group into greater missional maturity, as well as to prepare some for an eventual transition into hub leadership. (The four training categories of character, calling, competency, and communion & chemistry match those used for elder assessment, in order to provide alignment across all of Frontline’s leadership development pipelines.)
Ongoing Training for Existing Community Group Leaders
- ❏ Competency ➔ Multiplication
- Read “Multiplying Life-Giving Groups,” Life-Giving Groups, Linneman (pp. 35–53)
- Read excerpt from Frontline Community Group Manual
- Answer the following discussion questions
- ❏ Competency ➔ Push Back Darkness: Missional Living
- Purchase and read “Everyday Rhythms,” “An Everyday Plan,” and “Everyday People on Mission,” Saturate: Being Disciples of Jesus in the Everyday Stuff of Life, Vanderstelt (pp. 169–228)
- Schedule orientation with Hub Coordinator or Hub Leader on congregational city partners
- ❏ Competency ➔ Biblical Friendship and Pastoral Care, Pt. 1: Moving Towards Others
- Purchase and read “Move Toward and Greet One Another,” “Have Thoughtful Conversations,” See the Good, Enjoy One Another,” and “Walk Together, Tell Stories,” Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love, Welch (pp. 72–99)
- Read “Do Your Friendships Live Out the Gospel?,” Holmes
- Answer selected Discussion and Response questions from Side by Side.
- ❏ Competency ➔ Biblical Friendship and Pastoral Care, Pt. 2: Sins and Sorrows
- Read “Have Compassion during Trouble,” “Pray during Trouble,” “Be Alert to Satan’s Devices,” “Prepare to Talk About Sin,” “Help Fellow Sinners,” Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love, Welch (pp. 100–139)
- Read "'I've Had it with You!' Learning to Be Tender When People are Tough," Smith
- Answer selected Discussion and Response questions from Side by Side.
- ❏ Communion & Chemistry ➔ Embracing Growth and Human Frailty
- Read “Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset”
- Read “Part 2: The Temptations We Face,” The Imperfect Pastor, Eswine (pp. 73–131)
- Complete the Gospel Self-Assessment if you have not already done so in your initial training.
- Confess to another person which of Eswine’s three temptations you are most prone to and why. Provide examples. Ask them to pray for you on the spot. Invite them to follow up with you in the future.
- ❏ Communion & Chemistry ➔ Gospel-Centered
- Read “Everyone is an Unbeliever,” “Give Them Jesus,” and “Fluency,” Gospel Fluency: Speaking the Truths of Jesus into the Everyday Stuff of Life, Vanderstelt (pp. 19–45)
- Read “All of Life is Repentance,” Keller
- Read “The Gospel in All Its Forms,” Keller
- Read “Ten Things You Should Know About the Sovereignty of God,” Storms
- Read over the this chart entitled “Religion vs. Gospel” and answer the reflection questions.
- ❏ Communion & Chemistry ➔ Bible-Honoring
- Read “Reading the Bible Theologically,” Packer
- Read “Reading the Bible for Personal Application,” Powlison
- Read “How Does Scripture Change You?,” Powlison
- Answer the following reflection questions
- Additional resources:
- Watch “Making Scripture Personal,” Powlison (9:19)
- Watch "Donald Whitney on the Benefit of Praying the Bible" (15:22)
- ❏ Communion & Chemistry ➔ Spirit-Filled
- Read “Letting Your Gift Find You,” The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gifts, Storms (pp. 199–203)
- Read “Discerning God's Voice,” The Beginner’s Guide to the Gift of Prophecy, Deere (pp. 63–78)
- Answer the following reflection questions
- Additional resource:
- Read “Understanding God’s Meaning, Giving Prophetic Messages, and Avoiding Prophetic Craziness,” The Beginner’s Guide to the Gift of Prophecy, Deere (pp. 79–130)
- ❏ Communion & Chemistry ➔ Gender-Redeeming
- Read “Beautiful Difference: The Complementarity Of Male And Female,” Wilson
- Read "What If I'm Not the 'Submissive' Type?," McLaughlin
- Read excerpt from Men and Women in Ministry, Storms
- Additional resource:
- Listen to “Is God a Misogynist?,” Mary Willson (56:05)
- ❏ Communion & Chemistry ➔ Kingdom-Focused
- Read The Kingdom of God, Um
- Read "The Kingdom of God—5 Questions: 2 Scholars,” Taylor
- Answer the following reflection questions