CITYLIFE VISION FOR 2026
• Multiply Sites
• Multiply Life Groups
• Multiply Disciples
Discuss: What do you believe CityLife can achieve in 2026 if we all work together with God’s guidance?
WHY DO WE WANT TO FOCUS ON MULTIPLYING DISCIPLES THIS YEAR?
Read Luke 15 & 19:9-10
Our Spiritual Health Check has consistently revealed that discipleship and evangelism are not activities most of us engage in.
Discuss: What do you think we can do to significantly reverse that trend?
JESUS’ STRATEGY FOR MAKING DISCIPLES
Read Matthew 28:18-20
Sometimes, too much has been made of the “go” without referring to the “make disciples.”
Sometimes, too much has been made of the “make disciples” without emphasising the “go.”
The language that Jesus used grammatically strongly links the “go” with “make disciples” so that it literally means: “Go - then do what I am commanding” - which is “make disciples.” In other words, Jesus is teaching each of us is to “Go in order to make disciples.”
WHERE DO WE BEGIN?
1. Accept that we are well able to do what Jesus is commanding us.
2. Accept that according to Jesus, to follow him means to be fishers of men (Mark 1:17).
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE SOW THE SEED
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26-29)
Discussion Questions:
1. What does “all by itself” mean?
2. According to Jesus, who sows the seed and who makes it germinate and grow?
IF WE MISTAKENLY THINK WE HAVE TO GET PEOPLE SAVED, WHICH IS GOD’S WORK,
WE END UP NOT DOING OUR WORK.
OUR ROLE IS TO SIMPLY SOW THE SEED OF GOD’S WORD
Read Luke 8:4-15 & Matthew 13:23
GOD’S ROLE IS TO BRING PEOPLE TO SALVATION THROUGH JESUS
• John 14:6 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
• John 6:44 No one comes to me unless the father first draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. Draw: attract, drag, haul, draw.
• Acts 2:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
• Acts 16:13-15 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Discuss Questions:
1. Who sowed the word of God into your heart?
2. How did they do that?
3. What went on inside you between the sowing of the seed and your salvation?
4. At what point did you believe and then what did you do?
BIG IDEA
When we sow the seed of God’s Word and pray for people, the Holy Spirit does his work to draw them to Jesus.
The Holy Spirit has something to work on when people:
• Hear the gospel
• Read the gospel
• Understand the gospel
HOW CAN YOU SOW THE SEED OF GOD’S WORD INTO PEOPLE’S HEARTS?
CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. In the process of leading people to salvation, what is God’s role and what is our role?
2. Who are 1-3 people to whom you can sow the seed of God’s Word this year?
3. How do you think you can begin that process: what are your first steps?
CLOSE BY PRAYING FOR:
• Pray for boldness to sow the seed
• Pray for the Holy Spirit to draw hearts to Jesus
• Pray specifically to the names of people into whose hearts you can sow the seed
• Pray for 2026 to be year of disproportionate focus and effort on conversions and disciple-making