If you watch the video below you can see some experimentation that BMW is doing in changing the skin of their cars to a flexible material instead of rigid steel or fiberglass.
How does this apply to groups?
In one question - is your group model flexible? Does it allow for variety or is it rigid? At the conference I just attended Heather Zempel said that "maturity does not equal conformity." I AGREE. However I would follow that with rigidity does not equal excellence.
I belive that just like the BMW experiment we can build a small group leadership model that has a strong frame but stills allows flexibility for different styles of leadership and different types of groups. Take a look at the video below and let me know what you get from the concept...
The Hartford Institute recently released a report on Changes In American Megachurches and found that a focus on small groups was one of the things in common for growing congregations. Here is a summary of the report:
Megachurches - Protestant congregations that draw 2,000 or more adults and children in a typical weekend (attendance not membership) - show considerable consistency over the past eight years.
They continue to:
Grow in size,
Lead the way as America's most multi-ethnic class of church,
Show a strong bias toward contemporary worship, and
Remain minimally involved in politics.
However, they also are institutions in transition. They are now:
Offering more worship services and expanding to multiple-locations,
Shifting to playing a greater role in community service,
Decreasing their use of radio and television, and
Putting greater emphasis on the role of small groups.
I was reading some blogs on Small Groups recently and I ran across this post that focuses on the qualities and practices of effective leaders.
1. Leaders Model the Way
Leadership is not about personality; it's about behavior.
Leading means you have to be a good example, and live what you say.
Leaders must find their own voice, then they must clearly and distinctively give voice to their values.
Leadership is about the power of spending time with someone, of working side by side with colleagues, of telling stories that make values come alive, of being highly visible during times of uncertainty, and of asking questions to get people to think about values and priorities.
2. Leaders Inspire a Shared Vision
Every organization, every social movement, begins with a dream.
Leaders have a desire to make something happen, to change the way things are, to create something that no one else has ever created before.
In some ways, leaders live their lives backward... it is their vision of the future pulls them forward.
Leaders cannot command commitment, only inspire it.
Leadership is a dialogue, not a monologue. Leaders must know their constituents and speak their language.
3. Leaders Challenge the Process
Leaders venture out. They are pioneers. They are willing to step out into the unknown.
Leaders search for opportunities to innovate, grow, and improve. They are constantly looking outside themselves and their organizations for new and innovative products, processes, and services.
When it comes to innovation, the leader's major contributions are in the creation of a climate for experimentation, the recognition of good ideas, the support of those ideas, and the willingness to challenge the system to get new products, processes, services, and systems adopted.
Leaders are learners.
Life is the leader's laboratory, and exemplary leaders use it to conduct as many experiments as possible.
4. Leaders Enable Others to Act
Grand dreams don't become significant realities through the actions of a single person. It requires a team effort.
Leaders foster collaboration and build trust.
Leaders work to make people feel strong, capable, and committed.
Authentic leadership is founded on trust, and the more people trust their leader, and each other, the more they take risks, make changes, and keep organizations and movements alive.
5. Leaders Encourage the Heart
It is part of the leaders job to show appreciation for people's contributions and to create a culture of celebrating values and victories.
Encouragement is, curiously, serious business.
Leaders make sure people see the benefit of behavior that's aligned with cherished values.
Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow. It is the quality of this relationship that matters most when we're engaged in getting extraordinary things done.
Often times churches start small group ministries to aid in the discipleship process. However, as pastors and ministry leaders we have to expand how we view the role of small group ministry in our congregations.
A couple of weeks ago I met a couple that visited our church as a result of one of our summer outreach events. This year was the first time we did three different events, one for children, one for pre-teens, and one for high school. As a result, they decided to visit the church on Sunday and came back a second time!
This past Sunday was their third visit and I ran into them at our guest central tent outside. I was so thrilled to see them again. What was interesting to me was the how our conversation began. Of course they thanked me for organizing our teen summer outreach for their family but immediately after that they were thrilled to tell me how they found our Motorcycle Group on our website. They went on their first ride over the weekend and had a blast.
This particular couple wasn't browsing our website digging for a place to grow and deepen spiritually. They were visitors looking for a connection and trying to figure out if our church was the place for their family. We have had numerous types of social groups at CCV. Here are a few I can think of quick that we have tried or currently have: Volleyball Scrapbooking Softball Motorcycle Riding Bike Riding Tennis Playgroup Knitting Bowling
What kind of social groups have you tried at your church?
New small groups start in a few different ways. Some start as a result of a campaign that the entire church participates in, some are birthed from existing groups in your church, and others start in a more organic way as new friendships develop.
Eric Metcalf at Community Christian Church recent shared his thoughts on the topic and how they handle it at their church:
Remember multiplication in school? Yeah, I didn't enjoy that either. But when it comes to multiplication in small groups, I love it!
What's the best way to multiply the number of small groups in your church?
There are lots of ways to multiply small groups - we do it through apprenticeship with an existing leader, coach, staff person, turbo group, or church campaign. After someone goes through that experience then we lead them towards multiplication. So let's take each scenario listed above:
An existing leader/small group: We multiply this group based upon leader readiness vs. group readiness. Why? Because a small group rarely ever ready.
A coach: An apprentice leader would meet with a coach one on one to prepare him or her for leadership and then launch a new small group.
A staff person: An apprentice leader would meet with a staff person one on one to prepare him or her for leadership.
A turbo group: This is a six week experience we provide for small group apprentices that equips them to launch new small groups. Not everyone will step into leadership after this experience, but it's a great way to discern who is ready. Small group coaches, staff or leaders can lead these groups.
A church campaign: We utilize our Big Idea curriculum and a DVD message to launch these groups. Ask people to host a group, play the DVD and discuss the curriculum. Recruit coaches who will meet hosts and see if the group would like to continue after the allotted time (usually 6 weeks). If they'd like to continue have the coach identify an apprentice and then start a turbo group for those apprentices or do one on ones to develop them.
All of these methods are quite effective in multiplying small groups. Some will give you massive results others will help you build towards results. We prefer to do all 5 methods throughout the year, because we believe all are effective. Essentially everyone apprentices, and its through our apprenticeship that we prepare our leaders for 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation reproduction.
Often times churches start small group ministries to aid in the discipleship process. However, as pastors and ministry leaders we have to expand how we view the role of small group ministry in our congregations.