WATCH Prayer

These messages will be posted on http://www.sweetenlife.com/ in the near future. You will be allowed to download them for your study and inspiration.

The Small Group Process follows the acrostic WATCH

W-WELCOME God and each other

A-ATTEND to God and each other
T-TELL God and each other your story
C-CALL upon God for help
H-HEAR God and one another

We will examine Welcome God and One Another Today

W- Welcome one another and Welcome the Lord. Begin each gathering with a time of warm greetings. This sets the stage for trust and openness to God and each other.

Warmth, gentle caring and respect for every person is essential to group dialogue and to the development of a "safe place" to experiment with prayer.

The Welcome may include refreshments, a time of "logging in" or other means of establishing an environment where members of the family feel at home. Faith, hope and love that bring healing.

The Welcoming process includes a time of acknowledging God's presence and inviting Him to lead. God is omnipresent so He is always with us. Jesus made one of the most dramatic statements ever when He said, “I will send you the Counselor to be with you and in you”. John 14. In the act of welcoming we acknowledge the words of Jesus. It establishes our intent to meet in His name and for His purposes.

Welcoming God can be done through scripture, songs, praises, or specific requests and thanksgiving for His immanent presence.

Instead of spending time in Welcoming the Lord some begin by asking for "prayer requests." We suggest that this be delayed until later when the group has had time to develop a sense of God's immanence and His guidance. The group facilitator may wish to read a short overview of the WATCH principles to inform and guide newcomers and remind veterans of the "normal" group processes.

The WATCH acrostic can be used for that purpose.Most groups go through four stages of normal development each time they meet. Whenever new people are present, it is especially important for leaders to be sensitive to the individual member needs during these phases.

Forming occurs as members or guests silently ask: " How do I fit into this group? Will I be accepted? What if I make a mistake or embarrass myself? The key to successfully moving through this stage is to warmly welcome and accept every person. It is also important to explain the roles and goals of the group. St. Paul wrote to Corinth about this issue in chapter 14 of the first letter. He told them to avoid public behavior that could confuse outsiders or non-believers.

In a small group committed to a process of give and take dialogue, we can more easily tune in to these concerns and be able to successfully navigate the anxious waters of fearful people.

Storming occurs when members' anxieties about who is in control come out in the group. They may erupt as theological or biblical debates but are usually more about emotional anxiety than spiritual truth. Stormers are asking, "Who is in charge here and why?"

A gentle, caring, warmly accepting peaceful group will weather the storm and go on to the perform stage.

Performing occurs when the anxieties of belonging and control are settled. All cylinders are firing and the group is able to work together as one unified whole. A gathering becomes a community ready and able to dialogue with each other and the Lord.

Reforming When a group comes to the end, it must reform. No two group meetings are the same so there is a symbolic "death and resurrection" at the completion of each meeting. This calls for acknowledgement and celebration.

However, when a group finishes a cycle of life and comes to an end as a covenant community, it is time for reflection and a "celebration of the resurrection". Properly done these ceremonies are extremely healthy for the individuals and for the group.

The process and attitude of Welcoming is important throughout all four stages of group development. Warmly inviting God and each other is being a good host and promotes trust, communication and bold experimentation with prayer.

Call me if you would like to have training on developing a new and more effective way of doing small groups.

Gary Sweeten

gsweeten@cinci.rr.com

Back to the Prayer Process

A few days ago I posted some of my thoughts about prayer and learning to hear God. I have been distracted a bit by other matters and will add a few ideas about some of the principles of moving a group to listen to the Holy Spirit.

WATCH Prayer Meetings

The following acrostic sets out a process which can guide us as we practice Seeking Prayer in a group setting. The word, WATCH gives the process a simple outline.

W-WELCOME God and each other
A-ATTEND to God and each other
T-TELL God and each other your story
C-CALL upon God for help
H-HEAR God and one another

When we practice all these principles we will usually discover that the Lord shows up and the group experiences His presence. Remember, however, that this is a dynamic process not one governed by legalistic rules. Sometimes Attend comes before the Welcome. We may hear the Lord speak about His agenda prior to our arrival at the meeting.

When serving on the pastoral staff of a large congregation we oversaw two monthly services of healing and worship that practiced these principles. The elders gathered prior to each service to Seek God’s guidance about the upcoming event. We wanted to get an idea about the direction He would take us. This enabled us to guide the interactions, worship and preaching. Sometimes a person shares a “Word of knowledge or a Prophesy” that contradicted the direction we had received at the Seeking Meeting.

During a dialogue prayer time we need to be flexible and sensitive to the dynamics of the group. This requires that we are humble about who gives guidance and direction. Sometimes a young, inexperienced or immature person will get a word from the Lord and the wiser, mare mature members will have to swallow their pride and follow the younger one. Many are the times when God has tested our humility by giving a word to an “unworthy” person.

In the early days of our ministry to college students and street people we saw God reveal our pride. God works in a mysterious way and the Spirit guided our actions and allowed us to fail many times because we needed to trust in Him not our own wisdom. For example, a group of us met to prepare for a time of prayer for a man who was deeply troubled. He was a recent graduate of the Arizona penitentiary whom we had taken in to live with us.

During the preparation time, the Lord directed us to ask a young believer named Philip to lead the ministry process. So, we were excited about the time with Charles. We expected God to set him free. However, as we ministered to Charles it was obvious that we had no wisdom, no discernment and no power. It was embarrassing and disappointing.

