10. You believe that small groups are the solution to spiritual formation.
“Based on the churches we have studied, including our own, there is no evidence that getting 100 percent of a congregation into small groups is an effective spiritual formation strategy.”
11. You focus on what people should do rather than who people should become.
“Unfortunately, churches often make things harder still by obscuring the goal—to become more like Christ—with a complicated assortment of activities. For instance, encouraging people to: attend teaching and worship services every week; meet frequently with small community and Bible study groups (often requiring follow-up communications and homework); serve the church a couple times a month; serve those who are under-resourced on a regular basis; invite friends, coworkers and family to church, special events, support groups, etc. When the church incessantly promotes all the things people should do, it’s very easy for them to lose sight of the real goal—which is who they should become.”
12. You aren’t helping people surrender their lives to Jesus.
“Spiritual growth is not driven or determined by activities; it is defined by a growing relationship with Christ. So the goal is not to launch people into an assortment of ministry activities; it is to launch them on a quest to embrace and surrender their lives to Jesus.”
Here’s my Amazon link if you’d like to read the book. I strongly encourage you to do that and wrestle through what you read with your ministry leadership team. If you are honest with yourselves, this book will shift the way you do ministry in your church.
Now, I’d like to talk about why most churches will be unwilling to make the necessary changes to address this issue.
