Dear Group Leader,

We are excited to begin serving alongside you in this new season at Rolling Hills Covenant Church. Our church has a rich legacy of life group leaders who take the Great Commandment (to love God and others) seriously enough to fulfill the Great Commission (to make disciples of all nations). This discipleship process starts right here in our local church, in your homes, and at your tables.

The goal of discipleship is Christlikeness—“that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28)—and you are on the front lines of this ministry toward others. Leading a group is a high responsibility because it is “building up the body of Christ” (v. 12). As such, groups are a primary context in which disciples are made, where people grow up into Christ (v. 15), and an important way RHCC strategically “makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (v. 16).

Therefore, in this new season of Rolling Hills Covenant Church, it is essential that we move forward with a unified vision of who we are, where we’re going, and how we get there. This means that whether you have served as a Life Group leader for thirty years, ten years, or one year, we are asking you to prayerfully complete the attached group leader application (link below). At first this may seem unnecessary; but in an effort to get to know each of you more personally, and not least because group leaders represent the life and leadership of our church, it is vital that we choose mature leaders to ensure the spiritual health of our congregation. This requires the application to be thorough and we’re grateful in advance for your thoughtful attention to it.

After we have received your application, we will reach out to you in order to meet together. If you have any questions regarding the process or upcoming events, please call us at 310.521.2518.

For Christ and His Kingdom,

Koby Krikac
Discipleship Pastor

Step 1: Prayerfully Reflect on your Commitment
Serving as a group leader to disciple others is a high responsibility, so this application is thorough and intentional to ensure a mature and effective leadership team. The commitment to disciple others is not to be taken lightly so we encourage you to take some time to pray over if this is where God is directing you to serve.  

Step 2: Complete the Group Leader Application
The information below and in the application itself briefly introduces you to what group ministry is about. Read it, become acquainted with the vision and structure, and develop any questions you have so that when you meet a pastor in person (step 3), you will generally know what to expect, what questions to ask, and what you may be getting yourself into!

Step 3: Interview with a Pastor
After we have received your application, we will reach out to you in order to set up a time to get together. This is an opportunity for us to get to know you more personally as you share your heart about ministry. We will discuss your application and answer any questions you may have.

Step 4: Begin Ministry
Praise the Lord! Our exhortation to you is that of Paul to Archippus in his letter to the Colossians: “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord” (4:17). We are excited to serve alongside you to establish and support you and your group.

We minister to others out of the fruit of our own devotion to God; we serve others out of love for God and neighbor. As Richard Baxter puts it, “Take heed to yourselves first, that you be that which you persuade others to be, and believe that which you persuade them daily to believe, and have heartily entertained that Christ and Spirit which you offer unto others.” In other words: live a life worth imitating. Christians are called to be imitators of Christ, and that means living as an example of Christ to others so that others can imitate us as we imitate Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 11:1). We must ourselves be disciples before we can disciple others; therefore, ministry leaders at Rolling Hills Covenant Church should be the kind of disciples that every maturing Christian aims to be—individually, relationally, and missionally—and group ministry leaders are committed to nothing less than what every maturing Christian is called to:

Individually

• The ministry leader demonstrates Christlikeness in their behavior, personal and public, and evidences this Christlikeness in their speech, actions, habits, and thoughts (Matt. 5-7; 12:36; Rom. 12:9-21; Phil. 3:13-16; 1 Tim. 4:12; Tit. 2:1-10; Eph. 4-6; Col. 4:6; James 32:17, 22, 26; 1 Thess. 5:23-24; 2 Thess. 2:13-14).
• The ministry leader demonstrates a growing desire to learn from God in his word and to commune with God in prayer (Jn. 17:17; Ps. 19:14; 119; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; Phil. 4:4-9; 1 Thess. 5:17).
• The ministry leader grows in understanding of God and self, in gratitude to God for all he has done, in love for God and neighbor, and in obedience and repentance to God (1 Pet. 1:13-22; 2 Pet. 3:18; Eph. 1:3-23; 5:20; Col. 3:5-17; 1 Thess. 5:18; Jn. 13:34-35; 1 Jn. 1:8-2:3).

Relationally

• The ministry leader faithfully participates in the life of the church, serves where there is need, submits to the Word preached, entrusts themselves to the leadership and discipline of the pastors, partakes in the Lord’s Supper, gives generously according to their bounty, is hospitable to saints and strangers, and fellowships with the community regularly (Heb. 10:24-25; 13:7; Rom. 12:9-13; 15:7; 1 Thess. 5:11; 1 Cor. 12:7; 2 Cor. 8-9).

Missionally

• The ministry leader demonstrates a desire to share the Gospel with others, bears witness to Christ, and to disciple others in their respective areas of influence and according to their capacity (Matt. 5:13-16; 28:18-20; 2 Tim. 2:2; Col. 4:5-6; 1 Pet. 2:12; 3:15).
• The ministry leader works hard in their vocation with increasing skill and diligence to the glory of God, above reproach and with integrity, doing good deeds to honor God in the sight of all people (1 Thess. 4:11-12; 2 Thess. 3:6-12; Col. 3:17; 1 Cor. 10:31; 1 Pet. 2:12).
• The ministry leader is increasingly prepared to suffer for the Lord’s sake (Matt. 5:11-12; Rom. 8:35-39; Phil. 1:29; 3:10; 1 Tim. 3:12; 1 Pet. 1:5-9; 2:19-25; 3:14; 4:12-19).