Lesson 4

Often people are excited about the opportunity to introduce others to the encouraging and faith building Trophy Insights of the Traction adventure. But they are not quite sure how to get started. In this lesson, we will equip you to do just that! There are three steps:

Learn how to create an effective invitation

Learn how to follow up and get commitments

Learn how to plan the details of the meeting and get started

If you are feeling eager to begin a discussion group, we have exciting news for you! At the end of this lesson, you will be given the option to use what you’ve learned in the first four leadership lessons to begin a Traction discussion group of your own—and finish the remaining lessons in between discussion group meetings; or if you prefer to wait, you can elect to complete the full discipleship leader’s course before holding your first Traction discussion group.

Let’s start!

Step 1 - Creating an effective invitation:
Step One: Design an invitation to send (or give) to people you care about—those you want to have in your Traction discipleship discussion group. Your invitation should contain 3 parts.

Part 1—The Motivation: Start by praying—ask the Lord to give you wisdom, insight, and success as you work through the details of inviting people to your Traction Discussion Group. Then, think about what made Traction important to you and write out a sentence or two that expresses why you believe it is valuable. Make it personal! Here are some thoughts that you might consider using, but only use them if they have been true for you.

Traction and the following discussion group have helped me to have a more victorious walk with Jesus.

The Traction adventure and accompanying discussion group taught me to better understand and treasure what Jesus has done for me. I pray it will open your eyes to recognize how Jesus is helping you, and it will reassure you that Jesus will never abandon you—no matter what!

If you would like to see more growth and maturity in your walk with Jesus, this is a great way to see that happen in your life!

Do you want to more fully love Jesus and trust Him? Going through the Traction adventure and discussion group did that for me.

Part 2—The Invitation: For this part, you want to, well, invite people! Now that you’ve shared your personal experience, you have their attention, so get to it! — You can say something like: I invite you to experience the Traction adventure online and collect all 14 Trophy Insights. This will take you about 40 minutes. If you can, make some notes about anything that stands out to you, it’d be great to hear your thoughts!

Part 3—The Response: It’s time to officially invite them to the discussion group. You could say: Please let me know by Friday what you thought of the Traction Adventure. Also, if you would be interested in digging a little deeper into the 14 Trophy Insights, I will be leading a discussion group for several of us to explore together. Let me know if you might be interested in joining that group.

An Example Invitation: When you’re finished creating your invitation, it might look something like this:

Fred,

I’ve come across something that has breathed new life into my walk with Jesus! I thought you might like to know about it. It’s the Traction Adventure.

Traction showed me that Jesus has done so much more for me than I realized. It opened my eyes and my heart to understand more fully what the Bible teaches about the riches found in Christ. The result for me has been a more vibrant and joyful relationship with Jesus! I want to share this experience with you!

You can complete the Traction adventure online. You will explore 14 gifts, called Trophy Insights, that are yours as a follower of Jesus Christ. The whole thing takes about 40 minutes. If you can, make some notes about anything that stands out to you, it’d be great to hear your thoughts!

Please let me know by Friday what you thought of the Traction Adventure. Also, if you would be interested in digging a little deeper into the 14 Trophy Insights, I will be leading a discussion group for several of us to explore together. Let me know if you might be interested in joining that group.

Here is the link to the Traction adventure: https://traction.discipleshiptraining.org .

Your friend,

Jean

A Different Example Invitation: Some of you may be thinking, “That’s not how I communicate.” And that’s totally fine! You may be content with sending a short message like this:

“Hey! I just played the Traction adventure game, it was really good. You should check it out! https://traction.discipleshiptraining.org. LMK what you think.”

Use whatever communication style best suits you and spread the word! This lesson is simply intended to provide ideas.

How To Get Commitments to Join Your Discussion Group

Step 2 - Follow up and get commitments:
Step 2, it’s time to send your invitations! As you did with Step 1, start by praying—ask the Lord to give you wisdom, and also to turn the hearts and minds of those you will invite to desire and commit to joining this discussion group.

After you have prayed, decide how you will send invitations. You have several options. You can send your invitation via email. If you have the time and want to make it more personal, you could get a pack of generic “You’re Invited” cards and create your own. Handwriting your invitation will get a higher response rate. You could also post it as a general invitation on your social media pages.

