Sunday School.

Small groups.

Home community groups.

How we weigh the strengths and weaknesses of these models depends on what their primary purpose is.

• The traditional Sunday school model seeks to use the hour before or after a worship service for adult education, which results in an interactive Bible study or topical teaching series.
• The small group model puts a priority on fellowship within the body, which results in accountability and an emphasis on Bible application.
• The community group model elevates missional engagement of one’s neighborhood, which results in an open and outward-focused atmosphere.

If the main goal of the group is to invite outsiders to meet the Christians in their neighborhood, then Sunday school and small groups are clearly deficient. Meanwhile, if the primary purpose is Bible study and application, then community groups are off-base. The way we analyze these models depends on what we think is most important to accomplish.

I’m convinced that the purpose for breaking into smaller groups is one of the most neglected areas of discipleship. And when we don’t know what our purpose is, we’re certain not to fulfill it.

For a look at how four different churches envision the purpose of their small groups and Sunday School classes, watch this  video clip from the Adult Education Panel at T4G, where Mark Dever, Michael Kelley, Matt Chandler, and I discuss different models and the purpose of meeting in smaller groups.

Trevin Wax: I want to start off by asking you, Mark, what is the purpose of the Sunday School hour that your church has? What’s the purpose of that smaller group meeting?

Mark Dever: Well, let me begin by saying what it’s not. It’s not the main way of delivering Christian education. That happens through the sermon. It is not the main way of discipling. That happens by one-on-one discipling in the church. We call it a culture of discipling which is what we want to see going on.

We’re trying to do something fairly narrow with that time because we have community groups also. Seventy percent of our members are in them during the week. But what we have on Sunday morning would be a much lower percentage of the congregation participating, probably about 25 percent participating. And we have topic-specific classes. We have several different years worth of tracks of classes. It goes Old Testament and New Testament Introduction, basic Christian stuff including evangelism, stuff about friendship, courtship, dating, marriage, all the way to evangelism, apologetics, missions, worldview, work. So those are classes where we’re trying to supplement the educational life of the church.

Trevin Wax: So would you say that the primary purpose of those meetings are educational even though that’s not the primary place for education in the church?

Mark Dever: Yes. Trying to have regularly available, very specific teaching that’s more specific than we’re going to be doing every Sunday morning. And if we’ve gone through all four years worth then I took each of my kids through them their four years of high school. I would sit through the classes with them. When you get through them all, we say grab somebody else who’s new to the church and take them through them. So it becomes a platform for discipling.

Michael Kelley: Our Sunday School classes are also educational, but we want to make sure that we have clearly defined purposes in our church, too.

So, for example, the community groups that we have is where we see the majority of the pastoral care that takes place, rather than through the Sunday School class environment. So when somebody has a baby, when somebody is sick, a lot of the pastoral care happens through the community groups as opposed to the Sunday School.

Also, we spend the majority of the time in the community groups – not necessarily teaching, but more facilitating discussion and praying. We would spend the majority of time in Sunday School doing actual teaching, whereas in the smaller groups it would be more facilitating what’s happened in the sermons, trying to take the sermon to a deeper level and that kind of thing.

Matt Chandler: We’re a bit of a hybrid, primarily we want to get our members into groups and then those groups are driven by materials based off of the sermon. Sometimes that’s in-house material that we’ve written. Sometimes that’s out of house stuff that we’ve identified and have taken and kind of made our own. And that doesn’t mean stealing it. We purchase a license and then tweak what we want and roll it out that way.

Trevin Wax: It’s nice that you guys don’t steal.

Matt Chandler: I just wanted to throw that out there. We’re not just taking somebody’s stuff and putting our logo on it. But apparently that stuff happens. But that’s the primary way.

And then twice a year for eight weeks we have classes at our campuses that are everything from – they can be theological. They can be – I think some of the ones going on right now is we’ve got a parenting class going on right now. We’ve got a ton of babies and first-time parents and so it’s an eight week class on what does it look like biblically? What’s God’s commands on the husband? What’s God’s commands on the wife? There’s a class down in the Dallas campus that’s primarily 20 somethings on dating, courtship, those things. There have been classes on – I mean I could just go on and on. But that’s kind of the feel. So twice a year you have eight week courses, three at each campus. And then predominantly though we want everybody in home groups.

