Bishop Richard J. Wills, Jr.

Small Group Leader Training
 With Bishop Wills

On April 5th, Bishop Richard J. Wills, Jr., resident Bishop of the Tennessee and Memphis annual conferences came to the Aldersgate Renewal Center in Goodlettsville to lead a 3-hour training on leading small groups. The training was based on his experience with small groups among Methodists in South Africa and as a pastor in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Bishop Wills called them Wesley Fellowship Groups. Forty three people provided a live audience and they participated in a small group experience as part of the video taped training session.

Bishop Wills set out the following purposes for the training:

• To investigate the Biblical and historical

reasons for establishing small groups as

the fundamental structure for the church

• To discover the 5 essential ingredients for

our Wesley Fellowship Groups “recipe”

• To find the qualities God is looking for

in a Wesley Fellowship Group leader

• To understand the task and maintenance

functions of a group leader

• To look at the life cycle of groups

• To learn about group personalities

• To discover the make-up of a Wesley

Fellowship Group and the principle of

multiplying groups

• To learn about the responsibilities of

being a lay pastor.

This training has been put into a DVD format and is a valuable resource for churches that have hosted or are planning to host Lay Witness Mission and are wanting to start small group ministries. However, the DVD would also be helpful for any church wanting to start new or strengthen existing small group ministries.

You will be able purchase the DVD and a reproducible copy of the workbook used in the seminar from the ARM office for $20. You can get the “Bishop’s Bundle,” the DVD, workbook and Bishop Wills’ main book on small groups, Waking to God’s Dream for $32. Shipping is additional. The release date for the DVD will be announced soon; please call the office at 1-877-857-9372 and ask for Darlene for ordering information. 

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Why Are Small Groups Important For A Thriving Church?

Did you know that small group ministry is crucial to your church's health? Small group Bible studies and fellowship groups not only contribute to your members' spiritual growth, they contribute to church growth as well. Healthy church ministry includes developing relationships that assist with the spiritual well-being of members while growing them toward maturity.

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Participants can expect to learn the ability to grow churches larger by growing them smaller. They will also learn how to be a church "of small groups" not "with small groups".

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More about Bishop Wills

Richard J. Wills Jr (born 3 August 1942) is a Bishop of the United Methodist Church, elected in 2004. Richard graduated in 1964 with a B.S. degree in Psychology from Florida Southern College. He earned an M.Div. degree from Candler School of Theology, Emory University in 1967. He has received Honorary Doctorates from Bethune-Cookman College and from Florida Southern.

He married Eileen (Willis) Wills on 12 June 1965. They have four children: Richard J. Wills III of Lakeland, Florida; Suzanne Wills Hart of West Palm Beach, Florida; Johanna Wills Clark of Orlando, Florida; and Rebekah Wills Stephens of Sebring, Florida.

Rev. Wills was ordained a Deacon in the Florida Annual Conference of The Methodist Church in 1965. He was ordained an Elder in 1969. He was appointed Pastor of the Crystal Lake Methodist Church, Lakeland, Florida, 1967-71. He was Pastor of the Mandarin U.M.C., Jacksonville, Florida, 1971-75. In 1975 Rev. Wills was appointed Associate Council Director on the Conference Council of Ministries, Florida Annual Conference, serving in this capacity until 1978. He became the Pastor of the Englewood U.M.C. in 1978, and the Senior Pastor of Christ Church United Methodist, Fort Lauderdale, 1986-2004. He became Bishop of the Tennesseee and Memphis annual conference in 2004.

Rev. Wills was also very involved in Annual Conference and General Church responsibilities. He chaired his Conference's Board of Ordained Ministry, 1984-88 (serving as a member 1980-88 and 2002-04). He was on the Terring Committee of the Large Church Initiative of the General Board of Discipleship for twelve years. He was a member of the Southeastern Jurisdictional Committee on Episcopacy, 1996-2004. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Bethune-Cookman College (1995-2000). He held many other local and regional offices, as well. He has a book, "Waking to God's Dream: Spiritual Leadership and Church Renewal", Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999.

 “It is my dream that every United Methodist church no matter how big or small will be a vital community of faith (with) new people coming, members stretching themselves to be available for God to use for bringing God’s kingdom to earth. That means radically following Jesus and his teaching.” 

Wills said his five trips to Cuba have inspired and given him a glimpse of the future. 

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Why are we recording this training event?

The Tennessee Annual Conference is purchasing some sophisticated video cameras and digital recording equipment so an annual conference task force will be able to put worship services, Bible studies, and teaching sessions on DVD’s.  Their very first project will be to film a training session with Aldersgate Renewal Ministries at the Aldersgate Renewal Center in Goodlettsville , TN.

Bishop Richard J. Wills, Jr., resident bishop of the Tennessee annual conference will be coming to the Aldersgate Renewal Center the morning of April 5^th to lead a training session for small group leaders.  Bishop Will is the author of the book Waking to God’s Dream in which he outlines the importance of small groups for the numerical and spiritual growth of local churches.  [This book is available in the ARM Resource Center .]

ARM sees the DVD that will be produced from this session as being especially valuable for churches who have held Lay Witness Missions, but also for any churches that want to start or strengthen small groups in their churches.  Be watching for future announcements on when this DVD will be available for distribution.