Leaders

Hopefully you all went through this with a trainee before you committed to leading, but if not, these are our broad expectations of Bible study leaders.

“Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” 1 Tim 4:15-16

Practice these things (What is your role as a leader?)

• Pray for your group (pray for the individuals, for your time together, for growth and evangelism – if you desire your group to be or achieve something, pray for it)
• Attend a leaders’ team and work with your co-leader to faithfully prepare for the study
• Work out how to care for your group (this doesn’t mean doing everything yourself!) – aim for everyone in your group to be met up with 1-1 at least once in the Term (which may be you and your co-leader diving up the group for one-off catch-ups, or dividing up the group to meet in a number of 1-1s…or even Bible Triplets!)
• Follow up group members, particularly unbelievers and those not coming regularly
• Seek to train up other leaders in the group (start by giving them responsibilities in small ways, but it could also mean asking them to lead a study)
• In a mixed group, the expectation is that the male will lead the studies, rather than the female. Yet they are both in a leadership position, and so are to prepare together and to look after the group together (1 Tim 2:8-15, 1 Cor 11).
• Engage in personal evangelism – model, pray for and encourage evangelism in your group
• Be an active and regular member of your local church

Keep a close watch on yourself (What areas of godliness have you been growing in? What are you struggling with?)

• See 1 Tim 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9 for expectations of leaders regarding godliness (self-controlled; humble; growing in maturity; not a recent convert; not addicted to alcohol; not greedy; sexual purity). In summary, people who are growing in maturity.
• Show progress in godliness (1 Tim 4:15-16) – this is to be an encouragement and example to your group
  Be above reproach in your godliness (is there anything that you don’t want exposed?)
• Don’t date an unbeliever

And on the teaching– these are taken from AFES doctrinal statement (What do you disagree with? What don’t you understand?)

• The divine inspiration and infallibility of Holy Scripture as originally given and its supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
• The unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the Godhead.
• The universal sinfulness and guilt of humanity since the fall, rendering men and women subject to God’s wrath and condemnation.
• The conception of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit and his birth by the virgin Mary.
• Redemption from the guilt, penalty and power of sin only through the sacrificial death, as our representative and substitute, of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God.
• The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
• The necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit to make the death of Christ effective in the individual sinner, granting him or her repentance towards God, and faith in Jesus Christ.
• The indwelling and work of the Holy Spirit in the believer.
• The expectation of the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Persist in these things (How are you growing yourself and your group?)

• Commitment to regular personal Bible reading and prayer
• Commitment to personal evangelism
• TBT
• MYC
• Core theology
• Core training (if you haven’t done Growth Groups, it’d be great to do that as you lead a Bible study)
• Faculty leaders’ team where possible, and combined leaders’ training in Wk 1 of each Term (during the Core Theology hours)