Late last year, I wrote a blog post titled “Your Podcast Is Not Your Pastor,” prompted by this comment from Russell Moore:

1. Bob Kelley – Pastor Passionately

Until I was nine, my family belonged to a prominent independent Baptist church. Bro. Kelley was our preacher. When I trusted Christ on a Saturday morning, Bob Kelley was the man I called to tell the good news. I still remember his excitement on the other end of the line. A few years later, he baptized me.

The big impression he left on me was that what we’re doing here is important. It’s life or death. It’s serious business. Not all pastors express passion the same way as Bob Kelley. But all of us should be passionate. And that’s something Bob Kelley got right. (Click here for some of his “lessons learned from a gospel preacher.”)

2. Ken Polk – Pastor Textually 

From the time I was nine years old until I left for Romania at 19, I belonged to a church where the pastor preached expository sermons every week. We started as a church plant meeting in a high school cafeteria and over the next decade grew into a church of 1,000. Careful, expository, text-focused sermons were part of that journey. I remember the first (and second) time Bro. Ken took us through the Gospel of John. I still remember his 1 Corinthians series and his sermons from Judges.

I cannot calculate the formative influence that Bro. Ken’s preaching had on my life. For 10 years, I listened to Bro. Ken preach. Ten years. Fifty weeks a year. Two times a week. That’s 1,000 sermons.

It’s no wonder that today I approach the text in much the same manner that he does, looking to discover what’s there, not invent what’s not. I see Christ in the Scriptures because he showed me Christ was there. I respect the Bible because of the way he always made the purpose of the text more prominent than the personality of the messenger. From Bro. Ken, I learned that there is no substitute for pastoring textually. The Scriptures are at the heart of pastoral ministry.

3. Rick Iglesias – Pastor Personally

The years I spent doing mission work in Romania were formative in so many ways. Yet there was a lingering loneliness that set in from time to time, the sense that you don’t quite fit in anywhere anymore – whether back home or on the field.

Pastor Rick visited our campus once or twice a year and led retreats for my college class up in the mountains. He impacted us because he cared about us. He wrote e-mails. He called from time to time. Always seeking to be an encouragement.

4. Ted Traylor – Pastor Missionally

Another pastor who made an impact on me during my Romania years was Ted Traylor. I was in my first year of studying theology when Bro. Ted first visited the campus. Our group benefited from several classes with him.

I remember thinking then, What kind of pastor is this who, even though he has a large church to tend to in the States, would come all the way to Romania to pour himself into young Romanian seminary students? Every year after that, Bro. Ted returned. In 2005, he spoke at my class’s graduation.

Bro. Ted is also passionately devoted to fulfilling the Great Commission in his own city. He’s both a local and global kind of guy. And he has provided a wonderful example of a pastor with Great Commission focus.

5. Florin Trifan – Pastor Prayerfully

My father-in-law recently retired from pastoring two village churches. But during my time in Romania, I saw him in action.

If there’s any word that would characterize Florin Trifan’s approach to pastoring, it would be prayerful. Bro. Trifan is a constant pray-er. Always stopping to thank the Lord for His blessings. Always asking for the Spirit’s power to do God’s will. We pray together over Skype every week even now.

6. Kevin Minchey – Pastor Caringly

Along with Ken Polk, Kevin Minchey has had the biggest influence on my life. Kevin is a mentor at heart.

When I was on staff with him, Kevin didn’t only model care and concern for others, he instructed me on how to do the same. For years, I watched Kevin shepherd people, love on them when they were down, rebuke them when necessary, and cast a vision for the kingdom that pushed all of us out of our comfort zones.

For me personally, I was able to see up close the labor of love it is when a pastor chooses willingly to share others’ burdens and to walk through crises and trials. The pastoral wisdom, grace, and care on display in his life and ministry have taught me things that books could never capture. I’m thankful he cared for me. And I hope to shepherd others the same way.

What about you? Who are some pastors who have influenced your life and ministry?

Here is a ten-minute conversation with J.D. Greear about kids’ curriculum, morality, and how gospel-centrality must fuel our passion to be about God’s mission. Best line by far: “When kids are young, you just need to put stuff in them so that when you shake them, they just throw up Bible.”

