I have been reading Jim Collins book, Good the Great this fall and one of the concepts that really spoke volumes to me was about the idea of having a "stop doing" list as a matter of discipline. Listen to this excerpt from the book:
Do you have a "stop doing" list? Most of us lead busy but undisciplined lives. We have ever- expanding "to do" lists, trying to build momentum by doing, doing, doing- and doing more. And it rarely works. Those who built the good-to-great companies, however, made as much use of "stop doing" lists as "to do" lists. They displayed a remarkable discipline to unplug all sorts of extraneous junk.
He later says to sum up the point: The real question is, once you know the right thing, do you have the discipline to do the right thing, and equally important, to stop doing the wrong things?
This may be where we are often in our small groups and even in life in general. I will admit that I am a list maker. I have a list of things that I seek to accomplish during the day. It keeps me focused, it helps me to plan out my day, it also though, helps me to say no to some things that come up that try to take my time.
The reality is that this can be very true in our groups in church. We know the things that we are to do: teach God's Word for daily application, outreach to new people, minister (prayer, care, contact) to our members, and provide an atmosphere for fellowship to occur that builds community and relationships. If we try to make our groups to be anything but these things or even try to remove one of our "to do's" then we are not staying focused.
By having this discipline as well in our groups to not just "do" these things, but to do them with passion and excellence that honors God fire and foremost, then when opportunities arise that try to take away from our focus as a group, then we can easily say no to those things.
I will say that in our church our focus for our Life Groups is simply this: Engaging the entire congregation to fulfill the Great Commission. This is what I want us to do. If our groups become anything but this, then I have to make sure that we stop doing those things that interfere with our main purpose and focus.
What would be in your "to do" list? What would be in your "stop doing" list?
Is your group doing the right things with excellence and passion? Or does your group need to stop doing things just good enough?
Do you have a "stop doing" list? Most of us lead busy but undisciplined lives. We have ever- expanding "to do" lists, trying to build momentum by doing, doing, doing- and doing more. And it rarely works. Those who built the good-to-great companies, however, made as much use of "stop doing" lists as "to do" lists. They displayed a remarkable discipline to unplug all sorts of extraneous junk.
He later says to sum up the point: The real question is, once you know the right thing, do you have the discipline to do the right thing, and equally important, to stop doing the wrong things?
This may be where we are often in our small groups and even in life in general. I will admit that I am a list maker. I have a list of things that I seek to accomplish during the day. It keeps me focused, it helps me to plan out my day, it also though, helps me to say no to some things that come up that try to take my time.
The reality is that this can be very true in our groups in church. We know the things that we are to do: teach God's Word for daily application, outreach to new people, minister (prayer, care, contact) to our members, and provide an atmosphere for fellowship to occur that builds community and relationships. If we try to make our groups to be anything but these things or even try to remove one of our "to do's" then we are not staying focused.
By having this discipline as well in our groups to not just "do" these things, but to do them with passion and excellence that honors God fire and foremost, then when opportunities arise that try to take away from our focus as a group, then we can easily say no to those things.
I will say that in our church our focus for our Life Groups is simply this: Engaging the entire congregation to fulfill the Great Commission. This is what I want us to do. If our groups become anything but this, then I have to make sure that we stop doing those things that interfere with our main purpose and focus.
What would be in your "to do" list? What would be in your "stop doing" list?
Is your group doing the right things with excellence and passion? Or does your group need to stop doing things just good enough?
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