Small Groups & Digital Discipleship (2/22/2026)

This week’s readings were focused on the importance of small groups, and how the structure, dynamics, and intimacy of such groups can help benefit Christians in growing and developing in Christlikeness as they relate to God, among themselves, and toward their neighbor with the all-important Great Commission command to obey and follow as the ultimate goals.

     What struck me the most while reading the Spiritual Formation (Chs. 19-22) by Early and Demsey are contained within the following excerpts: “As the goal of spiritual formation is to become like Jesus, it makes sense that a spiritual discipline that helps us become more like Jesus is servanthood. When we make the often-difficult choice to be a servant, we grow into the image of Jesus.”[1] How true that is: we are living in a day and an age where not only the Christendom but the secular world too is severely lacking in truthful bold inspiring leadership which propels the Great Commission (“Two Greatest Commandments”) forward as a viable and active agenda for the churches and Christians at large.   

     The best setting where a strong exemplary leadership can be forged is none other than the small group settings as the authors wrote, “…when a small-group leader understands this process, then he or she is in the business of true spiritual leadership. In order for a group to succeed, group leaders need to view their role as drawing out the new creation God has in mind for every individual in the group. When you do this, then you are a true leader.”[2] Absolutely: a true leader in small groups can have a huge impact on the rest of group members. For example, I had watched one of my brothers-in-laws (married to my kid sister in this case), who grew in faith by leaps and bounds years ago after getting engaged in small group discipleship class called “Manhood in Christ” at his own (mega) church for several years. He even recommended it to me at the time, which I politely refused after meeting with his small group leader. At the time, I thought that such intimacy and closeness was not welcome by me, who was very busy with my works.

     Also, my wife has been a member of such small group for several years now, and I can see the growth and maturity she has undertaken through the weekly group meetings where they pray for one another, study the bible together, and counsel one another. The group’s leader from what I could tell is a selfless caring loving Christian woman who continuously and unceasingly goes all out treating the members as if they are her own (spiritual) children. More than anything she constantly prays for my wife and other members. Her love in Christ shines through as genuine, purposeful, sacrificial, and intentional. The rest of our family were so stricken by the impact the small group meetings and discipleship had had on my wife so that we wanted to join in on the crusade when all the small groups scattered all over the world got together in LA of all places a couple years ago. So, we flew into LA to spend several days with them, and it was a blast. Amen.

     The things discussed by the authors, “Guided by a leader, Regular Meeting Times, Open God’s word & discuss, United in service, Pray for one another,”[3] are all practiced by my wife’s small groups. And their small, printed pamphlets called “Gospel Navigation” did help me out with my own sermon preparation in the past couple years or so. Accountability and the home practice as the authors discussed are all evident and regularly practiced as a part of the curriculum as they (we) all grow and mature together in harmony as the three relational obligations (to God, to one another, and to neighbor) are being fulfilled, more so the first two than the third one, but it is getting done at our home. As R. Dempsey emphasized in video lecture, “Securing God’s vision, (Making sure that) Senior pastor in lead role, Efficient role model in place, Leader in training, Growing, Constant (over)communication, rewarding, praying, seeking the blessing,” ought to be the guidelines/protocol when implanting a successful small groups discipleship program and seeing it to desirable end results.

     And here comes the importance of the Digital Discipleship as the author Holly Sagnor states the importance and the need of the Digital Discipleship as “(Christians need to have an online presence) to bring light to the dark parts of the web.”[4] I once was lost on the dark parts of the web too long time ago as I sought the company and friendships of the anonymous message board members as I found myself lonely and depressed stuck in the blistering long New England cold winter seasons month after month-seemingly with no end in sight. Web can be a scary and debilitating place. However, I heard someone relate to me once that Satan is very upset and frustrated—even angry-- that even on the dark web, there are a lot of godly things being accomplished among them the Digital Discipleship, which absolutely brings the light to the hopeless dark parts of the web as Sagnor alluded to. This form of DD can be accomplished “(Digital discipleship can bring clarity to many topics and spread it to more people in a shorter time than ever before in human history. Media in almost any form, whether it be) video, blogging, social media, photos, or audio, is easier to share around than ever before, and the Lord can work in anyone’s hearts to become closer to Him.”[5]

