A Covenant Discipleship group is a small group of people who meet weekly to hold one another accountable for their spiritual growth. The members of these groups develop a covenant, which they make with God and with one another, to focus on four areas of discipleship: devotion, worship, justice, and compassion.

The composition of these groups varies. Some include men and women of different ages. Some consist entirely of men in their twenties or women who have retired or working professionals or young parents or teens. Often all the members of a Covenant Discipleship group are from the same congregation. But some groups include members of different congregations who have something in common: Perhaps they attend the same school or work for the same company.

If you would like to get your confirmands, or all the youth in your ministry, involved in Covenant Discipleship groups, begin by dividing them into groups of seven or fewer and by assigning an adult to each group. This adult should not serve as a leader but should play a supportive role, keeping the youth focused on the covenant and holding them accountable for participating in the meetings. If numbers permit, divide the youth according to grade level and/or gender. Also make sure that the members of a given group will be able to find a time when all can be present. Groups can meet at someone's house or at the church during the week; or you can build Covenant Discipleship meetings into existing youth fellowship or Bible study time. Regardless of when and where groups meet, be sure to adhere to Safe Sanctuaries guidelines. (This may require you to assign two, unrelated adults to each group.)

Once a group has formed and has determined a meeting time, the members of that group should write a covenant. The General Board of Discipleship has several sample covenants available at its website. Group members should write covenants in plain language that everyone in the group is comfortable with. A group's covenant doesn't need to be lengthy, but it should include commitments in each of the four focus areas: devotion, worship, compassion, and justice. Adults can offer guidance to the groups as the members craft their covenants, but the content should come from the youth themselves.

During weekly meetings, a leader (one of the youth) should open the meeting with prayer. Then the group should read the covenant (perhaps in unison). The leader will then go through each part of the covenant, inviting the other members of the group to talk about how they were faithful or how they struggled to be faithful to that part of the covenant. Leadership of the group should rotate, with every person having opportunities to lead the group through the covenant. More details on the structure of Covenant Discipleship group meetings  is available at the General Board of Discipleship's website.

For more information, visit the General Board of Discipleship's Covenant Discipleship page.