-Redeemer Presbyterian Church -

Fellowship*
Group*
Handbook*
A Manual for Leaders and Coordinators

Version 2.1
1999
 Editor’s note:

This manual was created in 1999 at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Our fellowship
group ministry and methodology has changed in the years since this manual was
written, but we are continuing to make this document available since it has been
helpful to other churches in formulating their own approach to fellowship or
community groups.
!

!
Redeemer Presbyterian Church
Fellowship Group Handbook:
A Manual for Leaders and Coordinators
Version 2.1. 1999.

Created by the staff of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, including:

Dr. Timothy J. Keller
Jeffrey O. White
Andrew E. Field

Copyright ©1999 by Redeemer Presbyterian Church of New York City

Revisions
Version 1.0: Copyright © 1994
Version 1.1: Copyright ©1996
Version 2.0: Copyright ©1997
Version 2.1: Copyright © 1999

All publication rights reserved by Redeemer Presbyterian Church, where applicable. No

part of this handbook may be reproduced in any form without permission from Redeemer
Presbyterian Church. Contact: (212) 808-4460, [email protected].
All references to outside sources are either acknowledged in the text or can be found in
the list of resources. Any oversight will be acknowledged in future editions.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture in this handbook is from the Holy Bible: New
International Version (NIV). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society.
Produced in the United States of America.
 Fellowship Group Handbook
Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION TO
FELLOWSHIP GROUP MINISTRIES 7
The Redeemer Vision: Core Values and Beliefs 8
Fellowship Group Summary 12
A Vision for Community 15

2. FELLOWSHIP GROUP
STRUCTURE 21
Redeemer's Fellowship Group Structure 22
The Ministry Community Meeting 25
Multiplying Groups and Leaders 29
Coordinators Guide: Visiting and Diagnosing Groups 36
Leadership Job Descriptions 41
Fellowship Group Leader’s Qualifications 44
Leadership Training and Help 47
Forms and Reports 49
Additional Resources 54

3. FELLOWSHIP GROUP
DYNAMICS 58
Agenda for a Healthy Fellowship Group 59
Understanding Group Dynamics 62
Stages in Group Life 66
Developing Group Loyalty 69
Intergenerational Groups 72
Worship in Small Groups 77
Study: Reading and Interpreting the Bible 80
Study: Using Curriculum and Asking Good Questions 83
Fellowship 86
Prayer in the Group 91
Mission: An Overview 96
Misison: Evangelism 98
Troubleshooting: Common Problems 101
Troubleshooting: Following-up Those Who Fall Through 104
the Cracks
Troubleshooting: Referral of Troubled and Troubling 107
People
 Table of Contents, continued

4. PASTORAL CARE 108

The Nature of Shepherding 109
Dynamics of Biblical Change 112
Diagnosing Spiritual Conditions 122
Personal Evangelism 128
Who is a Disciple? 139
A Plan for Discipleship 147
Personal Communion with God 153
Spiritual Gifts and Ministry 155
Time & Stress Management for Leaders 167
Reconciliation: Healing Wounds in a Relationship 173
Shepherding the Tempted 180
Shepherding the Accused 184
Shepherding the Afflicted 187
 How to Use this Handbook
WHY A REDEEMER FELLOWSHIP GROUP HANDBOOK?
Despite the wealth of information on small groups that have recently been published,
Redeemer Church chose to compile this manual for it's Fellowship Group Leaders. The
reasons behind this include:
1. An ability to "customize" information to our particular circumstances
New York City concerns
Consistent Meta-church model
Coordination with other Redeemer ministries
2. Condensing resources into one practical location
3. A stronger emphasis on shepherding and pastoring than most materials
4. A richer theology of people, sin and transformation than most materials
5. Promoting consistency among all Fellowship Groups with procedures and forms
6. Resources designed to strengthen group leaders
FOR NEW GROUP LEADERS
This manual will help you learn both the basics and intermediate skills for becoming and
effective Fellowship Group Leader and lay shepherd. Don't be overwhelmed! Go slowly,
and practice the information as you learn it.
Try to go in order and master the material in each section before you go on. Especially
pay attention to Part One, Introduction to Fellowship Group Ministries, (and section 2.1)
to understand the importance of being a Fellowship Group Leader.
The handbook is most helpful in coordination with the leadership classes and as an
apprentice leader.
FOR EXPERIENCED GROUP LEADERS
Review Parts One and Three quickly. These sections cover issues that you have probably
mastered already. Pay particular attention to Section Two, Fellowship Group Structure.
The changes to our Fellowship Group model are detailed there. Use the forms in 2.8 to
evaluate your group.
Study Part Four, Pastoral Care carefully. You may have seen some of this material
before, but it has been edited significantly. Apply these principles to your own heart as
you mature as a leader and then use them in your discipleship of others.
FOR COORDINATORS
You naturally must have a working knowledge of all parts of the Handbook. However,
Part Two, Fellowship Group Structure, is most important. As a Coordinator, you are
responsible for keeping your groups within this structure; therefore, it must become
second nature to you.
OTHER CHURCHES
This manual is expressly created for Redeemer Presbyterian Church. We would
appreciate notification if you intend to use this material for your church. Since we will be
making updates to this Handbook, we cannot be responsible for any errors or omissions
in whatever version you are using. We suggest that you develop your own manual to
reflect your church's situation rather than copying this one.

