From the Vineyard Newsletter on 12/30: A Great Start in 2020

As we turn off the lights on 2019, and say hello to 2020, my hope is that you have ended 2019 more in love with Jesus than you began the year. My hope is that you are more passionate about the lost, about his presence, and about sharing Christ with those around you. My hope is that you are stepping into 2020 more equipped and more determined to share Jesus with your neighbors. 

For that reason, I want to encourage everyone to be sure to get involved in one of our LifeGroups, and then to make it your mission to multiply that group in 2020. One of our most common requests is for a LIfeGroup, and one of the most common reasons for not staying at the Vineyard was the inability to get connected to one. Nothing says love to new people like finding acceptance in a LifeGroup, but nothing says you're not wanted like, "Our LifeGroup is closed, no new people allowed."  So I am asking you to be the hands and feet of Jesus by doing a couple of things. 

If you are in a LifeGroup, open your group and make room for new people, and get ready to change for the sake of loving people. If you are not in a LifeGroup, let me invite you to join a LifeGroup. 

Then let me invite you to join our next LifeGroup training, January 12 &19. We need a lot more LifeGroups. Our next training is just a few weeks away. So join us for LifeGroup training and then start another group. Maybe even ask a couple of people from your old group to help you start a new group, like missionaries. 

And then start training people in your LifeGroup to take turns leading the group, so that in the future, they won’t need our LifeGroup course, they will already know how to lead a LifeGroup and be able to start a new group without having to go to class first. It’s called the discipleship loop, and that was how Jesus trained all of his Apostles: 

I do, you watch __________We talk.

I do, you help ___________ We talk.

You do, I help____________ We talk

You do, another watches ___Y’all talk

Without that discipleship loop we are inadvertently participating in religious consumerism. But when we engage, when we not only love God and love people, but we actually pass it on, then we are engaging in authentic Christianity. It is then that we fulfill Jesus’ commission to make disciples. I hope you will join me in 2020 by making disciples of Jesus. 

Grace and peace,

Hal