Sharing All of Life
DNA groups are a big part of how we pursue discipleship at New City. They are our version of accountability groups. Simply put, a DNA is a group of 3-4 men or women who gather weekly (or as often as possible) for the purpose of transformation and discipleship through the study and discussion of God’s Word.
Why is it called DNA? DNA stands for Discover, Nurture, and Act.
The group seeks to discover areas of sin and gospel gaps in their lives where they are not believing the truth about Jesus and who they are in Christ. These gaps often manifest in wrong beliefs, wrong emotions and affections, and wrong actions. We discover these areas in our lives by studying scripture together and walking through the 4 Questions: Who is God? What Has He Done? Who am I in Christ? How should I live?
Group members seek to nurture each other’s affections and emotions in light of the gospel. We use the power of God's Word and the truths of the gospel to nurture each other in love to our true identities in Christ Jesus. We apply the truth of what God has accomplished in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and who we are Christ into the areas of misbelief in our lives that lead to sin.
Group members make commitments to act on the discovery of truth they have learned and agree to take tangible steps toward leading their affections increasingly toward Jesus. When the group returns, they hold each other accountable to continue actively fighting their sin in the power of the Spirit.
These groups have a had a great impact in my own life. I am currently in a DNA group and the relationships I have in that group that are centered on the gospel of Jesus provide me with an opportunity to share all of my life with brothers in Christ that I trust, and I know love me. We have the freedom to share and speak into one another’s lives. We build one another up, we challenge one another in love, and we support one another through accountability and prayer (we ask for prayer by text regularly!).
The size of this group creates the possibility for transparency and confession where deep healing and transformation can take place. The design is intentional, because it’s one of the ways Jesus made disciples. He taught large groups, He had the 12 disciples, but He also had His inner three-Peter, James, and John. He shared things with them that He shared with no one else.
All of the group sizes matter and are important in our discipleship. I’ve linked a blog written some time ago by Pastor Keith that explains the vision behind DNA and how it fits into Jesus’ way of doing discipleship in more detail. I hope you will read it!
If you are interested in participating in a DNA group, I hope you’ll join us for our upcoming Quarterly Training at New City Church on Saturday, 10/2 from 9am-12pm. This training will cover Missional Community (our version of small groups) Life and DNA groups are a big part of that. We prefer to form DNA groups out of our Missional Communities, because that is primarily where we live as family at New City and that gives us a context of preexisting relationships to form DNA groups from. If you’d like to join us, you can check out the event and sign up at this link, https://fb.me/e/W4YU6omo. You can get more information on DNA groups on our website, https://www.newcitychurches.org/dna-groups-2. Or if you’d like to contact me directly, email me at rhett@newcitymacon.org.