LTGs are for people who love Jesus and seriously want to move forward in repentance, faith, and joyful obedience.

   For several years now, since learning about an incredible discipleship tool from Neil Cole, I have praised the effectiveness of Life Transformation Groups. I have never discovered a better method for implanting the DNA of Jesus within new disciples. But recently I have gotten only resistance when trying to pass on this method.Then I read this today in a post by a Pastor at Austin Stone....  I'm thankful; for the affirmation and validation.

Going Deep

“Where do we go deep?”

This is a common question when we start describing the MC practices. Most American Christians are used to weeknight Bible studies being the place where we try to dive deeply into the Bible together. There are a few serious limitations to this practice:

It’s easy to let this be our only time of Bible study and even allow others to do our Bible-thinking for us. We become overly dependent rather than becoming self-feeders in God’s Word.

In large groups, studying the Bible often feels like you've obeyed it. Knowledge is not necessarily obedience, however, and we need specific accountability to help our hands obey what our head and hearts know.

The group is too large for intimate confession and correction.

There isn't enough time to cover everything each person needs to hear and say.

The Bible, our personal holiness, and our mission are critically important and deserve much more attention. LTGs are where we go deep, raising the bar of personally following Jesus.

What is an LTG?

LTGs are simple. There are only three parts to remember:

Hear & Obey – Everyone shares what they have heard from God in the 15-30 chapters of Scripture we agreed to read together over the past week and how they obeyed.  We suggest using the REAP (Read, Examine, Apply, Pray) reading plan.

Repent & Believe – We each repent of our sin, sharing how you have sinned against God this past week. Don’t forget to spend time speaking out loud, to yourself and to one another, the good news of Jesus’ work for us; this enables us to believe.

Pray for Unbelievers – Talk about how you've been praying for your unbelieving friends and mention them by name. Explain your plan to weave them into your community.

Thinking Practically

LTGs are simple, but they’re also hard. They take discipline. LTGs are for people who love Jesus and seriously want to move forward in repentance, faith, and joyful obedience.

Keep the group size small for intimacy and time - two or three people of the same gender. Once it grows past three, you multiply. You should be able to finish your meeting within an hour or so. LTGs need to meet separately from your MC’s family meeting. As LTGs are taking off in many Missional Communities, we've found that our love for the gospel grows, and our obedience to Jesus in mission grows as well.