Clarify their intentions by asking them why they are doing this. It may be possible that the person simply wants to have many mentors, but you can remind them that the goal of a Dgroup is discipleship, which involves commitment and accountability. If this is the case, it is best that they select one group to commit to.
Talk to them about the importance of being spiritually fed and their need to be accountable to a discipler. Remind him or her that one cannot pass what one does not have – including spiritual feeding and accountability through a discipleship relationship.
Don’t be discouraged — sometimes people are in certain seasons in their lives that cause them to act this way, make them busy, or affects their schedules. You cannot control the person’s response, but continue praying for them and show them love when the opportunity arrives. If possible, speak to them heart to heart and ask why they’re having a hard time attending. Be patient with them and treat your members like your children. We simply don’t remove our kids from our family — perhaps the only time you remove them from the list is when they indicate that they want to transfer or leave your group.
Focus on being a good relative or friend to them. Continue to pray for them regularly. Practice pray, care, share. Be patient and wait for God’s timing. Remember Galatians 6:9-10 — Don’t lose heart, keep doing good! In due time you will reap. Just remember that the goal is not to get someone into your group, but to show them God’s love in action so that the Holy Spirit can work in their hearts.
Talk to them. Lovingly tell them that you value truth, honesty, and keeping the word. If the person feels that they cannot commit to attend, then it’s okay to let the person go. You can help them find another Dgroup more suitable for them as well.
Spend time with the Lord regularly. There’s no substitute to real Spiritual growth than immersing oneself in the word. You may want to take a short, personal retreat between you and the Lord to seek His direction for you. Also be transparent to your Dleader about your condition.
Give more time to those who are willing, as it is only fair to “move with the movers.” But keep seeing the reluctant ones for who they can become, not as they are now. Do not despair; continue to cast vision and model servant leadership. Have a heart to heart talk with them and keep praying for them. You may encourage them to attend GoViral and see how simple it is to facilitate a group, or have them co-lead a group until they are confident to handle one of their own.
Keep on training, encouraging, and building up the person; believe in their potential and continue to cast vision. Be patient, let God work in them and allow the Holy Spirit to stir their heart towards discipling others. Do all possible to know exactly what is going on in the life of that member so you can be of genuine and practical help.
For the sake of the body of Christ, the person should not be given the responsibility to lead a Dgroup yet. Give her some time to grow and develop in character first. But by all means, encourage her that God uses all sort of imperfect people – including you, her leader – and that the Lord can redeem her situation and use it for His glory.
The leader should be as open to their disciples, and vice versa. Discipleship is not a one way street — we can learn from both our D12/upline and downlines.
We have a list of accountability questions that can help you have a more meaningful one-on-one with your disciple:
Remind them that you are not, and that you are all are the same — that you are brothers in Christ.
Disciple them as you would any other disciple. Helping others to grow in the Lord is always good! Best of all, challenge that person to teach what he learns about discipleship back at his church so they can also pursue the Great Commission.
Be patient with them. Respect their decision, but constantly teach them God’s word and allow it to convict them. Most of all, remind them that the issue is not religion but their need for a personal relationship with the Lord.
You can do breaks or create a way to spice up your meetings. Rather than having a regular program, think of ways to make the meeting more fun. But in the end, the goal of the group is discipleship and transformation, not entertainment. Don’t be pressured to embellish your group meetings, especially if the ones giving feedback may not be in total agreement with the whole idea of small group discipleship.
Indeed, children are to obey and honor their parents. What you can do for now is to pray that God would open the hearts of their parents so they would see the need for discipleship and accountability. If your disciple cannot attend anymore because the parents prohibit them, you can suggest that they ask their parents if they would allow one-on-one with you instead. As you continue to disciple the person, help them build Christ-like influence towards their parents. Hopefully they would see the importance of discipleship in your disciple’s changed life.
You may meet with them in person if you are comfortable with it. While it is good to meet physically, it is important for you to consider the government’s safety protocols and guidelines for meeting physically. This is important since we want to obey our authorities especially during this time of lockdown.
Continue to pray for them, and check in with them personally to find out how they are doing. You may join them once in a while during their Dgroup meeting to encourage them. Zoom fatigue is real, so you can suggest that they hold their Dgroup every other week or shorten their meetings to maximize impact and minimize stress.
Be sensitive to the members before registering the group. If they are regularly watching CCF services and understand that the group is a CCF Dgroup, you may register through smallgroups.ccf.org.ph. But if they are new believers, they may not be comfortable with being considered as a CCF Dgroup member. Help them grow, and then get them more connected with CCF over time.
You can tell your Sunday group what a CCF Dgroup is all about and let them know you want to continue meeting them in that capacity.
Definitely! A couples Dgroup would be the best venue to influence unmarried couples to follow God’s design for marriage and for family. You may lovingly encourage them to make it right with God by getting married. Please feel free to ask your Area Pastor for help and advice.
