Training · Growth Tools
The Experience Plan
A quarterly plan for the habits that grow a person’s experience of God, and how to run it with your group
The Experience Plan is a one page plan for the habits that grow a person’s experience of God. Your group fills it in once a quarter, and you run it.
The habits are not magic. They are tools. The plan is how we pursue God on purpose instead of hoping it happens.
What a win looks like
A win is not the goal someone sets. It is the step they take.
The win is not working out where a person should be. It is understanding where they are and taking one step forward. Aim for one step forward per person each quarter, in at least one habit. Any step forward is growth. Every step forward is progress.
Do not let this turn legalistic. It is not about who is where. It is about taking a step and growing our experience of God from wherever we are.
The rhythm
- Quarterly. Your group sets goals for the quarter and shares them with each other.
- Monthly. Your group reviews those goals. Encourage each other, help each other, pray for each other.
Two principles
Three steps maximum. You can only do so much at once. Nobody should take steps in more than three areas. One step forward in one area beats getting overwhelmed by five and quitting.
Not all at first. People may not understand why a habit matters or what sits behind it. That is your opening to explain how we experience God. Do not expect anyone to take every step at the start. Some habits get added later, as people grow.
Running it with your group
- Give out the plan. Send your group to dinnergroups.com/experience-plan. It works on a phone, saves there, and prints if anyone wants paper.
- Introduce it. Even if you are sure everyone knows the habits, take a minute to explain them and how they help us pursue and experience Christ. It helps anyone new, and it is a good reminder for the rest of us.
- Give time to fill it in. Tell people the only line they have to complete is the commitment to their dinner group. Then give them a few minutes to plan the next three months.
- Share. Do not force anyone. Open it up for whoever wants the group’s help over the next few months. Let them share, then encourage them.
- Pray. Pray for the group, or for each other, as you start.
Where will you focus?
Eight areas sit on the sheet. Growth begins with small steps, and the three step maximum still applies, so nobody fills in all eight. Each area is a question your group member answers for the next three months.
Personal time. How much time will you spend completely focused on God in scripture and prayer? Where, and when?
Study. How many personal growth books will you read over the next three months to keep learning how to experience God more?
Memory. How many weeks a month will you memorize the weekly memory verse, and how will you do it?
Community. Will you commit to your dinner group weekly and make that time a priority?
Service. Which Impact team will you give your time and talents to?
Giving. What percent of what God has given you will you give back through the weekly tithe? What percent will you give as an additional offering of thanksgiving?
Resting. What will you set aside as a Sabbath to rest with God and family? How often will you set aside time for solitude, where, and when?
Fasting. How many days a month will you fast, to grow your experience of dependence on God?
The verse behind whatever someone is putting off and putting on makes a good memory verse. See Put Off / Put On.
TODO(nick): The service line on the sheet reads “serving with the Impact team below.” Is Impact team
still what we call it?