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Settle for Peter, Thomas, or Matthew Instead of Demanding Jesus

I am an advocate for lowering the leader bar.  In fact, I’ve found that one of the primary reasons many churches struggle to identify and recruit enough small group leaders to take care of the demand is that they’re looking for Jesus Jr. instead of Peter, Thomas or Matthew (all of whom had issues…if you recall).

Still, every church has to decide what the leader requirements will be.  In a sense, every church customizes the leader requirements to fit their culture.  There are several basic options:

  1. Only members can lead a group.  And by the way, membership means very different things from one church to another.  At some churches you attend a one hour class and sign a covenant.  At others, you attend a series of four hour classes.
  2. Anyone can lead a group and all leaders are given equal treatment.  Everyone can have their group listed in the catalog or on the website.
  3. Anyone can lead a group but requirements and benefits are customized to fit the situation.  For example, anyone can pick up materials and fill their group with friends and neighbors they’ve personally invited.  Inclusion in the catalog or online group finder is available only to those groups that meet additional, more stringent requirements.

Full Disclosure: I am a fan of option 3.  Making it easy for everyone to reach out to friends, neighbors, family and co-workers just makes sense.  It’s not problem-free.  There is no problem-free.  But I’d rather have the messiness that come with this solution than the problems that come with a too high leader bar.

How Customized Leader Requirements Could Look

If you think about it, one of the first realizations every small group champion ought to have is that you can’t really control who leads a small group.  It’s a free country!  At least, here in the U.S. it’s a free country.  It doesn’t matter whether you fully approve of the leader of any individual group.  Once they’ve gathered a few of their friends or neighbors…they’re a group.

At the same time, you can control certain things and you can guide certain outcomes.  For example, you get to choose what requirements must be met in order to be included in the group catalog or on the online group finder.  The fact that anyone can have a group has no bearing on who can be included.  Any number of requirements could be on your list.  For example, in order to be included in the online finder you might require leaders to have a background check on file, be a member of the church, attend certain required meetings and participate in church-wide studies.

What about additional levels of control?  Although it allows significantly less leverage, it makes sense that to be recognized as “an official group” a leader might need to maintain adequate communication with their coach or the small group pastor.

Can you see how all of these stipulations could be part of the essential requirements for “official groups?”  Where you set the bar is up to you and your church’s culture. Lowering the bar shouldn’t have to mean anything beyond who can open their home and inviting a few friends.

Want do you think? Have a question? Want to argue?