Frank's Blog

There is an interesting conversation going on that Dave Treat started on the Willow Creek Group Life blog.  There is some discussion about the aging of small group ministry and some say it may even eventually just die so I had to make sure I weighed in on the discussion around some key things I think group ministry provides for the church.  Here is what I posted:

To say that group ministry is dying is saying you don't understand the purpose of group ministry and you don't know how to implement it in your environment. Every ministry model has it's weaknesses. Small groups are no different. They have their weaknesses and I wont pretend to hide behind them, but there are some benefits to small groups that cannot be ignored.

1 - Healthy Community: if your goal is to foster community in a church. The power of a healthy community cannot be ignored. We have already established that small groups provide discipleship opportunities for intentional leaders, but there are lots of other benefits that churches experience from a healthy small group community.

2 - Help Big Feel Small: It is no secret that there is one major fear people have in going to a large church: no one knows them! Small groups change that experience. Every Sunday my wife and I sit with a couple from our small group and I see over 100 others that do the same each week (and that's just the people I know).

3 - Pastoral Care: Group ministry is the front line of pastoral care in the church. Group leaders and members are the first responders to crisis in a large congregation. There are many emergencies that occur in our church that I am the last to hear about because our small groups have jumped in and handled the situation before word of it even made it to me.

4 - Evangelism: We have to stop thinking of small groups as "Bible Studies." We have groups at CCV that facilitate relationships that result in evangelism. New people have been attending our church as a direct result of the following affinity groups: softball, kids play group, volleyball, dog walking, tennis, scrap booking, and others.

5 - High Priority Communication: Do you need to get the word out fast about something important in the church? Leverage the small group ministry network. On numerous occasions we have done this about an important change in the church or even aiding with communication for a capital campaign to build a new facility on our campus.

6 - Volunteer Network: I can't count how many times we have utilized our small ministry to rally the troops to get a job done.We would not have been able to staff our kids program when we experimented with our Saturday night service if it weren't for entire small groups volunteering to serve on Saturday nights together.

I kind of look at this whole situation kind of differently. Small groups will continue to exist in all of our communities - with or without churches. I just hope that churches pay more attention group ministry because without this vital ministry, churches are the ones at risk, not groups.

Click here to read what Dave and others had to say about the topic.

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I've always been a big fan of using all church studies to give your group ministry a shot in the arm.  While I was leading our group ministry at CCV we strategically placed them in our church calendar to initiate spiritual growth and increase group participation. 

Another group strategy that works quite well is more of a "free market" group system where you raise leaders that you lean on to provide direction for individual groups based upon God given passions.  That means that you let them choose what they study, or the types of groups that they are starting in your church based upon their intrests.

 Both strategies work great when led well, but can they be merged?  Heather Zemple from NCC plans to find out.  Here is how she describes what will be happening at NCC this summer:

For several years, we have operated primarily out of a free mark approach to small groups. Get a vision from God and run with it. Tap into your interests, passions, and gifts and look for creative ways to turn those into disciple-making opportunities. As a church, we won't tell you what to study and what to lead; rather, we will help you discover your passions and then encourage you, equip you, empower you and unleash you to go make disciples out of those passions.

This summer, we are going to try a twist on that model and launch a new experiment.

Theory #1- Free Market small group models are the best for building organic community, raising up new leaders, and pushing discipleship out of the classroom and into real life.

Theory #2- Church-wide small group campaigns are the best for mobilizing new group start-ups, encouraging people into groups, and focusing the entire church on one strategic goal.

Theory #3- Theory #1 + Theory #2 = Chaos and Confusion = The Best of Both Worlds = Potential to Learn Something New = A New Wineskin for Discipleship.

Basically, we are going to try to create a hybrid. We are going to merge our free market DNA with the energy, synergy, and momentum that happens in churches that all focus on the same study at once. We want to see if we can implement both a free market and a church-wide strategy. We want to launch both a small group campaign and focus on taking groups deeper all at the same time. Can it be done? I have no idea. But we've got to try this experiment.

Click here to read more about what Heather plans on doing.

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