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Group Talk With Brian Jones (6) - How Small Groups Succeed |
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Written by Frank Chiapperino
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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.
If you can read, you can lead. If a Christian can read the questions in our study guide, they can lead a small group at our church. That’s easy, I thought. Too easy in fact. And ridiculous.
Not necessarily, 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.
* Help the 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).
* 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.
* Evangelism - We have to stop thinking of small groups as "Bible Studies." We have groups at CCV that facilitate relationships that result in evangelism and one of the groups you said in jest - "your knitting circle" - we've actually had! New people have been attending CCV as a direct result of the following affinity groups: softball, kids play group, volleyball, dog walking, tennis, scrap booking, etc.
* 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.
* Volunteer network - I can't count how many times we have utilized our small ministry to rally the troops to get a job done. Just this week I was in a staff meeting where we were discussing our big Kids' Camp this year and our prop person was happy that one of our small groups showed up to help out with building props last week. 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.
Do you have a group ministry in your church? How have you seen it benefit your congregation and community? |
