The Word and Leading Home Group Evangelism

Doug Patch

1 Corinthians 3:5-9

God calls every one of his followers to evangelize, including people who may not be gifted in this area. Therefore, we must strive to lead this practice in our home groups, making sure that we are utilizing God's Word to do so. From there we can begin approaching our group by first making a clear biblical case for evangelism. We should communicate how the group is doing, demonstrate how God's grace empowers believers to do this, develop an action plan for both the inner attitudes and outwards actions, and present vision for where God will lead the group.

The Life of Watchman Nee

Mike Sullivan

1 Corinthians 3:5-9

The life of Watchman Nee is an extraordinary account of Christian dedication. This workshop explores his background and the church planting movement that he began in China during the twentieth century. Through examining his movement, we can extract both pitfalls to avoid and qualities to implement in our own churches. Xenos, in this way, does have Nee to thank for some of the reasoning behind its own home church structure.

What Makes a Man?

Joey Francisco

Proverbs 27:17

Our culture tells us men should live on an island, be less emotional, and live their life in pursuit of autonomous comfort. This has created an environment where we see young men seeking fulfillment and purpose from the world's resources that will never satisfy. God has given men resources in His Word that can lead them to leadership, diligent work, healthy relationships, and healthy emotional output. God's resources and provisions will satisfy.

Leading Dynamic Discussion

John Ross

Proverbs 27:17

Teaching through discussion is an important element to an effective Bible study, but it is a skill that takes practice and effort. This workshop explores three key elements of teaching through discussion: creating strong questions, delivering questions at key points in the teaching, and guiding the discussion effectively. Through examining these areas and honing our questions, we can begin to lead much more dynamic discussions, both in small and larger group settings.

Praying for Stuck Christians

Gary DeLashmutt

1 Samuel 12:22-23

Once beginning a relationship with Christ, the road to spiritual growth is not easy and many believers become "stuck," mired in things like bitterness, self-righteousness or fear. This workshop develops the biblical evidence that we should pray for these believers and explores what that looks like in action. Prayer is an immensely powerful tool, and we need to wield it in order to help others be loosened from the enemy's grasp. We see that In response to this, we should consider someone in our own life for whom we may pray and be prepared to persevere in those prayers.

Motivating Disciples to Become Faithful Evangelists

Catrina Bogart

Doug Patch

John 4:34

God's call to evangelism is universal to all believers in Christ. Therefore, it is important that we spend time and energy helping our disciples to become self-motivated, faithful evangelists. This first requires that we ourselves are modeling evangelism and its importance. We must also correctly define what a faithful evangelist is, separating our role from God's. Other key elements include prayer, sowing seeds abundantly, making nonbelievers more comfortable, and planning moves ahead of time.

Xenos Home Group Model

Patrice McCormac

John 17:21-23

The foundation of Xenos was the home group model, where the church first began. Still today, Xenos is a large church based upon a collection of home groups. This workshop explores the structure of home groups as well as some key features of these groups, including evangelism, discipleship, and community. Finally, this workshop provides an overview of leadership and home group planting.

Persuasion vs. Pressure

John Ross

Ephesians 4:15-16

In order to lovingly guide people toward a full and satisfying life for Christ, we must learn to persuade rather than pressure them. This can take on many forms but always puts God at the center and focuses on grace. There are many biblical techniques we can look to to learn to persuade people to experience the fullness of Christ.

Restoring Evangelism in your Home Group

Doug Patch

John 15:5-8

There are clear biblical principles leaders can use to help spur their home group on to evangelize. Leader's must give a clear biblical case for what God commands in regards to evangelism. They must also lay out how the group is doing in comparison to God's call. Leaders must also communicate how God's grace overcomes underlying sin and encourage people towards what motivates and empowers them to live out the call of evangelism. It is by God's power and grace that moves people to love the lost and so casting this vision is the key motivator.