CORE Discipleship Group Instructor Training Tips:
Instructors email your questions or concerns, things you've done that will encourage or help other instructors learn from your experience and I will post as appropriate. Send them to: admin@coregroups.org
Our church wants to launch the CORE Discipleship network. Do we need to invite you to come train our group?
Ideally, yes. Reality, no. I would choose to be there with you to impart the process, but because of scheduling conflicts, time requirements, geographical differences and because I will not compromise my own heart, home and family, there is another way we can get your started. I would recommend the following:
1. Assuming you are the senior pastor or in leadership, take a few weeks and prayerfully consider those who have your heart and a heart for evangelism/discipleship (your most spiritually mature men/women) - do this quietly without fanfare. If you are not in leadership but want to launch a CORE, I would strongly suggest that you first visit with your church leadership and share with them your vision and the CORE web site and resources. With their approval, you can then begin seeking after those you will call out for your first discipleship group.
2. Once you’ve determined your potential candidates, please contact me and we can discuss which resources best suited for your initial launch. Once we’ve determined resources, I would suggest that you personally invite those few individuals to a vision casting time together – you present the three-strand church model, the biblical process of discipleship, and that you are inviting them to join you in your CORE Group launch (all of this is presented in the CORE Manual). Give them a couple weeks to mull this over with instruction to get back to you with their decision. Once you have their commitment, you can provide a manual to each person, set a date for your first CORE meeting and begin.
3. As you'll notice in our training section, each of our resource packages comes with 6-months consultation directly with me – I will be available to help you along the way. The experience I have gleaned over the last two years in the CORE process and discipleship in general over the last 14-years will be a blessing as you launch your group. My greatest desire is to see Jesus exalted, the Great Commission fulfilled, and lives transformed; to that end, I am committed to helping you with a successful CORE launch and the establishment of your CORE network.
I stand ready to serve you in whatever ways our Father directs. If that means my coming to your church, so be it. If it means launching your CORE network as I have just outlined, so be it. Regardless, you have my heart and I am here to serve.
If you have questions, please write or give me a call and we can discuss in more detail (click here).
I lead a CORE. Can I launch another CORE Group?
Because the very nature of CORE is spiritual parenting, I would suggest you not have more than 2 CORE Groups at any one time - it would be like having up to six children of various age levels in your home. Some instructors can easily disciple one person while others can easily train six. It depends on how you're spirit-wired! We've released instructors who remain in their original CORE Group and launch another (CORE becomes a band of brothers or sisters for life). We've also had CORE instructors who learn the process, launch one CORE and then see the need for another. The great thing about CORE is that once you have two or more CORE Groups, you can then bounce ideas, questions, concerns, leadership techniques, and countless other things off the other instructors. Some of the richest and most profound training tips have come from released CORE instructors.
I'm not in a CORE Group right now. Once I complete the 12-week CORE Workshop, will I be released to launch my own CORE Group?
Our hopes are that everyone who begins the process will in time be released as CORE instructors. For some, this might take just a few weeks to see the process and for us to release them as instructors. Others might take longer. We must remember that the CORE definition of discipleship is “a safe, loving, confidential personal relationship where a more spiritually mature instructor teaches another to observe all that Jesus commanded” (Mth. 28:19,20). For some, this may take longer than the 12-week workshop.
I'm in a CORE Group. Can I stay in my existing CORE Group and complete the 12-week CORE Workshop with the hopes of being released as an instructor sooner?
The best place to learn CORE is in a CORE Group. I would suggest that you stay in your existing CORE Group because you will develop life-long relationships not found in any other process. Yes, you can ask to be a part of the CORE Workshop, but again, the decision to release someone into leadership will be based on biblical qualifications, spiritual maturity, maintaining the vision/mission of the church, being rightly related to biblical authority, etc. These are all criteria that CORE instructors and church leadership will prayerfully consider before releasing anyone into leadership.
I'm not in a small group but want to be a part of the CORE network. What must I do?
Ideally, each person should be a member of the church, be a small group member, and will then be considered based on their level of commitment to Jesus Christ (Mth. 22:37-40; 28:19-20; John 8:31; John 13:35; John 15:8; and 2 Timothy 2:2 – in essence, those who love God and others, obey His Word, are committed to making disciples teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded..
I've had people ask me how they can join a CORE Group. What do I tell them?
CORE members are hand-selected and called out by CORE instructors after much prayer, meditation, and counsel. In fact, once a CORE Group is formed, the instructor is taught to begin asking each CORE member to pray for two converts and their disciple. CORE follows the same process of selecting individuals for potential CORE members as Jesus did (Luke 6:12,13). One of the foundational keys of the CORE process is found in 2 Timothy 2:2: “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men, who will be able to teach others.” The word “trust” here is used by the Apostle Paul as a commercial term. For instance, a bank guards money entrusted to it. Similarly, CORE instructors are to entrust spiritual teaching to those who will keep it safe and who have the same heart to repeat the very process again. How do we know who is worthy of such trust? Paul tells us to look for faithful men. The Greek word for faithful is pistos: those who are believing, loyal, reliable, steadfast. Additionally, I would look for candidates who have your heart and especially those who are obedient to God's Word, loving, and who bear fruit - have a heart for reaching the lost and committed to discipleship (John 8:31,32; 13:35; 15:8). CORE Discipleship takes seriously the call to biblical discipleship. God wants us to commit ourselves to making disciples, but only to those who will be true to the sacred trust that is given as the Word is accurately taught, preserved and transmitted. Just as is true in natural parenting, spiritual parenting in the CORE is a lifetime of adventure and the adventure of a lifetime. Enjoy!
How can our CORE Group pray for you?