Some people might prefer to make a short presentation in a Sunday school class, or community activity meeting, and follow it up by handing out an info sheet (or card). If you choose this method, you might want to include your contact information. You could also create a poster for a church bulletin board. You could text your invitation to your friends. Or you could just carry a printout of the invitation and hand it out to people when you meet them at church, or school, or some other activity. Be creative! There are plenty of ways to spread the word!

You should NOT be disappointed if you do not have a high response rate. It is common that most people you invite will not respond (even your friends). You can increase the response rate by getting back to them (after the response date you have set) and asking them if they’ve had a chance to go through the Traction adventure yet. If they say they haven’t, you might ask if they need a little more time? If they say yes to that suggestion, ask them when they think they will be able to spend the 40 minutes to do this, then tell them you will get back to them at that time. (Make yourself a note to get back to them)

For those who did do the Traction adventure, ask them if there was a Trophy Insight that stood out to them. Then ask if they would like to join a discussion group to look more deeply at what the Bible says about each of the 14 Trophy Insights. Remind them of what it meant to you.

The Details for Planning and Holding Your Discussion Group

Step 3 - Plan the details and get started:

Step 3 - It’s time to set a day and time for your discussion group meeting. It can be a challenge to work around the schedules of a group of people. Start this step by praying and asking the Lord to give you wisdom. The two most popular ways to have a Traction discussion group are: (1) meeting in person, or (2) meeting by Zoom (or other video conference technology). You need to decide which type of meeting you will be having. Meeting in person has the benefit of physical presence and avoids technological issues that could arise in an online scenario. A Zoom meeting is beneficial if participants live in different states or for convenience even if everyone lives locally. The ages of participants in your group will likely affect your choice.

Normally, there will be five meetings, each lasting 90 minutes. Although, some people prefer to schedule 8 one-hour meetings, or even 15 meetings each 30-40 minutes long. For example, if this will be done in a Christian school class, 15 classroom meetings would be appropriate. If it is for a church community group, maybe the 8-week, one hour per week format will work the best. But usually, one 90-minute meeting per week for five weeks will be the norm.

Now that you’ve chosen your venue and the frequency of meetings, you need to select a start date and time. Finding a time that works well for everyone in the group is often not a trivial task. Some people can only meet in the evenings after work. Some Mom’s can only meet when the kids are in school. Some people can only meet on weekends, while others cannot meet on weekends. Needless to say, getting a group of people to find a time that works for everyone can be difficult. Pray that God will work out the details. He is ready to make it all happen, but He is waiting for you to ask Him to do it!

Notify all participants of the place and time for the first meeting. Thank them for deciding to be a part of the group. Reassure them that they will find it to be worth the time investment they are making, and that you are looking forward to having them in the group. Ask them to make a special effort to be at least 5 minutes early so you can start the meeting right on time. Tell them you are also committed to ending it right on time.

An example notification might look something like this (feel free to use your own wording—we just provide this as a start point):

We are excited to get started! Our first Traction discipleship discussion group will be held via Zoom beginning promptly at 7:00 pm CT on Monday, May 8th. It will last exactly 90 minutes and we will finish promptly at 8:30. The Zoom link for this meeting is: https://zoom.us/j/86422619334 .

Some people find it convenient to have access to the meeting agenda during the meeting. The meeting agenda can be found here: https://discipleshiptraining.org/LeadersGuideTractionGroupDiscussionQuestions.pdf

Please make a point to enter the meeting room at least five minutes early (by 6:55) to get introduced to the group, and so we can start promptly at 7:00 pm.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to text or call me at 864-555-1234. We are looking forward to some great group discussions! Thank you for deciding to join us for this!

Your Friend,
Chris

That’s it! You’ve completed this lesson! We know that this lesson contains a lot of details. We know that we just covered a boatload of information. Do not be overwhelmed by all the details. These are only helpful suggestions we have learned will help you be successful in starting your own discipleship group. Again, the three steps we have covered in this lesson are:

Learn how to create an effective invitation

Learn how to follow up and get commitments

Learn how to plan the details of the meeting and get started

Because of all the details presented in this lesson, many people find they want to go through this lesson again before they take the end-of-lesson quiz. Feel free to do that, and even make some notes, before you proceed to the quiz questions.

