I wrote an article recently on the nation’s fastest growing church—2|42 Community Church in Brighten, Michigan. What struck me as I researched this church is how little they invented. They mostly collaborated. By learning from everyone, they created their own unique blend of effective ministry.
This is the great opportunity of the Small Group Network. And you can help.
- If you discover an improvement on how to do small group ministry, share it.
- If you have an issue you are struggling with in small group ministry, ask it.
- If you see someone else post a great idea, encourage them with a comment.
- If someone asks a question that you have an insight on, share it.
We are better together.
The Farm and the Garden
I don’t remember the source of this illustration. I want to acknowledge it didn’t come from me.
Every church ought to have a farm and a garden. The farm is what you are doing now. It is what is paying the bills. It is what is working.
The garden is what you are experimenting with. It is your Research and Development department.
Let’s say you are a Sunday School church and you want to move to a home group model. One way would be to cancel Sunday School one week and start home groups the next. This is not likely to work. Instead, plant a garden. Start one home group. Then a few more and a few more.
Innovation Nearly Always Involves LOTS of Failure
Another favorite book I have listened to time and again is John Maxwell’s Failing Forward. He talks about how success is not the result of what we commonly think. It doesn’t come from family background, wealth, opportunity, high morals or the absence of hardship. What does predict success? “I know of only one factor that separates those who consistently shine from those who don’t: The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure. Nothing else has the same kind of impact on people’s ability to achieve and to accomplish whatever their minds and hearts desire.”
I close with this quote from Rick Warren:
Mark Twain once said dryly, “I knew a man who grabbed a cat by the tail and learned forty percent more about cats than the man who didn’t.” We’ve been grabbing the cat by the tail since the beginning at Saddleback Church—and we have the cuts and scars to prove it.
The truth is, we’ve tried more things that didn’t work at Saddleback than did. We’ve never been afraid of failure; we just call everything an “experiment.” I could fill another book with stories of our failures and call it 1000 Ways to NOT Grow a Church!
What are you growing in your garden?
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