6
 PART ONE:
Introduction
to Fellowship
Group Ministries

7
 1.1

The Redeemer Vision: Core Values and Beliefs

What convictions make Redeemer distinctively what it is?
Of course, the first way to answer that question is to look at the churches doctrinal
commitments. Those are the creeds and summaries of what we believe the Bible teaches
about God, humanity, salvation, the Bible, the church, the world, and so on. Redeemer
stands with all churches in affirming the Apostle’s Creed, and with the Protestant and
Reformed churches in affirming the teachings of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
But in every time and place, a church has to determine how these doctrinal commitments
are to be propounded, embodied, and applied to the particular issues and minds and hearts
of the people where the church exists. This can be called the theological vision of the
congregation. This is also called its “core values” or “philosophy of ministry”. At
Redeemer, these basic guiding values can be broken down in a number of ways. The
following is a simple summary in three phrases.

GOSPEL POWER
1. The “Third Way” The gospel means “good news”. It is the basic message that: “God made [Christ], who
of the Gospel had no sin, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (II
Corinthians 5:21). The gospel says that we are so sinful, lost, and helpless that only the
life and death of the Son of God can save us. But it also says that those who trust in
Christ’s works instead of their own efforts are now “holy in his sight, without blemish
and free from accusation” (Colossians 1:22-23).
The gospel tells us that our root sin is not just failing in our obedience to God but relying
on our obedience to save us. Therefore, the gospel is a “third way”, neither religion nor
irreligion. The religious person may say, “I am doing the right things that God
commands” and the irreligious person may say, “I decide what is right and wrong for
myself”. But both ways reject Jesus as Savior (though they may revere him as Example,
or Helper). Both ways are strategies of self-salvation — both actually keep control of
their own lives. So the gospel keeps us from legalism and moralism on the one hand, and
from hedonism and relativism on the other.
2. The Gospel’s The gospel is not just the “A-B-C” but the “A-to-Z” of the Christian life. The gospel is
Power for Change not just the way to enter the kingdom, but is the way to address every problem and is the
way to grow at every step. If we believe we can find our own worth and meaning through
performance, then we will become either proud and disdainful of others (if we reach our
goals), or else discouraged and self-loathing (if we fail our goals). But the gospel creates
an entirely new self-image.
First, it tells us that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and
accepted in Christ than you ever dared to hope—at the same time. In fact, if the gospel is
true, the more you see your sin, the more certain you are that you were saved by sheer
grace and the more precious and electrifying that grace is to you. So the gospel gives us
enormous power to admit our flaws. Then secondly, the knowledge of our acceptance in
Christ makes (for the first time) the law of God a beauty instead of a burden. We come to
use it to delight the One who has enriched us so mightily—instead of using it to get his
attention or win his favor. The first way makes the moral and sacrificial life a joy; the
second way makes it a burden.
Therefore the gospel changes everything. It brings down racial barriers by melting away
racial pride OR inferiority. It brings down psychological problems by melting away self-
inflation OR self-hatred. It brings down personal facades, for we are free to admit who
we are. It effects the way we do everything at Redeemer—how we motivate people, how

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we help them work through counseling problems, how we worship, how we take
criticism.
3. The Gospel Creates The context for a gospel-centered life is never merely individual. The gospel creates a
a New Community new community, a unique community. “One of the immediate changes that the gospel
makes is grammatical: we instead of I; our instead of my; us instead of me.” (Eugene
Peterson, Reversed Thunder). This kind of new community is not an optional thing, an
“extra” for the Christian; instead it’s part of the overall purpose of God’s kingdom.
A new community is both the end of the gospel and also the means of spreading the
gospel. God’s promise in salvation is to create his “holy nation”, a people that dwell with
him forever. “I will be your God and you will be my people.” (Lev 26:12, Jer 30:22). So
Christians, who are eternally united to Christ, are therefore eternally united to one
another. We all are ministers of the gospel for the sake of one another. Since our culture
knows very little about true community, we will have to work hard at following a biblical
vision.
What is the biblical vision, what does true community look like? We are to be:
1. an accepting community that reflects the grace we’ve been given from Christ.
2. a holy community that urges one another to live God-pleasing lives.
3. a truth-telling community that is free to repent, and free to allow others to repent,
because of the gospel.
4. an encouraging community that builds one another up.
5. a sacrificially generous community that spends its life and wealth on the needs of
others.
6. a suffering community that loves and forgives others even when it harms us.