.	Lesson 4: How to organize and successfully invite people to a Traction discussion group

	Often people are excited about the opportunity to introduce others to the encouraging and faith building Trophy Insights of the Traction adventure. But they are not quite sure how to get started. In this lesson, we will equip you to do just that! There are three steps: Learn how to create an effective invitation Learn how to follow up and get commitments Learn how to plan the details of the meeting and get started If you are feeling eager to begin a discussion group, we have exciting news for you! At the end of this lesson, you will be given the option to use what you’ve learned in the first four leadership lessons to begin a Traction discussion group of your own—and finish the remaining lessons in between discussion group meetings; or if you prefer to wait, you can elect to complete the full discipleship leader’s course before holding your first Traction discussion group. Let’s start! Step 1 - Creating an effective invitation: Step One: Design an invitation to send (or give) to people you care about—those you want to have in your Traction discipleship discussion group. Your invitation should contain 3 parts. Part 1—The Motivation: Start by praying—ask the Lord to give you wisdom, insight, and success as you work through the details of inviting people to your Traction Discussion Group. Then, think about what made Traction important to you and write out a sentence or two that expresses why you believe it is valuable. *Make it personal!* Here are some thoughts that you might consider using, but only use them if they have been true for you. Traction and the following discussion group have helped me to have a more victorious walk with Jesus. The Traction adventure and accompanying discussion group taught me to better understand and treasure what Jesus has done for me. I pray it will open your eyes to recognize how Jesus is helping you, and it will reassure you that Jesus will never abandon you—no matter what! If you would like to see more growth and maturity in your walk with Jesus, this is a great way to see that happen in your life! Do you want to more fully love Jesus and trust Him? Going through the Traction adventure and discussion group did that for me. Part 2—The Invitation: For this part, you want to, well, invite people! Now that you’ve shared your personal experience, you have their attention, so get to it! — You can say something like: I invite you to experience the Traction adventure online and collect all 14 Trophy Insights. This will take you about 40 minutes. If you can, make some notes about anything that stands out to you, it’d be great to hear your thoughts! Part 3—The Response: It’s time to officially invite them to the discussion group. You could say: Please let me know by Friday what you thought of the Traction Adventure. Also, if you would be interested in digging a little deeper into the 14 Trophy Insights, I will be leading a discussion group for several of us to explore together. Let me know if you might be interested in joining that group. An Example Invitation: When you’re finished creating your invitation, it might look something like this: Fred, I’ve come across something that has breathed new life into my walk with Jesus! I thought you might like to know about it. It’s the Traction Adventure. Traction showed me that Jesus has done so much more for me than I realized. It opened my eyes and my heart to understand more fully what the Bible teaches about the riches found in Christ. The result for me has been a more vibrant and joyful relationship with Jesus! I want to share this experience with you! You can complete the Traction adventure online. You will explore 14 gifts, called Trophy Insights, that are yours as a follower of Jesus Christ. The whole thing takes about 40 minutes. If you can, make some notes about anything that stands out to you, it’d be great to hear your thoughts! Please let me know by Friday what you thought of the Traction Adventure. Also, if you would be interested in digging a little deeper into the 14 Trophy Insights, I will be leading a discussion group for several of us to explore together. Let me know if you might be interested in joining that group. Here is the link to the Traction adventure: https://traction.discipleshiptraining.org . Your friend, Jean A Different Example Invitation: Some of you may be thinking, “That’s not how I communicate.” And that’s totally fine! You may be content with sending a short message like this: “Hey! I just played the Traction adventure game, it was really good. You should check it out! https://traction.discipleshiptraining.org. LMK what you think.” Use whatever communication style best suits you and spread the word! This lesson is simply intended to provide ideas. How To Get Commitments to Join Your Discussion Group Step 2 - Follow up and get commitments: Step 2, it’s time to send your invitations! As you did with Step 1, start by praying—ask the Lord to give you wisdom, and also to turn the hearts and minds of those you will invite to desire and commit to joining this discussion group. After you have prayed, decide how you will send invitations. You have several options. You can send your invitation via email. If you have the time and want to make it more personal, you could get a pack of generic “You’re Invited” cards and create your own. Handwriting your invitation will get a higher response rate. You could also post it as a general invitation on your social media pages. Some