Pray for me. I have a case of bacterial LTG
I have a case of bacterial LTG. Please pray for me.
I don’t like the phrase “go viral,” because viruses… what are they? Are they alive? Aren’t they just parasites that hijack a host cell’s DNA to produce so many viruses the cell bursts and dies?
Really, I am just a little “awnry” and want to use another word, “bacterial.” Maybe it sounds worse, I don’t know. The same idea of rapid reproduction.
LTG stands for Life Transformation Group. An LTG is a small group that repetitively asks accountability questions, reads tons of Scripture in community, and prays for people to be saved. A key feature is that an LTG, when it reliably has 4 participants, reproduces into a new group. Or more. Perhaps 1 person goes off to start a new group. Or 2 go. Or all 4 leave and start 4 new groups.
For someone who is praying for and working hard for multiplication of disciples, LTGs are amazing! I have seen LTGs get started, but I have not often seen reproduction. Some of that is because there is a built-in desire that people have to stay together. And some of it, frankly, has been my leadership. I have not followed up with the leaders as closely as I should have.
In this current season, though, I have some people desperate for the deep growth an LTG can bring. And there are some leaders who get the idea of multiplication. And I am also working very closely with some people to see it get done! So here is my incredible artwork describing what has happened in the last 10 weeks. Bacterial LTG:
So, on the bottom you see a circle with a “1” in it. That represents the first group I started back in January. That group died in a month. Ralph Moore has been teaching people to count their failures; more in church planting, but I think it would apply to disciple-making groups, too. It’s not really a failure, because before it died, it reproduced a new group. And that second-generation group has launched two other groups. Here is where I am totally stoked. If the two third-gen groups, “M” and “A,” reproduce, we will be at the point of real multiplication. 4th generation groups and beyond will be exponential discipleship growth!
So, pray that this case of bacterial LTG gets worse!!