Giving the ministry to people who are using their gifts to grow their groups will get the job done. It is a way to obey the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). In fact, it is the bread-and-butter strategy for reaching a lost world.
Often, we do big projects in our churches. We have programs and concerts and mission trips. We build big buildings, hold huge meetings, and have spectacular Easter celebrations. All good.
It is easy enough when we do these things to lose sight of the importance of the basics. We are mesmerized by watching the home run sail over center field and forget the basics of the routine ground ball. Small group work is the basics of the routine ground ball. Most of what it means to be a church happens best in small groups. Teaching, caring, sharing, reaching, loving, admonishing and helping happens best in small groups. All these other things are good, but we should never lose our focus on the basics.
We may do all kinds of supplemental things to help us to grow, but it is the work of the small group leader that is foundational to a doubling group movement. Consistently and quietly, growing, reaching, teaching, assimilating, fellowshipping, loving and doing what God tells us to do—this is the bread and butter of our ongoing strategy.
The Doubling Group Movement in Your Home Church
Perhaps the goal of reaching America in 20 years is a little hard for you to wrap your brain around. Three hundred thirty million is a big number. Personalize it to your church or denomination. Southern Baptists have a little over 2 million in groups each week. If half of them would double every two years or less Southern Baptists alone would reach America in about 20 years
Think about your own church. Suppose you have 100 attending right now. How many people would you reach if each group doubled every two years or less? Fill in the following chart to find out.
Example Your Church Current attendance: 100
| 2 Years | 200 | |
| 4 Years | 400 | |
| 6 Years | 800 | |
| 8 Years | 1600 | |
| 10 Years | 3200 |
The correct answer is in excess of three thousand. One hundred to three thousand in ten years. But, that is not the exciting part. The exciting part is the second ten years. Even if only half the groups in your church were successful, you would still experience phenomenal growth. Go ahead, play with the math if you are given to that kind of thing.
The doubling group movement every two years is a worthy goal. It will result in phenomenal growth. It will result in obedience to the Great Commission.
I want to invite you to pray about and long for seeing an army of group leaders living out 2 Timothy 2.2 (NIV): “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”
This article on the doubling group movement is adapted from You Can Double Your Group in Two Years or Less
