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Think Small Groups Don't Work? 6 Practical MUSTS for Group Ministry

I continue to hear of churches who are stating, “Small groups don’t work.” As I thought about that I realized there are six consistent musts every church should do if they are going to have an effective small group ministry.

Choose the right person to spearhead the small group ministry. The individual spearheading a small group ministry must be a proactive leader! They must be entrepreneurial, systems knowledgeable, and strategy driven with an unapologetically vehement passion for people. At the same time, he/she must be able to create a blueprint for the ministry, build the ministry, and rebuild it if necessary while the vehicle is in motion. She/he must be secure enough to build a team that will shore up his/her weaknesses and be courageous enough to move the entire team in the direction the wave of God’s work is going, even if it means revisiting the original plan.

Establish the primary principles and practices of your small group ministry. Getting the right principles and practices established is a necessity. They must instill these in their leaders at all levels.

Separate from past paradigms and fully embrace small group life. Many people who really want to be great small group leaders are held captive by past experience. They have been Sunday School teachers or been involved with a 12 Step group or have been the leader of an Adult Bible Fellowship. If not well-trained, they will revert back to that which is most comfortable: the group type they have been in or led in the past.

Don’t develop the small group ministry too quickly. Many churches have demanded a small group ministry be birthed and be developing mature believers in just a few months. This is like asking a twenty-five year old woman to give birth to a child and, in two months, make sure that child looks like, acts like, and reproduces like a twenty-five year old woman. This is impossible. Juan Ramon Jimenez once wrote, “The great assassin of life is haste, the desire to reach things before the right time…” Building a foundation for a small group ministry is all about developing leaders, and that takes time.

Realize that curriculum is not the key to life-transforming small groups. Discipleship is not knowledge-based, it is relationally based. Curriculum is vital to spiritual growth, but it is only one tool in the tool box. Churches who simply stick people in a small group as they work through another study will not ultimately make mature disciples. Being with people, doing life with them, journeying together, allowing group members to model the faith for one another, each group member using the spiritual gifts they have been given, and diving headlong into God’s Word are all part of the discipleship journey.

Don’t promise those that join a small group that they will find their “friends” in their small group. Friendships are created when people have chemistry with one another, and this doesn’t always happen in a small group. Announce that the goal of a small group is to make disciples.  

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rhowerton@churchleaders.com'
Rick has one passion… To see “a biblical small group within walking distance of every person on the planet making disciples that make disciples.” He is presently pursuing this passion as the Small Group and Discipleship Specialist at LifeWay Church Resources. Rick has authored or co-authored multiple books, studies, and leader training resources including A Different Kind of Tribe: Embracing the New Small Group Dynamic, Destination Community: Small Group Ministry Manual, The Gospel and the Truth: Living the Message of Jesus, Small Group Life Ministry Manual: A New Approach to Small Groups, Redeeming the Tears: a Journey Through Grief and Loss, Small Group Life: Kingdom, Small Group Kickoff Retreat: Experiential Training for Small Group Leaders, and Great Beginnings: Your First Small Group Study, Disciples Path: A Practical Guide to Disciple Making. Rick’s varied ministry experiences as an collegiate minister, small group pastor, teaching pastor, elder, full-time trainer and church consultant, as well as having been a successful church planter gives him a perspective of church life that is all-encompassing and multi-dimensional. Rick is a highly sought after communicator and trainer.