Trevin Wax: J.D., one of the things I remember reading from your blog… you talked about your frustration with kids’ curriculum.

But really, what you want them to see in the Scriptures is that there’s one story going from start to finish, that it’s filled with characters they need to know about, but that shows them that they should hope, not in their ability to emulate the example, but should hope in the Savior who came for them. And so it’s been a struggle to find curriculum that is robust in its biblical doctrine and knowledge.

When kids are young, you just need to put stuff in them so that when you shake them, they just throw up Bible. That’s probably not a great image, but you know what I mean! You cut them, they bleed God’s Word. You want them understanding from the very beginning that this is about worship and about grace and that what they do for God is a response to what He has done for them.
That’s been tough to find. I’m not trying to put an indictment on all kids’ curriculum by any means, but finding one that captures everything is difficult.

Trevin Wax: I’ve found that too. And as a dad, I’m thinking about my kids in Sunday School learning Bible stories. I want them to know the Bible stories and I want them to know the details, but first and foremost, when we come to a Bible passage, one of the things we’re trying to do with The Gospel Project is we want our writers to first of all ask what does the story tell us about God—who God is, what He is like—and then how does the story point us forward to Jesus Christ. Because here’s what I see is the danger… If all of the stories in the Old Testament especially are all little morality tales where we’re able to have a small application for kids—be nice, be good, share, things like that—we can thoroughly condition our kids by the time they’re sixth graders, going into middle school, that the Bible’s all about them. That’s what they’ve heard week after week after week. Is that why you see that God-centered nature of explaining Bible stories as being important in curriculum?

J.D. Greear: Absolutely. Again, I don’t want to overreact to it. I think David, I think Moses, in some ways, was a great leader. First Corinthians very clearly says that these things were given to us as examples. So there are things that we can learn from them. You know, there are places in the Bible, Ezekiel says, you know, commends three of God’s servants for their steadfastness in the midst of temptation.

So I don’t want to overplay and say there’s nothing we can learn from them, but I also know that Moses wasn’t allowed to go into the promise land. He had a problem with his temper. He had a problem trusting God.

Trevin Wax: I like how you do this. You’re saying we can learn things from moral tales. We can learn courage from David. We can learn faithfulness from Noah (before the scene where he gets drunk, obviously).

J.D. Greear: A lot of times you’ve got a very justified reaction to moralistic things that probably over speaks a little bit. Hopefully what will happen is that we can settle out in the way that the Bible talks about it. You know, I think the hero of every one of our sermons, every one of our lessons ought to be the Hero of the Bible, which is not you for what you do. It is God for what He’s done.

I will continue to learn from various biblical examples. One of the things I tell some of our teachers is—”Don’t try to be more gospel-centered than the Bible.” And don’t play the gospel-centered card on Jesus. You know, He had it down. He knew what it was like to be gospel-centered. You can follow His lead.

Trevin Wax: We’re seeing a movement in the churches of back to the basics, back to what the gospel is, making it explicit and up front in our preaching and teaching. I’m sure some people are watching this thinking, I’m gospel-centered. I give a gospel presentation at the end of every message. What’s the difference in the way we think of that term versus the Plan of Salvation at the end of a message?

J.D. Greear: Charles Spurgeon had a famous statement where he used to say at the end of every sermon, “I plow a trough back to the gospel.” And I always heard that used to explain why no matter what text or what subject the pastor was preaching on, he would tack the Romans Road onto the end of it. That if you would just, you know, receive Jesus into your heart, then you’d be saved. And so he’d be preaching about finances, and he’d be like—but if you need to be saved, this is how you do it.

So no matter what he’s talking about, the only way to become generous, the only way to be a faithful husband, the only way to stay faithful in the Bible or in your witness is in the glorious good news of what God has done for you. So when some people say, “Yeah, I’m gospel-centered,” all they think that means is that the gospel is important to them. And I’m sure the gospel is important to them. I don’t want to lose the gospel. Gospel-centered means that the gospel is not just the entry rite for you into Christianity. It’s not just the diving board off of which you jump into the pool of Christianity. You see that the gospel is the pool itself. The gospel is not just how you begin, it’s how you grow.