URBAN OUTREACH
4. A Love for the City Redeemer is an urban church—not by default, but by design. We seek to be a church for
urban people in particular, and a church that adapts to the conditions of the city as well as
a church that serves and challenges and changes the city. We encourage our people not
to:
1. despise the city (withdrawing, like a turtle), nor
2. reflect the city (blending, like a chameleon), nor
3. use the city (for their own purposes), but
4. love the city, live here, and serve it as good neighbors.
On the one hand, the city needs us, because it has many problems, and Christians must
use their resources to “bring peace” to the city (Jeremiah 29:7). On the other hand, we
Christians need the city, for it humbles us and calls us to use the gospel to critique our
own culture while appreciating others, and to trust the gospel to bring healing to
brokenness.
5. An Outward Face At Redeemer, evangelism is not simply one department of ministry, but it permeates
everything we do. We treat non-Christians with respect, remembering what it is like to
not believe. We treat non-Christians with hope, remembering what a grace-miracle our
own faith is. We consider virtually every public event to be something we do “before the
nations”, and we expect to be “overheard” by many friends who do not believe or who
don’t know what they believe. We seek to equip and motivate every member into an
evangelistic life-style.

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MOVEMENT MINDSET
6. A Movement of Redeemer exists to be an incubator and catalyst for hundreds of new churches and
Churches ministries. We expect to mother, sponsor, and other wise help establish scores of
congregations in and around NYC. Therefore, we encourage entrepreneurship and
creativity and lay leadership. We discourage “turf consciousness” and desire to serve the
whole body of Christ. We’re not just a church, but a movement of churches.
7. Social Healing We aim to show the world that the gospel will transform neighborhoods through
Christian community development, by “reweaving” an area through ministries of word,
mercy, and justice. We aim to show that the gospel lifts up the poor, and reconciles the
races and classes who otherwise could not be able to live together. Christians must learn
to respect, learn from, and partner with the poor as well as show them love and
compassion. We’re not just for personal healing, but for social healing.
8. Cultural Renewal Christians often either make a wholesale retreat from culture or create a Christian sub-
culture which mimics mainstream values and trends. Rather, we call our people to
theological reflection, to work with excellence in their professional fields, to
collaboration and networking of Christians within vocations, and for respect and service
to the whole world through their work. The goal is to show the world alternative ways of
being human as we serve through the arts, business world, government, academy, etc.
We’re not just for personal help, but for cultural renewal.

REDEEMER’S PURPOSE
Taking all seven of those core convictions together, we can now define Redeemer’s
particular purpose as a church. We urge you to carefully study, understand, and maybe
even memorize the following purpose statement:

As a church of Jesus Christ, Redeemer exists to help build a great city for all people
through a movement of the gospel that brings personal conversion, community
formation, social justice, and cultural renewal to New York City and, through it, the
world.

BASIC STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE OF REDEEMER

With that purpose, Redeemer has carefully organized the ministries our church so that we
can work together, by the power of the Spirit, to effect great change in New York. To call
the people of the center city to be stewards of their power and gifts for the honor of Christ
and the benefit of urban communities, Redeemer challenges Christians of the center city
not only to live within the city, but to serve.
A. Connecting Connecting New Yorkers to Christ through:
1. Evangelistic worship. Our worship services are designed to both build up those who
believe and to challenge and help those who doubt or seek.
2. Group-based ministries. The backbone of our church is a network of over 100 small
groups and ministry teams, in which face-to-face friendships and caring develops.
B. Building Building Christians into Servant-leaders through:
1. Church Family Life ministries. Believers are to relate to one another as “brothers and
sisters” in Christ. Christians of all ages and family status are to provide the support for
each other of a Christian family.
2. Caring ministries. Through our network of support groups, classes and seminars we
provide a context for spiritual growth. Our counseling center and our diaconate help
people with particular needs.

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3. Discipling and Leadership Development. Through classes and mentoring relationships,

we help new Christians mature into servant-leaders in the church.
4. Prayer ministries. Without prayer and reliance on God’s grace, all of our strategies are
hollow. We gather groups for prayer to seek God’s face and praise him for what he has
already done.
5. Coordination ministries: Sunday Service, Administration, Finance. Through these
ministries, we support the overall work of the church by matching resources (people,
skills, finances) with the best place for service.

C. Releasing Releasing Servant-leaders Within the City through:

1. Marketplace ministry. Working with excellence and Christian distinctiveness in your
vocation. Like Esther in scripture, we seek to exercise cultural leadership for Christ.
2. Mercy ministry. Doing community development and social service. Like Nehemiah,
we seek to reweave the physical and social fabric of the community.
3. Church expansion ministries. Doing evangelism, discipling/education, and like Ezra,
church renewal, and church planting both in New York City and worldwide.

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