Who is responsible for the outcomes of your class or small group? All leaders want to see something happen and at times we can waffle between taking all of the credit for the good and none of the blame for the mediocre or we blame ourselves for all of the failures and give God credit for all the successes.
Neither of these postures is accurate. The human/divine partnership in making disciples is a tension that all of us must hold. DON’T become passive or lazy and DON’T become domineering or controlling!
The thoughts below come for a website that quotes a portion of a book that I have not read. The paragraphs below and the hints on the webpage they are taken from give some good advice on things you can do to ENCOURAGE real transformation without trying to MANUFACTURE it in your own strength.
Transformation is our goal in small groups. At the same time, it is something that is not up to us. God is the author of transformation. We cannot, by following certain steps or doing the right thing, bring about transformation in our own life or the lives of others. The most we can do is simply be open to it—to put ourselves, and our groups, in the best position possible for God to do his work.
So what can small groups do to help bring about transformation? This is one of those times when it would be nice to have "five steps toward transformation," or a nifty acronym, or better yet, an acrostic of the word transformation—"T" is for "take time to reflect … ." But transformation cannot be wrapped up with a pretty bow. There's no formula. No way to plan for it.
Deep transformation is possible for people in small-group community, but skills and spiritual maturity on the part of the facilitator are often the vehicles the Spirit chooses to use to get us there. Transformation is the end; skills are the bridge that helps us cross the chasm to get there. As facilitators, we develop skills and maturity to maintain openness to our own transformation and—potentially—to be used by God as an agent of transformation in the lives of others.
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