J.D. Greear: I’d like to think that begins with how it’s modeled from the pastors who occupy our pulpit. Our teaching team works very hard to be able to impact… it is one of the things we question each other on—What is this pointing me to? Is this pointing me back to the cross or is this pointing me to this?

Our small groups team, you know, has this as a major theme, and they’re writing studies a lot of times that come alongside and they will explore the gospel more thoroughly. Our children’s pastors and student ministers are doing the same thing where they’ll be taking curriculum and weaving more of the richness of the gospel into it.

One other thing I’ll mention is just the role of worship itself. Worship is not the 30-minute warm up to the sermon. Worship essentially is… it’s Word-centered and it’s gospel-rich so that people are coming face-to-face with the rhythms of the gospel as they are seeing the depth and the beauty of it in song and as their hearts are open to the gospel. We’ve done it now where the sermon is always right in the middle of worship because they need to go into that worshiping the cross. I’m in the middle telling them how it all relates. And then they come out of that again worshiping the cross. So I think worship is a key part there too.

Trevin Wax: What role does worship play in connection to mission? You want to see your people motivated to be on mission for God’s kingdom, to be proclaiming the gospel, to be demonstrating the truth of the gospel through the love we have for each other as Christians and then the love we have for the lost people around us, the love we have for our neighbors. How do you connect that worship component with getting people out on mission?

J.D. Greear: John Piper famously said that worship is the goal of missions—is that our desire to see other people worship God and know Him the way we do is the reason we do missions.

Another dimension of that, though, is that worship is not just a goal of missions. Worship is the fuel of missions. Because the only way that I’ll ever be zealous enough to leave father and mother and things that are comfortable to go into the world is when I see how great a treasure Jesus is, that He’s worth more than those things. When I see how much He’s given up to save me, when I see how great His glory is and how much He deserves to be worshiped in the world, that ends up becoming the fuel for mission.

He is the treasure worth leaving the entire field for, Matthew, you know, 13:44. He’s the One, 2 Corinthians 8:9, who became poor for my sake, become rich. You show me somebody that’s worshiping God around the gospel and I’ll show you somebody you don’t need to preach a mission series on in order to motivate into mission. It just comes naturally because they see God is the missionary God that came for them.

Trevin Wax: And that’s what we want. We don’t ultimately want people on mission out of obligation only. We want people on mission because it’s their passion, their heart.

J.D. Greear: Yes.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the response I’d received from my article in Tabletalk - “Not So Fast” - which basically encourages most people to stay with their congregation during a difficult church situation rather than flee. Based on the notes I’ve gotten, some have misunderstood my suggestion not to be hasty in leaving a church (hence the title “Not So Fast”) as a hard, fast rule against ever leaving a church, no matter what happens.

Then Jonathan helpfully points out some examples of abusive leadership:

How do you recognize abusive leadership? Paul requires two witnesses for a charge to be leveled against an elder (1 Tim. 5:19), probably because he knows that leaders will be charged with infelicities more than others, often unfairly. That said, abusive churches and Christian leaders characteristically

• Make dogmatic prescriptions in places where Scripture is silent.
• Rely on intelligence, humor, charm, guilt, emotions, or threats rather than on God’s Word and prayer (see Acts 6:4).
• Play favorites.
• Punish those who disagree.
• Employ extreme forms of communication (tempers, silent treatment).
• Recommend courses of action that always, somehow, improve the leader’s own situation, even at the expense of others.
• Speak often and quickly.
• Seldom do good deeds in secret.
• Seldom encourage.
• Seldom give the benefit of the doubt.
• Emphasize outward conformity, rather than repentance of heart.
• Preach, counsel, disciple, and oversee the church with lips that fail to ground everything in what Christ has done in the gospel and to give glory to God.

How does discipleship take place in smaller groups?

Why do we break off into smaller groups in the first place?

What methods and models are best suited to accomplish the purpose of Sunday School, small groups, or home groups?

The topic of adult education within the context of a local church has not often been addressed within the gospel-centered resurgence. Perhaps this lack of conversation explains why we see a startling amount of diversity within the churches of this movement.