It is best to talk to them directly and inform them that some members are already being hurt by his actions. If the matter needs to be elevated, do so with your pastor.
None of us is perfect. We all sin. What is serious is living a lifestyle of deliberate and rebellious sin. Ask God for forgiveness and truly repent, then sit down with your upline/D12 leader and seek counsel by share it with them. They will guide you through whether you should continue leading your Dgroup or take a break. It will also be best to come clean to your Dgroup and share what you’re going through.
The key to your sin is to FLEE. You can have victory over this. You are not hopeless. God who lives in you gives you the power to say NO. Surrender and yield to Him.
It’s okay to be honest to your D12/upline leader about how you feel. Talk to them, explore options, and find the best solution so you can be helped spiritually.
This can be tricky and frustrating. But if there is clearly no evidence of transformation, you may need to view that person as if he is not yet truly saved. Graciously warn him that willful sin will have consequences sooner or later. When a person keeps staying and dealing with the same sin, they may not understand the way God looks at them and how precious they are in God’s eyes. When they see how loved they are and how God has given His Son for them, this will change their understanding and cause them to desire to do what God wants them to do. You may want to teach them Ephesians 1 and ask them to meditate on it as well.
Don’t judge him but look at him with compassion as you would someone who is lost. Listen to their heart as to why they are struggling and help them see how God truly loves them and wants the best for them. Be patient with them as God has been with you, and keep reaching out to them with the love of God.
If people share suicidal thoughts, we need to take it seriously. If you feel it is difficult to deal with, you can ask help from your upline/D12 leader, area pastor, or the Pastoral Care Department.
Speak the truth in love. Assure the person that you still love him/her regardless of his/her decision.
No it is not a sin. The Lord Jesus himself was very transparent about his emotions. He got angry, He cried, He got lonely, but He never sinned. He processed His emotions by drawing closer to the Father. We encourage you to do the same. Jesus loves you. He promised that He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Matthew 11:28-30 — “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Encourage your member to get married in obedience to God’s word and to show their commitment to their partners. Marriage is a picture of Jesus’ relationship with us which is a committed relationship.
Explain that all Tagalog or English translations of the Bible are paraphrases. But if the person is still uncomfortable with the process, don’t force them.
Talk to them and try to understand their situation better. Be patient. Give them another chance if they’re still willing to serve. But if they are still not available after several chances, it’s best to look for other volunteers who can really commit to serving.
They have to consistently attend Dgroup first and understand the mission and DNA of CCF. They should be under a Dleader who keeps close accountability with them and is aware of what their disciple is doing or teaching. If they are doing something unbiblical or teaching unbiblical truths, let their Dleader know immediately.
Your work or job should take priority over your ministry. Keep in mind that your job is also your ministry. Minister and share the Gospel to your co-workers.
Most definitely. If they continue attending your Dgroup, that confirms their respect and acceptance of your leadership. Keep going!
We can’t change people but we can certainly pray for them. In his case, I will focus on showing Christianity rather than talking about it.
Our Family Ministry holds weekly webinars that may help you. You may want to attend these webinars live or watch past episodes to hear from various panelists. You can also look for a webinar that suits you from the Welcome Wednesdays Family Webinars.
Respond in love and let the Holy Spirit work in their hearts. Yes, indeed our burden is to reach out to our families to make sure that they will have a personal relationship with Jesus. For parents, this where your level of relationship with your children comes into play. If you have a good relationship with them, you may invite them for a family weekend gathering perhaps and share the gospel with them. If your relationship is not so good, you may have to work on improving your relationship with them first.
Clarify their intentions by asking them why they are doing this. It may be possible that the person simply wants to have many mentors, but you can remind them that the goal of a Dgroup is discipleship, which involves commitment and accountability. If this is the case, it is best that they select one group to commit to.
Talk to them about the importance of being spiritually fed and their need to be accountable to a discipler. Remind him or her that one cannot pass what one does not have – including spiritual feeding and accountability through a discipleship relationship.
Don’t be discouraged — sometimes people are in certain seasons in their lives that cause them to act this way, make them busy, or affects their schedules. You cannot control the person’s response, but continue praying for them and show them love when the opportunity arrives. If possible, speak to them heart to heart and ask why they’re having a hard time attending. Be patient with them and treat your members like your children. We simply don’t remove our kids from our family — perhaps the only time you remove them from the list is when they indicate that they want to transfer or leave your group.
Focus on being a good relative or friend to them. Continue to pray for them regularly. Practice pray, care, share. Be patient and wait for God’s timing. Remember Galatians 6:9-10 — Don’t lose heart, keep doing good! In due time you will reap. Just remember that the goal is not to get someone into your group, but to show them God’s love in action so that the Holy Spirit can work in their hearts.
Talk to them. Lovingly tell them that you value truth, honesty, and keeping the word. If the person feels that they cannot commit to attend, then it’s okay to let the person go. You can help them find another Dgroup more suitable for them as well.
