Creating Huddles for Discipleship in Portland, Oregon

Using a variety of tools, including their imaginations to help them better visualize and apply the Bible to their lives and share its message with others, seven people took part in a ‘discipleship huddle’ over the last year at Parklane Christian Reformed Church in Portland, Oregon.

“A huddle is like a Bible study on steroids,” said Rev. Peter Armstrong, pastor of Parklane CRC. “But it is more than that. It is a small group, a prayer group, and an accountability group in which people share what is going on in their lives.”

That one original huddle has recently grown into five more huddles involving 25 people, said Armstrong.

These huddles are an outgrowth of a *CRC Sustaining Congregational Excellence that was given to Classis Columbia to help congregations address church renewal with the help of the Church Renewal Lab.  

Based at Calvin Theological Seminary, the Church Renewal Lab offers congregations the chance to take part in a two-year renewal process for the purpose of “developing intentional missional congregations that make more and better disciples who transform lives and communities for Christ,” says the Renewal Lab website.

Geared to train leaders, the discipleship huddles are one tool that congregations who participate in the Renewal Lab might decide to use. They are based in part on the book Building a Discipling Culture by Mike Breen.

Breen has been involved in making disciples in post-Christian Europe and Australia for decades, and Parklane CRC found his methods fit the ethos of Portland well, where few people consider themselves Christian and are ripe for a new way of discipleship, said Armstrong.

Some of the goals and practices of a huddle including praying for God to change the hearts of people; knowing where you’re heading; changing your language because language changes culture; focusing on transformation instead of information, and creating a discipleship pathway for spiritual growth for believers.

In the fall of 2017, said Armstrong, they started their first discipleship huddle, and each of the seven huddle participants committed to starting their own huddle in the future.

“Three are happening with current members of our church, and two will be with folks who are not yet members of our church,” said Armstrong. “One huddle is in an area board gaming community, where one of our members has been building relationships for years, and one is with recent graduates of the Portland Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter.”

“I’m doing two huddles, one with a group of millennials and the other with men who are in college,” Armstrong added.

Another big initiative that has come out of the SCE grant and the Renewal Lab is the starting of a preschool.

“As we prayed, researched and talked to other growing churches, we found that many churches are serving their communities through preschools,” Armstrong said, explaining how the decision to open a preschool was formed.

“As we listened to our neighborhood and to the Holy Spirit, we were both intrigued and challenged. A preschool that previously served our community was closing down, and yet public school administrators identified it as a big need.”

The church formed a team in March to pray and investigate. Soon, two teachers with previous experience stepped up to serve as teachers and directors. Also, a donor stepped up to help pay cost of tuition.

“Many of the logistical details of licensing, curriculum, fundraising and our actual building structure were worked out. Every step along the way, God has been with us,” said Armstrong.

Meeting on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings in church classrooms, the preschool currently has nine students representing different ethnic groups and nine neighborhood families.

“Most are unchurched and we are thrilled to get to know them and walk alongside them. The preschool is already financially solvent but we are praying for three more students to fill out the room.”

While the discipleship huddles and the preschool are new programs that the church has started, they are just one aspect of the renewal that the congregation has been experiencing. 

“Conversations about discipleship are happening organically, and we are also spreading the word through testimonies from the pulpit, the bulletin, our website and current small group structure,” said Armstrong.

At Parklane, they are moving from measuring only the attendance (and how they are doing on the budget) to making disciples, which is what Jesus asked his church to do.

“We believe this will have a huge impact on the health, growth and renewal of our church. We’ve challenged newcomers and those that have been part of the church their entire lives to take Jesus’ commission seriously,” said the pastor.

“This has been done in a thousand small ways, such as a church-wide Bible reading plan, a greater emphasis on prayer at our monthly prayer meeting, and developing a discipleship pipeline that encompasses the many ministries we’ve done over the years,” said Armstrong.

One issue that will continue to be a challenge is raising up younger and more diverse leaders. “After 18 months of serving at Parklane CRC, I lament that many of our former youth are still not involved in our church or any church,” said the pastor.

“While we are developing young, college age leaders, the millennials are missing. This is going to take greater reflection and prayer as we move forward.”  

*The Sustaining Congregational Excellence program, which for several years awarded grants to smaller churches for creative projects and programs, came to an end on June 30, 2018. If your church would like to apply for a similar grant to fund a ministry idea, check out the Ignite program.