At the Group Life Conference this year Andy Stanley shared five reasons that he will be in a small group for life. Here they are:
1. It’s the easiest place to invite un-churched people to, especially if they are not ready for the whole Sunday morning experience.
2. It’s often one of the only contexts for pastors or church staff to engage in ministry with their spouse.
3. It’s the only environment where you get to engage others on their spiritual journey, where they are at. You are often forced to connect with people that you would not normally connect with. We often are exposed to the grace of God in a new way when this happens.
4. Your kids get to see a commitment to Christ and community in the in the context of your family and the church.
5. Life change happens in the context of structured relationships – something happens when we sit in circles and don’t sit in rows.
His last line of the talk, "Thank you for leading a group, it is difficult, but it is worth it."
Mac Lake recently posted a quick interview with Mark Howell on some growing trends in group ministry. Mark is connected with quite a few churches around the country and really has his finger on the pulse of group life. Here is what Mark had to say -
Group life is has already entered the online environment and there is no doubt in my mind that online communities will continue to grow in number and influence. However as our churches embrace the social media environment there are some things I recently wrote on my personal blog that I think we need to keep in mind...
I have been having a ton of conversations about social media in recent weeks and I recently listened to a webinar that got me thinking further about our need to merge social media and ministry. Conference calls, staff discussions, breakfast meetings, have all caused me to finally get some of my thoughts down in a blog post. In order to fulfill our mission as a church we have to engage our culture using relevant methods and do so efficiently. Social media is not a fad that will soon disappear it is a tool that is here to stay and is changing the way our world shares information. As Christians and as a church we have a responsibility to communicate our message in this environment. If you are in ministry and considering using social media as a tool, here are some things to keep in mind:
Size is not a barrier for churches to use social media. A church of 100 can use it just as effectively as a church of 1000.
When you engage in a social media environment like a blog, facebook, myspace, or twitter you lose some control over the message. People have the ability to have conversations with others about your content. They can link to it, interact with it, and write about it more easily than ever before because the web is so easy to use. Your church is no longer what you say it is, it is what they say it is!
Upside - people are sharing information about your church!
Downside - negative comments can travel farther and faster than ever so the first impressions we make as a church are so much more important.
We need to empower our staff and our churches to engage in social media responsibly. The more engaging our team is, the more content there is about our church and our message to the world as Christians. The more engaging content there is, the more conversation there is. However, it is so important to remember that whatever digital environment we choose to use to interact with others, we still represent our church, and Christ. So we need to use it responsibly. Here are some good rules to follow (some of these rules I modified from a webinar with Sergio Balegno):
1 - Be authentic but careful
- Inform people why your are there, let them know what you do.
- Be honest and authentic.
- Don't post things online that violate the trust others have in you.
2 - Write about things you actually know about
- Post things that you are an expert on.
- Be responsible for your content, if you post something inaccurate take the initiative to correct it quickly.
3 - Add value to the conversation online
- Be thought provoking.
- Engage others online as a leader.
- Engage others through commenting and openly invite others to comment and join the conversation. Sometimes people in ministry can be used to “one way” conversation (since we preach and teach) so we need to remember that a social media environment is a two way conversation.
- When using social media remember to embrace it as a student, willing to learn. The whole point is to be viewed by others as an engaging contributor to the online community.
If you have some other things you think we should consider as our churches engage others in social media, comment below...
My friend Brian Hofmeister has been reviewing some methods ministry for small groups in the church in a series of posts. I have been thinking about this quite a bit lately as we are restructuring groups in our church and it has been a good refresher. Here are the highlights of his review:
101 - Church Groups: The 101 version of small groups is run by the church. A local church promotes participant interest, recruits leaders, distributes curriculum, and schedules the meeting time for each small group. One church will loosen the reigns from this while another tightens, but the general rule is that Church Groups are run by the church.
The Good - It's an easy system in that joining is as quick checking the box "sign me up."