And seemingly there is a greater need for the web-savvy evangelists to train people and spread the Word on the web as even a smartphone is becoming ubiquitous personal possession for a kid as young as 4-7 years old these days. Obviously, the benefits of the Digital Discipleship are its ease, convenience for content sharing and universal platform, etc. Many potential disciples and neighbors can be reached through this kind of evangelism. Nevertheless, the challenge is the nature of its virtual world, where the dynamics, closeness/intimacy, and personal relationship could suffer a little. That is why a hybrid model where the real encounters and the advantages of a virtual convenience/world can be merged and combined could be an ideal model to implement and be sought after.

Bibliography

Early, Dave and Dempsey, Rod, Spiritual Formation Is…How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence, Brentwood, TN: B&H Academy,  2018.

Sagnor, Holly, Digital Discipleship: Definition, Strategies, & Warnings, Online Journal Reading Assignment, 2026.

[1] Dave Early, Dave and Rod Dempsey, Rod, Spiritual Formation Is… How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and  Confidence, (Brentwood, TN: B&H Academy, 2018), 176-177.

[2] Ibid., 166.

[3] Ibid., 166.

[4] Holly Sagnor, Digital Discipleship: Definition, Strategies, & Warnings, (Online Journal Reading Assignment, 2026).

[5] Ibid., the same.

**Response to someone named John:

Hi John,

Thanks for your post: I read it with keen interest as I found it fun and informative. I included the following in my own main thread, but I’d like to talk about the small groups discipleship program in which my wife has been an active member for the past several years as it also reveals to all of us how the Digital Discipleship can be an effective medium / tools through / by which so many amazing things can be accomplished among the believers.

First of all, a little bit about my wife: she’s a pk just like me hailing from a multi-generation Christian household. Like many native S. Korean Christians, she grew up in a conservative evangelical Presbyterian background, which can be roughly equivalent to how many LU students have experienced/been reared up in their own Christian living here in the USA, I presume. However, my wife is pretty much Korean through and through as she has been living in the states for just under nine years or so. Her predominant language is Korean, of course, even though her English has improved considerably since the time she first came to America nearly a decade ago.

The program is called the “Gospel Navigation”, and my wife’s own ranking, which is “Field Worker”, within the organization determines how she is discipled and trained by her mentor(s) (called “Professors” or “Pastors”) during the weekly online meetings, which are comprised of rotating sessions of (intercessory) group prayers, bible study classes, program-wide worship services. Prayers, bible study classes are conducted with a total of 3-4 people in attendance with a professor in charge. The online livestreaming of program-wide worship, which can happen monthly, could have several dozens or so people in attendance. Easily.

It is effective, and my wife takes a great joy out of it, and more than anything it has been good for her spiritual formation over the past several years as she has grown and matured in likeness of Christ as I’ve witnessed with my own eyes. The origin of program is based out of S. Korea even though the biblical counseling books, etc., they use as textbooks/manuals could have originated from none other than America itself. I did not know at the time but my wife needed to go through some deep healing biblical counseling and the small groups discipleship people came to her aid. PTL. And they rotate out the members of small groups so that they can have fresh members to get acquainted with on regular basis.

The messenger app they use to communicate is KakaoTalk, the number one app for such use for Korean-speaking people including myself. Not much Facebook usage, nor YouTube videos and whatnot. It is virtual, but it is one-on-one within the friendly confines of small groups of 3-4 people; it is intimate, it is dynamic as members share the happenings, urgency of their every day living as they emphatically  and passionately pray for one another and their family members and so on. Some nights the meeting can stretch out for several hours into wee hours of morning, ending at past midnight. Through such intercessory prayers,  whose membership is scattered all over the world, really, I have seen people being saved from most imminent emergency death situation as God miraculously grabbed some individuals out from certain death, and moved them back into the realm of the living extending their lives. Even till now. Last summer on one very fine Sunday morning (to my and my wife’s surprise) after a month of rehab work some individual named Bret showed up in our own chapel of my own ministry  relating how God saved him from imminent death saying, “prayer does really work.” Amen.

