Posted by: Frank Chiapperino in community on
Feb 26, 2009
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.
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.
Posted by: Frank Chiapperino in Untagged on
Jan 17, 2009
Kathy Guy is runs the group ministry at Granger and they recently began a campaign to promote groups int their church. What if all the new groups you could join were on one night? Here are Kathy's comments:
This shift gives clarity to the "when" and "where" questions. If someone decides this is their next step they will have one decision left: which launch they'll attend.
Starting Point (friendship), 6 week sessions, January 12
View Point (Bible study), 6 week sessions, January 19
Turning Point (life change) and Turning Point All Stars (understanding emotions for k - 5th grade kids), 10 week sessions, January 26
Financial Peace University (money management), 13 week sessions, February 23
Monday is Group Night provides: 1) more effective communication through the web and from the platform, 2) a "night off" for those who want to participate in both a group and 1st Wednesday and Journey Classes, and 3) a volume of participants to justify opening the bookstore and cafe for even more people to come early and stay late to meet with friends.
If your ministry moved all of our new or existing groups to one night of the week how do you think it would impact your participation?
Posted by: Frank Chiapperino in life change on
Jan 12, 2009
I don't know about you but one of the things I love about my small group (we call them Home Teams at my church) is that I get to see life-change happen right before my eyes.
One of my favorite stories to share is from one of the very first groups that my wife and I started. It was a group that we started for single young adults and it filled up pretty quickly as this was a growing demographic in our church.
I remember specifically it was a Tuesday night and we had a pretty good turn out, maybe 15 or 16. I don't remember anything special about the discussion but I do remember something that happened at our prayer time that I will never forget. There was a gal who had gone back to college, to finish a degree in nursing, and she had visited the group 3 or 4 times. She was admittedly not a committed Christ follower and in a place of exploration. Well, she had come back that night and interrupted someone sharing a prayer request.
She said, "I'm sorry to interrupt but I have a question. I hear all of you asking God to help other people that you know who are sick or who have problems and it makes me feel guilty. I don't want to ask God for something for someone else. I want him to help me. Will I ever feel the way you all do and want to ask him to help someone else?"
That moment in our group took my breath away. Everyone was silent. We prayed for her that night and I looked forward to every evening she showed up because our group was experiencing something fresh.
While I think there is potential for conversion experiences to happen in a group environment, I don't think it's the norm. What I have observed that happens more often is a relationship is started in the group environment that leads to a discussion outside of a meeting. Groups have the ability to enhance relational evangelism. Hopefully, relational evangelism is already a regular part of your lifestyle. Then, when your friends who are far from God are ready, you can leverage the abilities of your group. Someone from your small group may be just the right person to help your friend cross the line of faith.
There is nothing more rewarding for me than attending a baptism service at our church and seeing that person in the water and they say, "I am here because of these people." And they are pointing to their small group.
Evangelistic Group Tips:
Don't put people on the spot and force them to answer
Encourage prayer for everyone by have each person say a one sentence prayer
Find out where each group member is on their spiritual journey
Invite group members you don't know well over for dinner before your meeting
Have more than a Bible Study - do social stuff together!
Posted by: Frank Chiapperino in group ministry on
Jan 07, 2009
Dave Treat recently posted about a video that Bill Search did with the gang at Southeast Christian Church. If your church is larger than 100 then you are already larger than 99% of churches in the US. As a church gets larger sometimes people feel missed, uncared for, or lost in the crowd. In the video linked below Bill talks about how their church wants to help "big" feel "small." Click and take a look.
