I write and talk a lot about healthy small groups. (To see my blogs on the topic, click here.) To review, the seven hallmarks of a healthy group are:
- Christ-Centered
- Healthy, Growing Leader
- Core Team
- Goals & Plans
- Authentic Biblical Community
- Disciple-Making
- Mission-Minded
The result or “fruit” of a healthy group is a group that is: Growing, Reaching Out, and Reproducing.
Three secrets to helping groups become more healthy: (1) look at what God’s Word has to say, (2) openly talk about these issues, and (3) make plans and make changes to be a healthy group.
Touch Outreach Ministries has provided the perfect tools for groups to do just this. Each of the six agenda books in their Community Life Series is written to help groups start out or become healthy, Christ-centered, inward-connecting, outward-reaching, forward-moving, missional groups.
If you want your group or groups to be strategic about becoming healthy, I really encourage you to check out this series. (Fine Print Obligatory Disclosure: I wrote 2 of the books in this series, Launch into Community Life and Moving Forward.)
Seven extremely cool things about this series:
- They’re designed so that each group only needs 1 (count them, 1!) guide. It’s basically a leader’s guide that includes resources that can be photocopied for group members. What a great deal when finances are tight!
- Each book includes a challenging devotional for the leader, which helps build in healthy group hallmark #2.
- “Between-the-meeting” options help groups be more than just one-day-per-week meetings.
- You can get them all in a bundle to check them out or to be really strategic and order them for all your groups.
- You can now get the series or the individual books as ebooks / digital editions!
- Now you can also get intergenerational supplements for this series! These can be used specifically for the kid’s slot during your meeting. This is HUGE for groups with kids!
- If you are a new group, or you think it’s time to restart, you can use the Launch Into Community Life guide. It’s focused on helping groups start as a healthy group.
For more information on this series or to place an order, go directly to the Community Life Series page or call 1-800-735-5865. Tell them Mike sent you!
