What’s the Difference?
The biggest difference between The Vineyard and the typical church in Mobile County is going to be its approach to discipleship. Most churches seek to move newcomers along the path of discipleship in a ‘large to small’ direction. Consider to following chart to understand what I mean:
Most churches seek to move people through the process of discipleship primarily by this method. They encourage visitors to come to a large group worship service first. This affords them the opportunity to check out Christianity in a non-confrontational, non-committal environment. They can blend into the large crowd and hear for themselves what the church has to say. So, the large group worship service acts as the primary ‘front door’ for most churches. From there, their next step is into a small-group environment (typically Sunday school). Here they experience genuine fellowship and are able to tackle doctrinal issues in a more participatory way. From this point, the next level of commitment in the discipleship process is to get involved in some type of even smaller group that fosters a discipleship relationship (typically, a discipleship training program). Here a person is taught even deeper in the Word and learns the deeper skills necessary to follow Christ effectively. This discipleship process has proved effective for years at reaching and discipling many people toward a closer walk with Christ.
There is, however, a large hole in this approach to discipleship: it assumes that people will be attracted to the church enough to take that first step and enter the worship service environment. Unfortunately, there are many people in Mobile that just aren’t interested in coming to any worship service or event at any church facility. Because of this, the new church is approaching the discipleship process differently. We are seeking to move unbelievers along a ‘small to large’ process of discipleship. Consider the following chart:
In this approach, we will change the primary ‘front door’ of the church from the large group worship gathering to the one-on-one relationships that are built outside the church walls. This takes away the hole in the other approach by meeting people in their own environment and starting the discipleship process there. We are emphasizing the one-on-one relationships that people have with unbelievers so that our people will be encouraged not just to invite a friend to a worship service, but rather to begin the process of sharing the Gospel with those people through their lifestyles and their words outside of the ‘church’ setting. From there, people will be filtered into a small-group environment that meets at people’s homes. This allows for people who are antagonistic toward the church to seek spirituality through the members of the church. It is a lot more appealing to say to this type of person, “Come over to my house on Thursday and hang out with a group of people who talk about spiritual things” than it is to say, “Come to church with me.” While they might not be interested in church, they will be interested in knowing why this individual lives the life he does. So the small group environment will provide a place for people to come and seek answers to their spiritual questions while learning about God and His plan for their lives. From that point, people will be filtered into a large group worship gathering. This approach to discipleship is the major difference between The Vineyard and the typical church in Mobile.
Continue to What’s in a Name?