On the one side, there is the model that uses the traditional Sunday School hour to focus heavily on core seminars and the need for biblical literacy and the development of theological acumen. On the other side, a number of churches that have adopted the “Sticky Church” model, which is based on discussion questions from the pastor’s weekly sermon. In between these two models, many churches continue to run their programs of traditional Sunday School, but with little vision for training leaders or utilizing the structure of Sunday School for the education of believers.

Last week, Mark Dever, Michael Kelley, and Matt Chandler joined me for a conversation about methods in accomplishing adult education. We discussed the different models and methods, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Check out the video by clicking here. Download the mp3 audio here.

Topics Discussed:

• 0:10 Introduction of panel and different perspectives related to discipleship in smaller groups
• 3:45 What is the purpose of the smaller group meeting?
• 8:23 What is the best learning / teaching style?
• 15:15 Strengths and weaknesses of discussion-based groups
• 20:08 Strengths and weaknesses of lecture-based groups
• 25:00 Strengths and weaknesses of the alignment model
• 29:50 How do you determine what is important to teach and learn in a smaller group?
• 34:10 How does your strategy deal with your environment? (educated, uneducated, transitional, stable)
• 37:07 Groups based on age or life stage
• 45:00 The role of community in adult education
• 50:34 Child education, children’s worship, etc.
• 54:15 Advice to pastors who have inherited a Sunday School structure
• 1:00:21 Raising up leaders

Working on children’s curriculum has been a big shift for me. Once The Gospel Project expanded to include all age groups, I suddenly found myself wading through reams of paper, editing children’s lessons to make sure they focused attention on Jesus Christ and what He has done.

I may not be experienced yet in developing children’s curriculum, but I am a father. And since my wife and I have the responsibility to disciple our kids, we know the message we want to give them at home as well as the message we want to see reinforced at church.

Children’s Curriculum Today

If you are looking for creative, fun-filled, and family-focused approaches to children’s discipleship curriculum, there are plenty of options available. But we’ve heard from a number of children’s pastors who are dissatisfied with what they’ve seen. Though they appreciate these offerings for their creativity and the way they connect to parents seeking to disciple their children, these leaders are concerned that the primary message we are giving our children is simply that they need to “be good.”

What sometimes gets lost in the journey through Bible stories is the good news of what Christ has done to save the lost. In other words, in focusing on behavior, we may be missing the heart-change brought about by the gospel.Even worse, we condition our kids to think that the Bible is all about them.

The Gospel Project for Kids is an attempt to bring a gospel focus back to children’s curriculum. In walking through the Bible stories chronologically, we want children to discover several truths:

Truth #1 - The Bible tells one big story.

When we take Bible stories out of context to glean moral lessons from them, we can leave kids with the impression that the Bible is much like Aesop’s fables—interesting tales with moral application.

But even though the Bible has moral application and does give us some terrific stories, it actually tells one overarching story. These stories fit together. They tell us the story of our world—where we’ve come from and where we are going.

We believe it’s important that children recognize how these Bible stories are connected.

Truth #2 - The Bible is about God.

Once we recognize that the Bible is telling us a great story, we discover that we are not the main characters. The Bible is first and foremost about God. He is the hero.

These stories provide us with moral application, yes. But before we get to application, we ought to ask, “What does this story tell us about God?” What attributes and characteristics of God are on display in this story? If the Bible’s big story is about God’s bringing about redemption of His fallen world, then what picture of God do we see in the smaller stories?

Truth #3 - The Bible points us to Jesus.

A statement I like to make from time to time (for shock value, I admit!) is “Bible study won’t necessarily change your life.” What I mean is this: Just because you know the Bible doesn’t mean the Word will bear fruit in your life. It is possible to know the Scriptures, read the Scriptures, revere the Scriptures, and study the Scriptures and miss the point entirely. Jesus told the Jewish leaders of the day that even though they had meticulous knowledge of the Old Testament, they had missed the truth that the Old Testament is ultimately about Him.

Whenever we study the stories of the Bible, we need to ask how they point us to Christ. The reason God’s Word changes our life is not because of our personal study but because in the Scriptures we are introduced to Jesus, the Author.

Truth #4 - The Bible calls for obedience that is grounded in the gospel and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now, back to moral principles and application. Does the Bible have them? Absolutely. But biblical behavior should not flow from obligation and compulsion.

