Some strategies take time to work. For example, changing your small group ministry model will make a big difference, but probably a little less immediate.
Running a “turbo group” of potential leaders with the assumption that after they have experienced healthy and authentic community as they’ve participated can lead to a number of new groups…eventually.
The apprenticing strategy, with its potential to allow small groups to grow and “birth” new groups as the number of members grows and the apprentice becomes “ready,” is another slow growth strategy.
On the other hand, some strategies immediately launch more groups and connect more people. Here are my favorites:
Church-Wide Campaigns
A well conceived, well planned and well executed church wide campaign, leveraging the HOST strategy alongside a Small Group Connection strategy, can have immediate impact, starting a wave of new groups and connecting a lot of unconnected people.
Find out more about church-wide campaigns right here.
Small Group Connections
A small group connection is a 75-minute event designed to form new groups and then assist the members of each new group to choose a leader to help them get started. A well planned and well executed small group connection can be used in conjunction with a church-wide campaign but they can also be stand-alone events (much like North Point’s GroupLink strategy).
Find out more about small group connections right here.
Small Group Vacations
The small group vacation strategy can launch more new groups and connect more people as a result of a simple but compelling challenge to leaders and members of existing small groups in your system.
Challenging your existing groups to consider not meeting together as a group for an upcoming series (hence the name small group vacation), but instead linking arms with another couple or a few others and hosting a new group themselves, each inviting a few unconnected friends to join them for the study that goes along with the new series.
Find out more about Small Group Vacations right here.
Short-Term On-Campus Groups
Selecting a compelling and targeted short-term study (for example, Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage or The New Rules of Love, Sex and Dating) and offering it on-campus with childcare will encourage unconnected people who are necessarily interested in a small group to experience community. Seating attenders at tables together, often sorted by affinity (for example, newly married, young couples, empty nesters, etc.), and allowing them to participate in the discussion over six to eight weeks will often be the test-drive they need to encourage them to continue meeting as a group off-campus.
Find out about Short-Term On-Campus “Groups” right here.
These are just four of the strategies that will immediately launch more groups and connect more people. Need a customized approach? Consider setting up a coaching call with me. Find out how to set up a coaching call right here.
This article originally appeared here.
