One of the things we strive for at CityView Church (where I am currently the Pastor for Spiritual Formation) is to live authentic Christ-focused lives that emanate the gospel in every way possible. One way that we’ve decided to equip our people with is through implementing Fight Clubs – a type of gospel-centered accountability and discipleship group that we borrowed from some guys down at Austin City Life in Austin. Take the time to check out www.gospelcentereddiscipleship.com for more details and to stay up to speed on what these guys are doing. It’s a tremendous ministry and it’s been huge for me personally.
What are Fight Clubs?
The basic idea of a Fight Club is that you have a group of two or three same-gender Christians who are committed to growing in Christ in accordance with Scripture. These folks will meet regularly (at least once ever couple of weeks) and study the Bible with a direct focus on sharpening each other and living out God’s Word.
There are three rules for Fight Clubs:
- Know your sin (Where are you inclined to sin, what form does that sin take, and what is ultimately the source of that sin?)
- Fight your sin (How do you go about living in obedience/victory/redemption rather than just treating the symptoms of your sin?)
- Trust your Savior (What does the Bible say about you, your sin, and Jesus?)
The format for a Fight Club is “Text-Theology-Life” - in other words, studying God’s word in such a way as to put it directly into our lives. To begin the meeting time there is a focused Bible study (I recommend about a chapter’s worth of reading or less with a few discussion questions) and from that content the group deduces some theological concepts about God, Jesus, and themselves. The group then discusses actionable items to put into their lives before the next meeting or for a longer-term set of goals. From then on, they keep each other accountable to those items and pray for each other throughout the week. The next meeting is another section of Scripture and the same process of gleaning theological understanding that the group can put into their lives.
Where Do I Start?
The best thing you can do to get oriented to the topic of accountability/discipleship groups is to pick up a copy of Jonathan Dodson’s book “Fight Clubs.” You can only find it here for $8.50 plus shipping. If that doesn’t work for you or if you’re not in the mood to read 60 pages, download a copy of this "fight clubs overview" document.
The next thing you should do is take a look at this document "Fight Clubs orientation" that consists of bullet-point take-aways from the book, my heart for this ministry, some practical how-to tips for making sure Fight Clubs are done well, and finally some potential road blocks and benefits of doing Fight Clubs.
What’s Next?
Now that you’ve gotten a (hopefully) decent understanding of what we’re after, it’s time for you to get into your own Fight Club if you’re up for it. Talk with people that are in your life group or other close friends at CityView about starting up a Fight Club and contact us if you have any questions. If you don’t have anyone in particular that you’d like to start a Fight Club with, let us know and we'll do our best to introduce you to other people who are in the market for a Fight Club.
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