Wisdom. Discernment. Courage. CORE Discipleship Groups could provide for one of the most exciting next waves for the Church we've seen in recent Church history. Our enemy has seen this same kind of unity, fellowship, community, and kinship before (Acts). He hates it and us. Pray for God's continued coverage and will. Remember that it's all about God and seeing His Kingdom come!
I'm learning that nearly everything about CORE is spiritual. Is there anything as a CORE discipler that I can use to help translate these spiritual issues into something more within my experience level?
First institution God created was the family. I've learned that most every issue in life, church, and CORE can be answered when I ask, "Now what situation or event in my family life is this like and how should I handle it?" You'll be surprised at how close natural family principles parallel spiritual realities.
How important are the five major Scriptures that CORE Groups are founded upon?
The Great Commandment (Mth. 22:37-40), Great Commission (Mth. 28:19,20), Acts 2:42, Eph. 4:11-13 and 2 Tim. 2:2 are the 'handshake' of CORE. These five Scriptures are very important to the CORE and will help keep the focus, mission, vision, and purpose alive and fresh each time the Group gathers. I think that every couple of months you should ask one of the Group to recite any or all five and challenge the members to not only memorize but to fully embrace the significance of each of these passages and God's intended will for the CORE.
My Group isn't contacting each other during the week. Help!
What you seed is what you reap. I've made it a practice to call each of the CORE members at least once each week. My purpose is entirely because I love them and sincerely care about what's going on in their lives. It helps to schedule a specific day and time and like the Nike ads, "Just do it."
I've been released to launch a CORE Group and I'm really nervous. Any advise?
You're in good hands and with the right heart. All of us are concerned at first, but remember that the basis of what CORE is all about is relational discipleship. Heavy emphasis on relational and discipleship. You'll find that unlike a small group, you'll become very close to those in your CORE. These precious brothers and sisters have been hand-selected, prayed over, and chosen first by God and then by the CORE. Pray. Ask God to guide you. Embrace a spirit of humility. Being Spirit led is simply being in the right place at the right time talking to the right person with the right Word. You'll do fine because the CORE Network serves not only as a safety net, but because the entire Team is first submitted to Christ Jesus as head and operating beneath the biblical authority and permission of our church.
When do you know when to release someone into CORE leadership?
The spiritual life assessment tool in the CORE manual will help you decide because it's all about character and leadership traits (the same criteria for eldership/leadership in the church). Secondly, you have the added benefit of taking each and every major issue, concern, and especially the possibility of releasing someone into leadership before the counsel of other CORE Group leadership and church leadership to help you in making decisions. You're not alone! Additionally, I would never release anyone until they have been proven faithful (2 Tim. 2:2). That does not mean that they have everything all together, otherwise, none of us - including the Apostles - would ever be released. I can't begin to tell you how vitally important it is to prayerfully and carefully consider each person and to make sure that they are observing all that Jesus commanded. Character and faithfulness are paramount to the release of a disciple as an instructor - they must see Jesus' vision and greatly desire to see the fulfillment of the Great Commission from a pure heart.
What is the single largest challenge you've faced as an instructor?
Remembering that this is God's process and that He is faithful to complete what He's begun. I've also discovered that it's very easy to give my heart to some of these guys because of the safety net, confidence, and friendship we develop. This is good and not so good. I must remember that Jesus gave His heart to no one except the Father - and though He gave He life for us - His disciples - He never, ever gave His deepest heart to any living human. Why? We're human. My counsel to you is to go deep with your members, but never lose sight of the Great Commandment and Great Commission. Your job as a CORE instructor is to 'make disciples' and in the process, we sometimes lose sight of the 'big picture.'
Our group members are at three levels of spiritual maturity. At what level should I teach?
Stay the course using your CORE Manual, but don't go any deeper than the spiritually 'young adult' in the Group (your spiritually middle son or daughter). You should also be spending considerable time with all the Group members throughout the week outside the Group meeting. It is then that you can meet each person at their appropriate levels of maturity.
I have one disciple who does not seem to be moving forward. What do I do?
In a word, forbear. However, at each 12-week period, especially at the beginning, I think it's a good idea to ask everyone if they want to continue or bail. If someone decides that CORE is not for them, bless them, let them go, and begin praying for your new member.
Our instructor is leaving. What do we do?
Get with the remaining CORE Group instructors and church leadership. Pray. Remember, a CORE Group instructor must be someone released by a CORE instructor. Don't rush the process even if your existing CORE continues for several weeks without an instructor.
We have people in our church wanting to join a CORE, but we don't have released instructors. What do we do?
Wait until you have released instructors.
We're really excited about the CORE Process. Is it OK to announce that we're launching a CORE network from the pulpit?
I would advise against it. Reason being that once you do, you'll have people waiting in line with no instructors to disciple them. Best way is to start quietly and build a network first. Then, as you have instructors, invite people to come on board.I've just released a disciple and he's now launching another CORE. Should he ask for my counsel?
If you have done your job as a disciple-maker, he should have been reporting his discipleship progress all along. Once two instructors are in full operation, every major decision should involve them. As you continue to multiply, you'll discover a tremendous safety net in the multitude of like-minded counsel. And always, always, always, your senior church leadership should be kept abreast of major decisions - beforehand, not after the fact.
Our instructor Lords it over us. Is this the way CORE Groups are supposed to be?
No. Get with your church senior leadership and CORE Team Leader in your church and seek counsel.
How can I get our Group to complete the studies?
Depending on how long this has been going on, remind everyone of the five major components of the CORE. If the problem persists, you're seeing a character flaw and you will need to gently address the disciple.
Our Group seems to have difficulty memorizing the Scriptures. Should I hold them accountable?
Yes, but with love, grace and patience. Remember, one of the CORE values is devoted to spending time in God's Word and we must encourage the members to commit to memorizing key scriptures. This will pay out in great dividends when they need it the most.
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