A Lifestyle of Growing

“One does not become a disciple of Jesus and stand still.”

One of my greatest hopes as a pastor is to always keep myself and help you continue to grow in your relationship with Jesus and keep moving forward on living how He calls us to live. As many of you know, I believe PACE groups have strong potential to be one of the best things you do in your life toward continually growing in Christ; it is in my life. I want to share some insights from author Mike Breen’s that might encouraged to press on if you are in a PACE group, or if you are not in one that you might decide to form a PACE group.

Breen outlines this process of six steps (the explanations are my own), which the rest of his discussion is wrapped around. And his process is basically what we suggest you do as a cornerstone of PACE groups.

“If observing and reflecting are to lead to lasting change, we must invite other into the process with us. For repentance (changing our mind about some behavior) to take hold, we’ve got to share it with someone else.”

James 5:16 instructs, 'Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.'

“Repentance is necessary if we are to grow as disciples, but it is not always easy. Facing our failings, our pain, and our fears is something we want to put off, like a trip to the dentist or bathing the cat. As we step into the process of observing, reflecting on, and discussing our sins and shortcomings with others, we are not only opening up the ugliness of our lives for others to see, we are opening it up for us to see.” Accountability groups with a couple of other people are a safe place to do this scary, but necessary, thing.

“After recognizing the issue, assessing why it happened, and discussing it with someone else, we must move to believing change is possible.”

“We need to make a plan to lead our inner change. If the plan is to succeed, it is important to have at least one person hold us accountable to it. We need to externalize the things that have been going on internally.” I think this is one of the best statements Breen makes. Every time I get a discussion out of my head and bring it to friends, I see things more clearly, before they even say anything back to me about it. “Change doesn’t happen in private. Being afraid to share with someone else because you think your thoughts or feelings are too private will keep you from growing and changing. Sharing your inner thoughts and outward failing with another person may be hard at first, but it is ultimately necessary if we are to grow. We cannot skip accountability and still say we are disciples of Christ. It is that simple.”

We have to act. “Thoughts and intents that are not acted upon are not faith, no matter what we like to say. ‘My faith is personal’ is a favorite (for people to say). But that is a self-contradicting statement. Faith is always acted out, never kept bottle up within.”

Congratulations, those of you who are already in a PACE group. You are right where you need to be. If you are not in a PACE group, you may have opportunity to get in one through a Bible study or retreat. But, let me encourage you to not wait until then. Form your own group. Make a couple of acquaintances of the same sex in the church, ask them to be a PACE group with you (you can meet whenever and wherever you want), and ask me for a PACE help sheet, which will help you make the most of your time together. If you don't know what a PACE group is, click here to read a short description.

May God bless you as you take risks to follow Him.

Quotes are from The Passionate Church., The Art of Life Changing Discipleship.