people might prefer to make a short presentation in a Sunday school class, or community activity meeting, and follow it up by handing out an info sheet (or card). If you choose this method, you might want to include your contact information. You could also create a poster for a church bulletin board. You could text your invitation to your friends. Or you could just carry a printout of the invitation and hand it out to people when you meet them at church, or school, or some other activity. Be creative! There are plenty of ways to spread the word! You should NOT be disappointed if you do not have a high response rate. It is common that most people you invite will not respond (even your friends). You can increase the response rate by getting back to them (after the response date you have set) and asking them if they’ve had a chance to go through the Traction adventure yet. If they say they haven’t, you might ask if they need a little more time? If they say yes to that suggestion, ask them when they think they will be able to spend the 40 minutes to do this, then tell them you will get back to them at that time. (Make yourself a note to get back to them) For those who did do the Traction adventure, ask them if there was a Trophy Insight that stood out to them. Then ask if they would like to join a discussion group to look more deeply at what the Bible says about each of the 14 Trophy Insights. Remind them of what it meant to you. The Details for Planning and Holding Your Discussion Group Step 3 - Plan the details and get started: Step 3 - It’s time to set a day and time for your discussion group meeting. It can be a challenge to work around the schedules of a group of people. Start this step by praying and asking the Lord to give you wisdom. The two most popular ways to have a Traction discussion group are: (1) meeting in person, or (2) meeting by Zoom (or other video conference technology). You need to decide which type of meeting you will be having. Meeting in person has the benefit of physical presence and avoids technological issues that could arise in an online scenario. A Zoom meeting is beneficial if participants live in different states or for convenience even if everyone lives locally. The ages of participants in your group will likely affect your choice. Normally, there will be five meetings, each lasting 90 minutes. Although, some people prefer to schedule 8 one-hour meetings, or even 15 meetings each 30-40 minutes long. For example, if this will be done in a Christian school class, 15 classroom meetings would be appropriate. If it is for a church community group, maybe the 8-week, one hour per week format will work the best. But usually, one 90-minute meeting per week for five weeks will be the norm. Now that you’ve chosen your venue and the frequency of meetings, you need to select a start date and time. Finding a time that works well for everyone in the group is often not a trivial task. Some people can only meet in the evenings after work. Some Mom’s can only meet when the kids are in school. Some people can only meet on weekends, while others cannot meet on weekends. Needless to say, getting a group of people to find a time that works for everyone can be difficult. Pray that God will work out the details. He is ready to make it all happen, but He is waiting for you to ask Him to do it! Notify all participants of the place and time for the first meeting. Thank them for deciding to be a part of the group. Reassure them that they will find it to be worth the time investment they are making, and that you are looking forward to having them in the group. Ask them to make a special effort to be at least 5 minutes early so you can start the meeting right on time. Tell them you are also committed to ending it right on time. An example notification might look something like this (feel free to use your own wording—we just provide this as a start point): We are excited to get started! Our first Traction discipleship discussion group will be held via Zoom beginning promptly at 7:00 pm CT on Monday, May 8th. It will last exactly 90 minutes and we will finish promptly at 8:30. The Zoom link for this meeting is: https://zoom.us/j/86422619334 . Some people find it convenient to have access to the meeting agenda during the meeting. The meeting agenda can be found here: https://discipleshiptraining.org/LeadersGuideTractionGroupDiscussionQuestions.pdf Please make a point to enter the meeting room at least five minutes early (by 6:55) to get introduced to the group, and so we can start promptly at 7:00 pm. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to text or call me at 864-555-1234. We are looking forward to some great group discussions! Thank you for deciding to join us for this! Your Friend, Chris That’s it! You’ve completed this lesson! We know that this lesson contains a lot of details. We know that we just covered a boatload of information. Do not be overwhelmed by all the details. These are only helpful suggestions we have learned will help you be successful in starting your own discipleship group. Again, the three steps we have covered in this lesson are: Learn how to create an effective invitation Learn how to follow up and get commitments Learn how to plan the details of the meeting and get started Because of all the details presented in this lesson, many people find they want to go through this lesson again before they take the end-of-lesson quiz. Feel free to do that, and even make some notes, before you proceed to the quiz questions.