Frank's Blog

I've always had fun helping group leaders  get started with thier small group at our church. However, some young adults I've worked with recently have had a blast jumping head first into group minsitry.  Take a look at how they chose to promo their group with their friends on the web...

Step one - organize a core team

Step two - start a facebook group

Step three - Invite friends on facebook to join

Step four - create a really strange promo video

Take a look at this...

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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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The video below really shows how a group of friends can have an impact on their community in a practical way.  Try to think of a way that your small group can have an impact on your neighborhood!

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Have you ever thought about starting a small group at work?  If your employer is open to the idea of letting you use a meeting room, or even if you have to go offsite for your study, it can be a life changing experience.  Literally.  While I was working security for a local retailer I would have some pretty intense spiritual discussions with a few of my co-workers.  Our jobs allowed us to talk and work at the same time and there were numerous occasions where I would pull out my bible to answer a question or clarify a point.  On one occasion it brought my co-worker to tears and we prayed about the challenges they faced.

Sometimes we forget that ministry isn't limited to the walls of our homes and our churches.  The topic reminds me of a recent post by Dave Treat.  Read it and consider starting a different kind of group!

I was catching up on emails and enjoying my coffee (Intelligentsia... recommended by Scot McKnight) at a coffee house up the street from Willow when I heard it. There were two guys sitting behind me, one middle aged, one younger, both clearly on the staff of a local church. I couldn't make out everything they said... nor was I trying... until I heard this from the younger one:

"... but this guy feels like God is calling him to make a lot of money so he can help the poor. Jesus never did that! Jesus never made any money!"

His implication, bolstered by further comments, was that "this guy" is a jerk, mistaken, misguided, missing the boat. If "this guy"  really wanted to help the poor, he would renounce his worldly capitalism and do "real" ministry (presumably by volunteering to do something "significant" to assist a church-sponsored program.)

I nearly choked. I nearly blew Dark Roast out my nose. I nearly turned around and asked him who he thought paid for the Last Supper. I wondered, briefly, if Jesus was out of God's will for the first 30 years of his life. After all, he was a carpenter at "Joseph and Sons." 

It is this kind of comment and the poor reasoning that supported it that confuses the thousands of missionaries already laboring in the marketplace. I've led a number of workplace small groups for men and women whose influence on behalf of the kingdom surpasses that of the pastors telling them to "give it up for God" and to get out of the marketplace and get into ministry.

To read Dave's complete post click here.

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Chris Salzman at Think Christian recently wrote about a small group experience he had at his group prayer time:

I attended a small group session in high school. It was about twenty teenage boys and a leader. During prayer time we went around and offered our requests,which the leader concisely wrote down. He then assigned each person a prayer request and literally told us to keep it short and to the point.

He, after all, had an agenda to get to.

And to turn it around on myself: I often pray in quick lists. It's a great way to order my thoughts. I also recognize how stifling it is to spiritual growth, but seriously, it's a lot easier coming to God with a list of "fix this, fix that" things than to sit and listen.

And to play dissenting voice for a bit: is praying in such a way necessarily a bad thing?

How does your small handle prayer.  What do you do to change it up at times?

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