The Bad - dependency, discouragement, and force-fits. Some leaders become dependent on staff, becoming more of a "middleman" than a leader. Other leaders become discouraged, wanting to achieve bigger goals and set bigger plans than what is being handed them.
201 - Context Groups: A 101 group makes its first move to 201 when it pulls and responds to the needs of individual members within their gathering. To become a full-fledged 201 group however, leaders and members need to successfully form a new group amongst peers outside the church. A Context Group is a group that is formed from and for people in your everyday social context.
The Good - Context Groups get to build off of relationships that already exist, and at a time and place where the relationships are already happening. Not only is this friendly on the day planner, it merges the sacred and the secular for people.
The Bad - The set-back to Context Groups is their tendency to import the Church Group structure. What works in the church doesn't always works amongst friends, and therefore Context Groups will fall short without some creative customization.
301 - Multiplying Groups: Small Groups hit the 301 marker by birthing a new group. Regardless of whether the newborn group is a 101 or a 201, remarkable vision, leadership development, and fruitfulness has been achieved when one group can start another.
The Good - 301 Groups are great for accelerated spiritual formation and broadening the reach of Jesus' church.
The Bad- Setbacks come for 301 Groups when multiplication happens prematurely, or when ongoing support networks are absent.
401 - Mid Size Groups: With 20-50 in attendance, they're too big to be called a small group, and too small/informal to be called a church by most standards.
Small Groups 401 offer very solid outlets for in-house leadership development and multiplication, as well as the strong potential for planting churches.
It's tough to find a home, or other venue, that can facilitate 20+ people. Very few small group leaders express the interest, or the time it would take, to accept the challenge of upgrading to a pastor's role and quadrupling their group size.
One way you can bring new life to your leadership is by taking them on a retreat. Getting them away from home and into God’s creation can do wonders. In order to lead in an effective manner we need the undivided attention of those who follow us. It removes them from their families, their email, telephones, televisions and all the distractions that pull them away from the importance of what they do for God’s kingdom and the people they serve in their ministry.
I have taken groups of my leaders away on a retreats for this very purpose. I remember on one occasion I started our discussion time following the advice of Andy Stanley who wrote my favorite book on leadership, The Next Generation Leader: 5 Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future. In the book Stanley says to focus on the things you're good at. The less you do, the more you accomplish. You're not very good at very many things and you can only do what only you can do. So that is where our discussion started, we talked about what we do well as a small group ministry and why those things are going well. It was an encouraging discussion and I think it started off our time together in the best way possible. The words we shared lifted our spirits and helped us focus on why we do what we do.
The second point of discussion was fresh ideas and the third point was challenges we face. After talking a while about the things we are good at, I opened up these other two points at the same time since talking about challenges can often lead to fresh ideas. We talked for 3 ½ hours straight! During our discussion I saw an energy and passion for our group leaders and our ministry that I hadn’t seen in this group in over a year. It was nothing short of amazing.
To help our coach team relationally connect we did an activity called The Hot Seat at every meal. Every time we sat down to eat, one person from the team would be chosen and we could ask that person any question about themselves we wanted and they had to answer. It was an incredible bonding experience for the group. Here are some questions we asked to those on the hot seat
How did you become a Christian?
When was they last time you cried and why?
What was your most embarrassing moment?
What was the last thing you did that you regret?
After the question time is over we then go around the table and say what it is that we love about the person in the hot seat.
It is retreats like these that you will find laughter, tears, passion, and direction for your ministry and your leaders. Make sure you find time for something like this every year and your ministry will thrive!
At the Group Life Conference this year Andy Stanley shared five reasons that he will be in a small group for life. Here they are: 
. In the book Stanley says to focus on the things you're good at. The less you do, the more you accomplish. You're not very good at very many things and you can only do what only you can do. So that is where our discussion started, we talked about what we do well as a small group ministry and why those things are going well. It was an encouraging discussion and I think it started off our time together in the best way possible. The words we shared lifted our spirits and helped us focus on why we do what we do. 