QUOTE
The Metachurch Model seeks to accomodate the traditional church. Each church has a network of small groups. A spiritual leader who can provide pastoral care and spiritual mentoring is developed within or inserted into each group. If the primary characteristic of discipleship systems is that they bring consistent, systematic change into the lives of their participants, where is the change in this? Where are the steps that make up a process of change, where people graduate from one level of maturity to another? Further, the spiritual leader inserted into a small group can nurture that group spiritually, but it is unlikely that they will change the existing focus of the group to minister individually to each other, to minister individually to outsiders and to teach individuals to evangelize other individuals. Once again, evangelism becomes an invitation to come to the group event. The metachurch model is flexible, but with a weak management system for accountability
NOTE (my response)
DISCERNMENT QUESTIONS
RESOURCES
Footnotes:
The quote is from Major League Disciple Making: An Overview of the Best Research on the Cell Church, an online course developed for the Institute for Discipleship at www.BeADisciple.com in 2009. Course materials, including these lectures, can be downloaded here: http://www.disciplewalk.com/IFD_MLD_Class_Links.html
All Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Please review the page How and Why We Use Quotes.