We’re working on getting more and more of our resources translated into Tagalog. You can refer to glc.ccf.org.ph for a full list of available Tagalog resources.
We do not have these yet, but we are working on making our materials more accessible to our members who are visually impaired and hearing impaired.
We have a group of volunteers called Silent Praise who do sign language translations of our services. You can find them at facebook.com/groups/267480310106471/
You may order gospel tracts by sending an e-mail with your desired quantity to [email protected].
You may purchase the M.O.T.I.V.A.T.E. book online at ccf.org.ph/motivate.
You can stay updated via the Elevate South Luzon Facebook page at www.facebook.com/elevatesouthluzon. Regarding physical services, our pastors are considering safety and health protocols of the local LGUs.
BIYAHE Jail Ministry reaches out to inmates in jails. You can reach them through Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/CCF.org
20 “If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
The word “elect” refers to Christians.
We need to be balanced and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. If the government is not allowing us to worship in order to stifle the spread of the gospel in opposition to the word of God, we cannot obey. But if the reason is for the common good and the safety and health of citizens, we should consider their guidelines.
We will consider this. Over the last year almost all of our messages have been exposition of biblical texts. But expository preaching is not the only form of biblical preaching. Neither Jesus nor Paul used the expository method of preaching, but they certainly communicated God’s truth effectively.
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
It’s an analogy of the kingdom of Jesus. Like a mustard seed, it may appear insignificant now, but it will be the most powerful kingdom when Jesus returns.
There are resources on the CCF website that outline our perspective on theological systems. We encourage you to access those to help you respond.
We have discussed this topic many times in the past. We also stress urgency by sharing the Gospel in almost all our messages.
We praise God for what He is doing through CCF and our discipleship movement. In the Philippines and around the world, we have thousands of DGroups meeting together to make Christ-Committed Followers who will make Christ Committed Followers! What a joy it is to partner with you in this discipleship movement.
For alignment and accountability in our primary ministry of discipleship in small groups, below are some important reminders on our DGroup guidelines.
We need to be connected to each other for mutual encouragement, accountability, and protection, serving together and helping each other grow in Christlikeness. Every DGroup leader must also be under an Area/Satellite Pastor. If for any reason you or your DGroup leader are no longer with CCF, please inform Discipleship Management or your Area Pastor for endorsement of your group to another DGroup leader.
God leads His local church through His appointed pastors. Therefore, discussing the messages in the DGroup meetings is important for review, application, and transformation. The 4Ws Small Group Guide is provided weekly to aid in this. You may download a soft copy of this material from the CCF website (www.ccf.org.ph/4ws). In addition, to help ensure systematic progress in our spiritual life, you may use the DGroup meeting as a venue to complete the GLC curriculum. Please visit the GLC website (glc.ccf.org.ph) for more information.
If, after discussing the message-based 4Ws and completing GLC, you would like to take up other materials in your Dgroup, kindly seek the approval of your up-line Dgroup leader or your Area Pastor, or send an email to Ptr Peter Tan-chi ([email protected]) and/or Ptr Ricky Sarthou ([email protected]). Other resouces can also be found on our website at the resources tab (ccf.org.ph/resources), at the DLeader’s Corner (ccf.org.ph/dleaders-corner), and by utilizing CCF’s resource subscription to Right Now Media (rightnowmedia.org) for commitment card holders*.
* To sign-up for a commitment card, go to ccf.org.ph/commitment-card.
Our DGroups are for life-on-life discipleship. Its purpose is not for business transactions, network marketing. selling goods, and borrowing of money. These are not to be practiced in the DGroup.
In obedience to the Great Commission, let us make it our goal for all DGroup leaders, to prayerfully identify, equip, and empower all DGroup members to become DGroup leaders. Two practical suggestions that can be considered in multiplying our DGroups would be by: 1) Using the Go Viral Process, and 2) Disciple immediate family members and start a family DGroup.
We are also encouraging every leader to plug their DGroup via CCF’s Small Groups Account. For those who are already registered, don’t forget to update your information to make sure that the email address and contact number are up to date. For those who are planning to start their own group, you can create your account by going to smallgroups.ccf.org.ph. Go to go.ccf.org.ph/StartADGroup to view the tutorial.
If you have friends or relatives who wants to join a DGroup, they can sign-up at the same portal (smallgroups.ccf.org.ph). To view the tutorial, go to go.ccf.org.ph/JoinDGroup.
If any of these guidelines are not being followed in your DGroup, please share this with your Area/Satellite Pastor. It is important for you to do so to ensure that we move forward together in this discipleship process of making Christ-Committed Followers.
We appreciate you. God bless you!
Ptr. Peter Tan-chi, Senior Pastor
Ptr. Ricky Sarthou, Executive Pastor
Ptr. JP Masakayan, Executive Director for Operations
Ptr. Nett Gochuico, National Church Planting Director
Ptr. Jim Whelchel, International Church Planting Director (BEYOND)