Well, the thing is that it gets real too (as related above) since I met a lot of them in person, particularly two years ago when we flew out to LA to attend their crusade: over the 3-4 days in LA, in the heart of KoreaTown, we hooted, hollered, praised the name of Jesus, and thanked God sharing the Word together. Just last November I met a member of my wife’s small groups in Chicago where she has been living for a couple decades or so. She has been regularly praying for us as we related to them our need for intercessory prayer with specific needs in our lives. We are  planning to go visit a person  (5-time incumbent state representative) whom I befriended in LA two years ago some time later this year.

As Earley and Dempsey write, “Simple prayer is carrying on a consistent conversation with God about the daily stuff of life. It is conversing with the Father about all of our thoughts, events, hurts, sorrows, joys, and questions freely and openly because he listens. It is sanctifying the ordinary by turning all the typical events and experiences of daily life into prayer.”[1] True. Then, there is another level of prayer which can take us to, which is supplication. As the authors elaborate, “Asa received a great victory for Israel when he cried out to the Lord for help (1 Chr 14:11). Nehemiah received the king’s blessing, protection, and provision to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls as a result of supplication (Nehemiah 1). The Psalms are filled with petitions for help (Ps 38:22; 40:13; 46:1-2; 56:9; 70:1, 5; 79:9; 121:1-2; 124:8)” [2] Absolutely. The story of Daniel and his three friends are forever etched on my memory as some of my best childhood/Sunday school experiences. God delivers. Then, there is intercession as Early and Dempsey write, “Intercessory prayer is standing in the gap on behalf of others. It is our way of loving others by asking God to meet their needs. It is asking God to bless others in the same ways we desire him to bless us.”[3] Who would argue with this—even our most basic instincts tell us this is the true love and care manifested for our brothers/sister and our neighbors as well. Jesus once told his disciples that “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13 KJV). If the ultimate goal of all these discipleship programs is to train people so that they would willingly die for Christ/Gospel as stated by the authors, then JC demonstrated it perfectly for us as the initiator of all the Discipleship School. What is so amazing is that the Creator called His lowly earthing creatures His friends. Is there any greater Love and Humility than what has been shown and executed by Him, the Ruler of the Universe since the morning stars broke the dawn and illumined the eastern skylines? (cf. Philippians 2:6; Col 1:15; Heb 1:3 2 Cor 8:9; John 10:30). Me neither.

[1] Dave Early, Dave and Rod Dempsey, Rod, Spiritual Formation Is… How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and  Confidence, (Brentwood, TN: B&H Academy, 2018), 125.

[2] Ibid., 126.

[3] Ibid., 126.

**Response to someone named Sidney;

Hi Sidney,

I must say that I really liked how you opened your first paragraph with mention of Acts, the early church small group settings and the spirit-charged atmosphere surrounding it (being fully immersed in the Holy Spirit as they took on the whole world), a John Wesley quote as in “John Wesley noted that he could have a greater impact on a person's life in thirty minutes of “personal work” than in ten years of preaching”, etc. BTW, the name of John Wesley is always welcome in our household. It never gets old. And the all-importance of “do” part. The importance of small groups discipleship is indeed enormous as God never neglects such groups as in “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matt. 18:20 KJV). The wisdom gleaned from Proverbs 27:17 is also worth mentioning here as in “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Mutual encouragement, guidance, and the supervision by the leader in charge of small groups can be forceful, effective, and vital in a person’s spiritual growth and maturity as we all grow more in likeness of Christ.