The next day we met with our tail between our legs for an evaluation. I reviewed the experience and asked everyone to share his thoughts about why God did not show up. Jim listened for awhile but looked awfully uncomfortable. We asked him what was wrong. He stuttered and stumbled for awhile but finally confessed that he was angry at the meeting the night before and God had convicted him of his sin. “I was upset that Philip was the leader not me. I was thinking, ‘I am older in the Lord than he is. Philip has never done anything like this and it shows that you love him more than me’. As I prayed this morning I was really convicted about my attitude.”

Jim's confession revealed why we were impotent. Pride and anger interfered with our operating in union with Christ. God allowed us to fail. The failure showed us that we needed healing ourselves. We were not ready to pray for Charles until we prayed for ourselves. We needed to Seek God’s unity and healing before we had anything to say to Charley. We had failed at the most basic part of ministry, hearing God for ourselves.

“Physician heal thyself!”

Evangelical Community Church Group

Silver Heirs

On the left is Leigh Fopma Ishmael with an old folder from the Christian Discipleship Ministry at College Hill Presbyterian Church. Leigh was involved with us in prayer, care and how to share the good news of Jesus.

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These are members of the Evangelical Community where I visited last week and spoke about the importance of reaching our friends and neighbors with the good news of Christ.Silver Heirs is a group of Seasoned Believers with a wonderful track record of service to God and people.

They are some of the most gifted, talented and compassionate people I have ever known. Silver Heirs is a unique ministry that is a good model for us as we seek ways to minister to the large number of Christians over 45.

Bush Donates Lots of Money to Charity

President Bush and Vice President Cheney and their wives have released information about their contributions to charities last year.

The White House said that Mr. Bush and the first lady, Laura Bush, gave $165,660 to churches and charitable organizations, a figure that represents nearly 18 percent of their total income of $936,111.

The organizations that received gifts from President and Mrs. Bush included the Crawford Volunteer Fire Department, in their Texas hometown; the Malaria No More Fund, which works in Africa and has been supported by Mrs. Bush; Martha’s Table, a soup kitchen in Washington; Susan G. Komen for the Cure (formerly known as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation); and St. John’s Church, an Episcopal parish near the White House.

The White House did not say how much money the Bushes contributed to specific organizations.

Laura Bush, according to the White House, donated all net proceeds from a $150,000 advance she received for a children’s book she has written with her daughter, Jenna Bush. That money went to Teach for America, a nonprofit group that provides recent college graduates with opportunities to teach at schools in poor neighborhoods, and to the New Teacher’s Project.

Vice President Cheney and his wife, Lynne Cheney, said they contributed $166,547 to charity in 2007, which represented 5.5 percent of their total income of $3.05-million. The Cheneys did not identify the organizations that received their gifts.

The Cheneys said that their total contributions to charitable organizations during the years Mr. Cheney has served as vice president totaled $7.96-million.

Muslim and Mormon Evangelism

Why am I discussing Evangelism and foreign missions on this blog dedicated to Seasoned (Mature) Believers? Well, mature Christians are thought to be the folks most interested in reaching out to non-believers, and, some of the largest unhitched groups in America are immigrants and a home grown cult.

Mormons: 6 million

Jews: 5.75 million

Buddhists: 5.5 million

Muslims: 2.5 million

Hindus: 1.5 million

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These very small groups are growing quickly and that fact disturbs many of us because it gets a lot of press. But I am not upset because I see God at work.

Their percentage growth is great because it begins from a tiny base and any increase looks like a lot. For example, if a group has 100 people and adds another 100 it has a 100% growth rate. But, if a group has 1,000 members and grows by 500 the growth rate is much less.

Some 80% of the American population claims to believe in Christ. This could mean as many as 200 million adults are Believers while all the groups listed above amount to only 20 about million people. And, each of these persons is a focus of our prayer and evangelism.

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Now for some great news!

You might be surprised to learn that the largest unchurched group in America is not Muslim, Mormon or even Mexicans but Seasoned Citizens from a Christian background. Many of these are "Church Alumni" who came to faith and followed Christ for many decades but dropped out of the formal church.

Just think, this is evangelism made easy. We can more easily talk with people we have known or lived next to for years.

Come to our workshop on April 26 and learn how to reach out to the disaffected alumnus and those absent from church since youth. Go to my new web page that is under construction and register. www.sweetenlife.com

Gary Sweeten
Sweeten Life Systems
gsweeten@cinci.rr.com

Thank God for Immigrants

Many Americans are anxious about immigration. Lou Dobbs of CNN, overseas it stands for The Communist News Network, is a poster boy for hyper anxiety and fear mongering. His anxiety plus that of several right wing radio commentators is causing near panic among Christians. I think that such fear and worry is a serious misunderstanding of God's plan for American Christians.


First, God changes nations and national identities. Nations never stay the same.


Second, immigration makes missions much easier than ever before. I have visited foreign countries over 100 times over the last few years and I have seen the desperate needs among their people. I have been able to teach the pastors, missionaries and lay leaders how to minister the gospel to others.


Overseas missions are still needed but the world has changed. Now we live in the global village because God is bringing so many foreigners to our shores and our doors. Donna Thomas, a veteran missionary with a tremendous track record overseas, is now very active in teaching people how to reach their cross cultural neighbors in the USA. http://www.cvministries.org/CVM%20Brochure.pdf


Do not be afraid, dear Christian friends. God is bringing people here to see and know Christ and our nation will be stronger for it. Boldly ask God to lead you to folks from overseas. They are often very interested in knowing Christians and learning about our faith.