The Lamb's Bride Project
Frequently Asked Questions What is the Lamb's Bride Project? The Lamb's Bride Project, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization with no office and no employees. It is a very small organization run by volunteers. Dick Wulf and the Board of Directors do what they can to disseminate helpful information to churches. It is the desire of The Lamb's Bride Project to be of technical support to the many expressions of small group ministry within Christianity. Our specialties are: * professional small group leadership skills for any kind of small group; * obedience to Scripture as a group, which is more than obedience by the individual group member; * understanding the meaning and application of often misinterpreted plural passages in the Bible * Christian congregational fellowship and small group community, and * program design to reach and meet human needs.
Where does Lamb's Bride stand on the different models of small group ministry? The Lamb's Bride Project is a supportive ministry. We do not have a "program" to advocate. Instead we advocate leadership of groups rather than the typical model that leads individuals in a group but is still called small group leadership. (It might be more accurately called "small group individual leadership".) As far as we know, no matter what model of small groups you use, you can benefit from learning a different style of group leadership from us. It should fit in well with the model you have chosen and enhance your effectiveness. We also advocate small groups as mandatory for Christians. This is because only in small group community can the Lord's instructions for His church be adequately obeyed. For example, encouragement in larger fellowships is possible only at a superficial level. Only in a small group can encouragement be made personal and powerful for more than just a "morale boost." Also, we think that an in-depth knowledge of God's commands for Christians when they get together is necessary, no matter what model of small group ministry you use. The model is the form, but within that form there should be obedience. We try to teach you to put back into your Bible verses the community, Greek plural emphasis that was there in the beginning but is filtered out by the English language and hidden by our Western cultural biases.
Why is the Lamb's Bride viewpoint about the small group leader's behavior in the group so different from what is usually taught? Dick Wulf earned a Master's Degree in Social Work with a small group work emphasis from Columbia University in 1967. The Lord clearly sent him for such training that he might impact secular society -- which he has done. But that training, being outside of Christian circles, was unaffected by the usual Christian model. Dick was trained in leading groups, not individuals. Therefore, when he was finally released from working in the secular community, Dick could easily see that the Christian model of small group leadership was not really and truly leadership of groups. Almost everyone who hears Dick out agrees that the typical model does not lead groups but merely uses groups. Therefore, individuals might be strengthened, but the group is rarely enhanced. The result for Christianity and the church is often disastrous. Individual-focused small group leadership produces weak and dependent followers. But this will not be evident to you unless you read or listen to our material and see that Dick expects -- and gets -- much more from a group than most people ever expect. What convicted Dick to make this information and training on true small group leadership available to the Christian community was that in his experience, non-Christian groups under his leadership could so easily outshine Christian groups, especially in their helpfulness to group members.
Why is Dick Wulf so serious about this group leadership stuff and Christian community? Dick believes that the church is serious business. He did not grow up in a Christian family. In fact, he grew up in near-ghetto conditions. He came to the church for what he read it to be in the Bible. Dick sees the church potentially as a much more powerful society than it presently achieves. He wants to do his part, along with his Board of Directors, to strengthen the church to serve and glorify God.
Why haven't I heard of Dick Wulf before? I have never even heard his name or that of the Lamb's Bride Project. Dick has been very busy all his life serving in the church and in parachurch organizations while at the same time making a living as the program director of a very large community mental health center and/or Christian counselor. He is a doer, getting many things done and not seeking high profile. Since he doesn't have the time or money to travel in small group leadership circles, hardly anyone has heard of him in his main expertise of small group leadership and small group management skills.
How can I be sure that Dick Wulf is a solid Christian who knows the Bible and knows his stuff? Dick has led well over 10,000 small group meetings, including home groups, Bible studies, management groups, therapy groups for all ages and mental disorders, conflict interventions, committees in the church, youth groups (both in the church and parachurch ministries) and others. Dick has trained Christians, small group leaders and pastors from coast to coast (but not a lot like some others have, since he has not sought such assignments) in small group leadership. Dick has been an elder in his denomination for over 20 years. NavPress published his book Find Yourself - Give Yourself in 1983 and it was a finalist for the best book written in the category of doctrine and theology. He served three years on the Board of Trustees of Covenant Seminary in St. Louis where he was also a popular guest lecturer. For two years Dick was the president of the Colorado Springs Association of Evangelicals, He has consulted to Youth for Christ, the Navigators and Campus Crusade for Christ. Dick is quoted in the Parent's Resource Bible, published by Tyndale House Publishers in 1995, page 1043. He is also the designer of a Christian game that has led somewhere between 5,000 and 20,000 kids to the Lord and helped many, many more teenagers mature into courageous Christians. Dick
is a professional
Christian counselor
and psychotherapist,
a clinical social
worker with
over 30 years'
experience,
especially in
working with
small groups.
He was the Program
Director of
one of America's
largest mental
health centers
for many years.
He served on
many community
councils and
boards and governmental
committees,
usually as the
chairperson.
For the few
years Dick had
time to be a
field instructor
for the Denver
University School
of Social Work,
every student
he supervised
won the Best
Group Worker
Award.
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