God cares about our hearts. Our hearts are not changed by the commands of the Law. Our hearts are changed when they overflow with love for the Savior. As we experience the grace of what God has done for us in Christ, our hearts are free to worship and obey.

It’s important that we take care not to give our children commands without showing them how the Holy Spirit, through the gospel, gives them the strength to obey these commands.

Conclusion

The purpose of our Bible study is to know God and make Him known. The Bible unveils Jesus Christ as the focal point of human history. All creation exists by Him, through Him, to Him, and for Him. Our children’s curriculum should exist for Him too. That’s the only kind of Bible study that will change your life.

A friend and colleague of mine – Marty Duren – is giving away copies of his book The Generous Soul: An Introduction to Missional Giving (see information below). To help him get the word out, I’ve asked him to join me for a conversation about how generosity is connected to the mission of the church.

Marty Duren: Thanks for the invite, Trevin. Many years ago, I was blessed to hear some really solid preaching by a number of evangelists on the biblical attitude toward possessions. Early in our marriage, Sonya and I committed to give from what God had entrusted to us, so over the years, we supported numerous missionaries, ministries, and whatever local church we attended. We really wanted to lay up treasures not on this earth.

During the past few years as the conversation around missional church, missional living, missional Christianity, etc. expanded, it seemed that the direct relationship to possessions was being overlooked, if not completely, then in a big way. If missional has to do with the believer’s partnership in the missio dei, then there is simply no way around the fact that this must impact our relationship to money and possessions.

Trevin Wax: I like the phrase you introduce in the book: “missional giving.” What do you mean by that?

Marty Duren: Missional giving is the idea that our relationship to money and possessions is subordinate to the mission of God, that all money we have under our control is under the control of God. We cannot say that we are on mission with God if our stuff is actively impeding that mission. To be a missional giver is to live in such a way that financial support of kingdom work is a planned priority. The thesis of the book is stated this way:

Marty Duren: Possibly the most important thing to come out of the missional conversation is the truth that all believers are missionaries in their country, culture, and context. This has contributed mightily to our exploration of cross-cultural mission work within our own cities and communities, leading us to embrace cultural distinctives rather than judging them. More and more, Christ’s followers see themselves, accurately, as missionaries.

When missionaries are sent into international contexts, there are expectations, both spoken and unspoken, that their lives will be sacrificial: lesser goods, lesser money, one car, less emphasis on possessions, and smaller houses. One well-known mission agency allows their missionaries to live only in homes up to 1,600 square feet in size. In virtually every instance, if a missionary demanded a U.S. sized home, multiple cars, a large yard, i.e., almost everything we as Americans expect, we would demand they either repent or come back home.

Why do we place expectations on missionaries we send to other countries but do not live according to the same expectations even though we are missionaries sent by God as well? How does the fact that we are in our home culture change the fact that we have the same gospel responsibility to our host culture as someone who travels to a new culture? It does not.

Marty Duren: Anyone raised in America is familiar with the concept of the American dream—the idea that anyone who works hard and is self-sufficient can be successful. Though it has been under some attack in the last 2-3 years, it stands as the concept of each generation doing better than the generation preceding it. The problem for American believers is that “doing better” refers, almost solely, to having more stuff. The American Dream too easily slides into a life of materialism.

This has nowhere been more clearly demonstrated than when the economy became mired in the Great Recession. Out-of-control debt—the result of buying, buying, and more buying—was a curse on followers of Christ as well as those making no claim to salvation. Mortgage foreclosures hit believers and churches alike. Our credit card debt, as a whole, was also enslaving.

It is not just the questionable theology of the prosperity gospel that is the issue or the followers of certain “health and wealth” preachers. It is the blindness to our own idol worship. It is so engrained that we do not see it as sin and are loathe to admit it if confronted. When we get a raise or a bonus, it is rare for the first response to be “I wonder if God has a purpose for this extra money He has sent my way…” Most of the time, the money is gone before it ever hits our checking account: new toys, new trinkets, bigger car, and the like.

