Click here for a printable copy of the 5 Roles Key (Maturity Check Key).
Click here for a printable copy of the 5 Roles Work Sheet. (Don’t be too quick to give this to them, I'll explain at the end.)
Groups are already “churches” if they have two or more people gathering together in Jesus' name but are they as mature as they could be? As a supervisor (mentor) you may notice that some things may be a little off or missing in a group. This tool can help you focus them in some areas that may benefit them.
We used to think of this as a 'Health Check' as did most mainstream denominations. We realised that when a child is born it can only do a few things (like cry, sleep, drink milk and dirty a nappy).
Although you can only really do these four things, you are hopefully in every way "healthy"! An infant is not expected to walk, run or have a family of his/her own. So why do people call infant disciples unhealthy? They are just 'immature'. An infant is not expected to stay in this condition but to continue to mature along their own line of development. Arrested development is unhealthy!
By the way when you are born you are only born with two in built fears did you know that? (That is loud noises and falling.) Apart from that you are fearless! So too it appears are new disciples. They are 'bumble bees who don't realise that they are not supposed to fly'. They get their fear cues from their mentors. Mentors are not supposed to spread their own fears but to wisely guide their charges and keep them safe.
A mature group will automatically multiply so don’t fret about that, it will look after itself if everything is in place.
The goal is not to tell them what they need. The Goal is for you to ask them to look at an example scripture and get them to “S. O. S.” it. Ask them how they would compare themselves with the description given. If they miss the mark find another example. People accept change better if it is driven from within than if it is enforced externally.
Continue bit by bit to build them up. Once they are as mature as you can encourage them, then give them the blank worksheet to work through themselves. Hopefully they have all the elements already by this stage. If not, they will clearly see any gaps. Point them to any appropriately scripture that you think may help them to understand what it means to follow Jesus.
A quick guide to the Maturity Key (5 Roles Key):
The triangle is set up with the three main commands at the apexes. Accountability, Intimacy with God and Multiplication. (Love People, Love God and Go and Make Disciples.)
Down each side is divided into 5 areas. That is a total of 15 areas which you can measure individually. These 15 areas are further broken up into their three main commands as shown by the dotted lines.
As you move from the left-hand side of the triangle to the right, you move from activities that are performed within the group to activities that are external to the group. The five roles within a healthy group can also be seen.
A Caution on using the Work Sheet:
In the beginning I cautioned you not to give out the Maturity Check Work Sheet to the group too early. Why? It makes sense to show them where you want them to head doesn’t it?
Experience has taught us that it doesn’t work that way. In the beginning we started off with groups and then tried to transition them into identified “churches”. This became a huge stumbling block to multiplying groups and getting past 3rd or 4th generations. (I am not even sure if it is even biblical. We weren’t asked to go out and start churches but to go out and make disciples.)
Today we treat every group, even the ones just asking if there really is a God or am I really interested in God (Yellow Light Groups), as a “church meeting”. “We can ‘do church’ right here, now”. “We are ‘doing church’ now”.
Sure, in the beginning they are a very immature meeting but nevertheless, front loading the idea of ‘doing church’ or you are part of a ‘church’ now really solves so many problems down the track. Don’t scare them off with an “impossible and scary” list that may overwhelm them at the beginning. If you give them the work sheet too early you may do just that!
Instead, first introduce an element one at a time using the SOS model. Then practically Model each element for them one at a time. Assist them to do it. Watch them do it and then Launch them off to do it on their own. Once they have grown into that role or task and have mastered it then you can introduce the next one.
The main purpose of the 5 Roles Maturity Check Work Sheet is so that they have a complete list for themselves as a reference. They then have the tools so that they can start monitoring (and correcting if required) these elements in their own groups that they are mentoring.
Don’t rush it as we use to do. If you rush it, then it only becomes a “Tick a Box” exercise, and they may do it on the outside, but they have not grown into it and accepted it fully on the inside. That is why we only introduce the complete list at the end and not at the beginning or even mid-way through. Groups will only multiply what is in THEIR DNA make up. If it is not deeply rooted in their DNA then they will not pass it down to future generations. I hope I am making sense for you.
Click here for a printable copy of the 5 Roles Key (Health Check Key).
Click here for a printable copy of the 5 Roles Work Sheet. (Don’t be too quick to give this to them. Remember it is not a "tick a box")