I’d like to mention that “doing” part should be solely separated out and be distinguished from (common trivial) legalism trap in which many Christians even the leadership in particular finds itself fall into (from time to time, and hopefully not on permanent basis): in fact, a 100% focus on Jesus Christ alone, only JC, but not on anything else—not on a single person’s, an interest group’s or an institution’s / organization’s own glory, honor, particular mood, financial status, nor reputation’s sakes—but with single driven purpose to lift and magnify the name of the King of kings and the Lord of lords, whose name is above all names, that is the discipleship in essence, huh?

As Bonhoffer noted decades ago, “This means completely breaking through anything preprogrammed, idealistic, or legalistic. No further content is possible because Jesus is the only content. There is no other content besides Jesus. He himself is it. So the call to discipleship is a commitment solely to the person of Jesus Christ, a breaking through of all legalisms by the grace of him who calls.”[1] And forging and enforcing such singlemindedness on Christ alone can be best accomplished in small groups setting since a the body of Christ small groups is where the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, brain, heart, liver, hands and feet et al can actually see, hear, smell, sense and feel each other’s presence, viability, function, vitality, and membership for real. It comes alive and real in person—not through some (virtual) livestreamed, filtered mediums where the contemporary Christians so often find themselves in when looking for the meaningful contents related to the delivery of Discipleship and Gospel in general.

Nevertheless, the importance and presence of Digital Discipleship is here to stay, and it is only going to increase due to the society and the nature of environment we find ourselves in nowadays as you mentioned, Sydney: the internet is here to stay for better or worse. To me the Digital Discipleship is not a deal breaker so to speak when it relates to the Christian discipleship overall. But it can function as a facilitator to seal a deal. Actually, to me DD is through which most of initial apprenticeship or introduction to churches (in general) and all the ensuing encounters takes place. How often do we find ourselves relying on digitalized platforms/mediums be it an internet website, YouTube channel, a Facebook page or Instagram account when looking for a new church, small bible study groups or a college/school or even a graduate program to join/apply for? We cannot live without them. The better these digital advertisements/contents are organized, structured and presented in positive attractive convincing way, the prospective member will be enticed to check or join in on.

However, in the end what ultimately decides is the substance and truthfulness of such a digitalized advertisement/enticement. The true Digital Discipleship is where the virtual words on internet actually meet the real deeds of everyday living, and the promised contents are actually delivered in fulness and truthfulness without failed betrayal. For that, I highly commend LU Online School for what it has accomplished over the years. Some wear and tear along the way, but the brick and mortar campus present in Lynchburg, VA holds and brings it all together, and ties any loose ends so that in the end the name of Jesus is glorified and lifted high.

After all what we are all striving to do through small groups and Digital Discipleship is the fulfilment of the three relational obligations tasked to us: through intimacy, dynamics of small groups we learn to love God, ourselves as we also develop the need and burning desire to evangelize to our unsaved neighbors. Then, through the digitalized mediums/platforms available to us, we email our unbelieving friends, we facetime with them, we share the YouTube sermons or whatnot, we give them a link to church revival events or retreat and so on in order to show our care and love for them with the ultimate goal of bring them to the embraces of JC our Savior and Lord. As Earley and Demsey write, “Jesus said in John 20:21, “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” Jesus came to us on a mission and now he sends us to the world on his mission. We are to take the gospel to the world and make disciples of Jesus. The challenge is that many disciples are not praying and are not taking the gospel to their world..”[2] I/we have noticed the lack of praying all around us; sometimes I have found myself praying less these days than  the times before I became a seminarian student.

As the Lord said, “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Matt 17:21 KJV). The challenge is that we ought to be praying and fasting since the world we face is wicked—full of dark Satanic powers and deceptions. It has incrementally gotten wickeder over the decades, but now it is all out in full disclosure looking right at us nose to nose. We need to be fully equipped with full armor of the Holy Spirit and the word, so help us God.  

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 59.

[2] Dave Early, Dave and Rod Dempsey, Rod, Spiritual Formation Is… How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and  Confidence, (Brentwood, TN: B&H Academy, 2018), 187-188.