Marty Duren: Because money is more tangible and it is easier to trust. When God says, “Wait,” but First National says, “No closing costs!” and MasterCard says, “Priceless!” we often reach for what we can touch rather than waiting for Him who is invisible. Even though God has promised to meet all our needs, our lack of patience leads us to the immediate gratification money provides. There are many ways that mammon is the exact opposite of God: God is power; money provides power. God requires faith; money replaces faith. God teaches patience; money provides immediacy—and so on.

Mammon is an idol that directly affects our lives every single day. Mammon is not like Baal or Molech—stone images to whom some sacrifice is made—instead, it affects virtually every decision we make: clothing, electricity, gasoline, size of house, style of car, vacation destination, sports, and hobbies. Literally, the list could go on and on. Part of what makes mammon so endearing is that it is interactive.

If we are not careful, we will make all of our financial decisions not on the basis of what God would have us do but simply on whether or not we can afford it. At that point, mammon is in control.

Marty Duren: Practical theology, yes. But this is not a book on balancing your budget or getting out of debt. It is not a how-to book. It is a “what is the truth and what does that require” kind of book. It is not an investment book, unless you count investing in the kingdom of God. Dave Ramsey and Ron Blue are safe.

Marty Duren: I would like to say it’s because I’m such a generous person, but that might not be accurate. It is actually two-fold: first, due to shifts in the publishing industry, my publisher is going out of business. Consequently, my book will be out of print until I either get another publisher or decide to self-publish it. Second, I really do believe the content is important enough to put into everyone’s hands, even if I don’t always make money.

To accomplish this, I’m making the book available in serial form on my blog. Each Thursday, beginning tomorrow, March 22, a new chapter will be available to read. It won’t be downloadable, but quotes for reviews or use in teaching will be allowed. It will stay up indefinitely unless an unexpected book deal were to require it to be removed. It will remain available in both the Kindle Store and the iBookstore at very discounted rates.

On Wednesday, LifeWay hosted a number of pastors and bloggers for The Gospel Project Webcast with Matt Chandler, Ed Stetzer, and J.D. Greear. I’m excited about rolling out the videos soon. You can watch the whole webcast here. 

Below are some of the best tweets:

God’s acceptance is what frees us from sin, it’s not God’s reward to us for resisting sin. @jdgreear #thegospelproject

— Joseph Stegall (@josephstegall) March 14, 2012

Bible stories become only kids stories and moralistic tales when we don’t connect them to the gospel. #thegospelproject

— Meredith Teasley (@MeredithTeasley) March 14, 2012

Hey friends #thegospelproject is trending worldwide #2 on twitter. Not incidental.

— Alvin Reid (@alvinreid) March 14, 2012

“We don’t want people on mission out of obligation we want them on mission out of passion” Trevin Wax #thegospelproject

— Marty Blakely (@3BCMarty) March 14, 2012

“A sure sign you understand the Gospel is what you do when you mess up”@MattChandler74 #theGospelProject #Truth

— Ron Edmondson (@RonEdmondson) March 14, 2012

“@samluce: We want to teach our kids so that if you shake them, they throw up Bible. @jdgreear #kidmin and vomit. #thegospelproject“/love it

— Jasmine Waring (@JazzyWaring) March 15, 2012

The point of #thegospelproject is not just to produce learners but also teachers & leaders. @edstetzer

— Philip Nation (@philipnation) March 14, 2012

‘The heart of a “deep” Bible study is the centrality of the Gospel.’ – @trevinwax #TheGospelProject

— benreed (@benreed) March 14, 2012

“I never want to preach a message that would still be true if Jesus hadn’t died on the cross.” @edstetzer #TheGospelProject

— Scott Connelly (@Scottvconnelly) March 15, 2012

students take calculus, biology, etc in school yet we think they cant understand the depths of who God is. #makesnosense #thegospelproject

— Jefferson (@JeffuhsonBethke) March 14, 2012

“@Jonathanakin: You worship your way into sin and have to worship your way out- @jdgreear #thegospelproject”

— Benjamin Bryant (@bendrumsbryant) March 14, 2012

As believers we need to act a little less we’ve arrived and more like God sent us @edstetzer #thegospelproject

— LifeWay Student (@StudentMinistry) March 14, 2012

“We’ve got to go deeper than the demons. ” – @trevinwax on going deeper than just knowing the bible. #thegospelproject

— Michael DiMarco (@dimarco) March 14, 2012

You have to teach morality in the context of the Gospel or people become self-righteous or beaten down – @MattChandler74 #thegospelproject

— Sam Luce (@samluce) March 14, 2012

In studying the bible, many of us “confuse minutia with meat.” – @edstetzer #thegospelproject

— Michael DiMarco (@dimarco) March 14, 2012

The only way we are freed from our desire for sin is a greater desire for Christ through the Gospel #thegospelproject

— David Chambers (@dbc1938studios) March 14, 2012

Photos from yesterday’s #thegospelproject webcast w/ @edstetzer @mattchandler74 @jdgreear @trevinwax – bit.ly/zHXkOD

— LifeWayNews (@LifeWayNews) March 15, 2012

Today, I’m hosting a free webcast about The Gospel Project with Matt Chandler, J.D. Greear, and Ed Stetzer. During the event, these three men will each deliver a brief message:

• Matt Chandler will discuss the need to make the gospel explicit in our small groups.
• J.D. Greear will discuss the need to ground our life-application in the gospel.
• Ed Stetzer will talk about the need for gospel-centeredness to move us out on mission for God’s Kingdom.

After each message, I’ll sit down with each speaker and ask them questions we receive through FaceBook and Twitter. At the end, the four of us will gather for a panel discussion.

The webcast starts at 2:00 p.m. (Central Standard Time) and will go until around 3:15.

I’m also looking forward to spending some time with a number of distinguished guests and local pastors. Here are some of the bloggers who will be joining us:

• Todd Rhoades (Twitter)
• Jeff Bethke (Twitter)
• Tony Kummer (Twitter)
• Dave Miller (Twitter)
• Jon Akin (Twitter)
• Micah Fries (Twitter)
• Sam Luce (Twitter)
• Kenny Conley (Twitter)
• Jonathan McKee (Twitter)
• David R. Smith (Twitter)
• Ron Edmondson (Twitter)
• Aaron Armstrong (Twitter)
• Jenny Funderburke (Twitter)

The Twitter hash tag for the event is #thegospelproject. If you plan on watching, let us know by tweeting to @Gospel_Project or by visiting the FaceBook page. You can send questions for Matt, J.D., and Ed via Twitter and FaceBook as well.

If you can’t make the website but still want information on The Gospel Project, check out the website and join the pilot project. Once you join the pilot project, you can download four sample lessons from each age group for free.

Yesterday, I shared an article from The Wall Street Journal about the loss of apprenticeship in preparing a young person for adulthood. It’s interesting that the writer recognized the difference between being book smart and wise with regard to life. 

The culture of the first century put a high priority on learning through apprenticeship. You see hints in this direction as you read the New Testament, particularly in how Jesus spoke of His relationship to the Father. But it’s also likely that in the early Christians’ desire to “make disciples, teaching them to obey all that Christ had commanded them,” their vision of “teaching” was somewhat different than what we mean by the term today.

Once they recognize the deficiencies of an information-only type of teaching, these leaders begin to downplay the need for verbally teaching people the fundamental doctrines of the faith. The result is a largely atheological ministry that inevitably leans toward a behavior-focused, moralistic message. The good news (powerful, life-transforming information) subtly shifts into good advice (“Just tell me how to live!”). And we wind up with a biblically illiterate mass of well-intentioned Christians being told each week what to do.

Camp 2

In response, other church leaders swing the pendulum back. We must teach people and teach them well. The problem, however, is that “teaching” in these churches is often reduced to conveying important biblical information. The assumption is that once we learn the right things, we will live the right way.

It seems to me that the real question is what we really believe. It seems to me that we do tend to have two creeds—the one which we believe in our intellectual assent, and then the one which we believe to the extent of acting upon it in faith. More and more it seems to me that the true level of our orthodoxy is measured by this latter standard rather than the former. And more and more it seems to me that there is no such thing as an abstract Christian dogma—that each Christian dogma can be experienced on some level.

Apprenticeship is serious business. Never downplay the importance of sermons, theological education, and deep Bible study. Just make sure you match all of these with doing life together, modeling a new way of being human, inviting people to come alongside of us and learn what it means to follow Jesus – not merely by what we tell them but also by how we live.