Tag: Small Groups

Small Groups Don’t Work?

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This is a compelling talk on how we desire for lost people to get involved in small groups…

A missionary is one who sacrifices everything except the gospel for the sake of the gospel. How do we get people to think through that lens? How do we change their behavior?

How do people in church feel about community?

  1. Where? – Where does it happen? Generally at church or in a home.
  2. When? – On Sunday in worship or mid-week on Wednesdays.
  3. What? – What does the room look like? In a circle, face to face. Or perhaps rows.
  4. How? – The dominant view is that community is an event, and a place to go at a specific time. We gather to talk about God and we talk about his Word.

How do people in our community feel about community?

  1. Where? – Where do they get together? Sports bars, parks with kids, happy hour, concerts, going to places in the culture. They go to places typically not in their homes.
  2. When? – When do they get together? Generally not on a set time and day, but when it is convenient for their schedules..
  3. What? – What do they talk about? Food, health, dieting, sports, politics, kids, movies, activities, news, work, it is generally defined by the people and events in your life.
  4. How? – Do they gather in a circle? Likely not, but rather they walk or work side by side, at a concert, festival, cause, or an activity like the beach, bowling, or the recreation center.

SmallGroups-Church-Community

These are fundamentally different: we try to invite people into forms and activities that we do, that are totally inconsistent with the lives that they lead.

Who is a missionary if all we do are these church things? If we desire to be missionaries, we have it backwards. We are often asking people who have no hope of salvation to go to place that they are totally uncomfortable going. We are asking people without the Holy Spirit to adapt to our schedule and programs. We are expecting THEM to learn the new language and culture!

How often do the form that we have actually accomplish the mission of God? We have great intention of being a missional people but or form contradicted our mission. So we need to create fresh expressions of ways to impact our society, to tool our people with tangible practices that empower the people of God to live out their faith in everyday life.

Hosting a Small Group

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If you are familiar with Saddleback Church, you’ve probably heard of “hosting” a group, but what does it mean to be a host? Is there a difference between a host and a leader? Is it just another name for a leader? If I’m a host, will you provide the teacher? These are questions that are asked all the time. ALL the time. You may have your own answers, but let me give you some of the defining ideas of the host strategy (and what it means to host a group).

The HOST Concept: The first thing you need to know is that the idea of H.O.S.T. makes it possible for ordinary people to lead a small group. By that I mean that we’re almost always talking about using a DVD or video-based small group study, bringing the teaching into the group via the television, and allowing the Host to do just that. In fact, the HOST acrostic stands for:

Heart for your community (or your church)
Willing to Open your home for six weeks (or the length of the study)
Serve a few simple refreshments
Tell a few of your friends (in the beginning the T stood for “Turn on your VCR”)

This is very important to the idea. You’re not recruiting teachers or leaders. You really are simply inviting people to open up their homes, serve some coffee and dessert, and tell (invite) a few of their friends. That is a ground-breaking concept and allows many more people, ordinary people, the chance to include friends, family, neighbors and co-workers.

1. Will a “leader” or “teacher” be provided? No. Using a DVD-driven curriculum allows a group to begin without a teacher. In addition to a warm invitation and spirit of hospitality, only very basic facilitation skills are needed. Sometimes you will have the opportunity to match someone with an interest in leading with someone who has an open home, but that is not normally how the concept works.

2. When is HOST strategy used? The HOST strategy can be very effective when used as part of a church-wide campaign (an alignment of weekend message series and small group curriculum). As part of the build-up to the campaign, HOSTs can be recruited who will commit to opening up their home for the six weeks of the series/study and invite a few friends.

3. Who can be a HOST? Every church makes this decision based on a number of factors: the culture of the individual congregation, available coaching for new hosts, even the topic of study are all relevant. Some churches may decide that only members may host a group. Other churches may decide that you must attend an orientation to qualify, but will only allow members to advertise their group on the web or in the lobby. Still others will simply require that you use the provided materials and invite your own group members.

4. What kind of training is required? Again, this varies from one church to the next. The most effective strategy seems to be to require attendance at a brief orientation (1 to 2 hours max) combined with connection to a coach who will serve as a liaison for at least the period of the campaign. Many churches are also finding that a decentralized mid-series huddle in the home of the coach is a very effective additional opportunity to encourage the host.

5. What happens when the six-week commitment ends? With a good experience, many of the new groups will decide to continue. Hosts are reminded in the orientation that they’ve made a six-week commitment and that their commitment is making it possible to launch many new small groups. They’re often encouraged to be open to the possibility that the group may be such a good experience that they would choose to continue, but there’s no pressure to do that.

From Mark Howell Live [print_link] [email_link]

Evaluating Small Groups

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Everyone knows that before you take your car on a road trip, you really should do more than fill up the gas tank. You might check the tire pressure and take it in for an oil change. You might decide it’s time for new windshield wipers or even a new set of tires.

Getting ready for the next leg in your small group ministry adventure? Maybe it’s time you took your ministry through my signature 10 point checklist!

  1. Review your small group ministry’s present state.  There are a number of ways you can think about the way things are right now.  An accurate understanding of where you are right now is essential no matter where you want to go.  See also, Diagnosing a Small Group Ministry and The Four Helpful Lists by Tom Paterson.
  2. Review (or create) your end in mind for your ideal small group.  What kinds of groups do you want for every member of a group?  Are there certain activities and habits?  Are there certain experiences?  What do you want it to feel like to be part of a small group in your system?  See also, The End in Mind for My Ideal Small Group.
  3. Review (or create) your preferred future for the kind of small group leader you dream of producing.  Spend some time thinking about the kind of leaders you will need to have in order to create the micro-environments that actually encourage life-change.  See also, From Here to There: The Preferred Future for Small Group Leaders.
  4. Review (or create) your annual group life calendar.  Have you planned to take advantage of the best opportunities to connect unconnected people?  Have you built in the steps that will allow you to maximize impact?  Or have you compromised and compressed timelines in a way that will lessen impact?  See also, How to Build an Annual GroupLife Calendar.
  5. Evaluate your current coaching team.  Do you have high-capacity, hundred and sixty-fold players on the team?  Or have you compromised and added thirty-fold players who struggle to accomplish their mission?  Have you settled for warm-and-willing when hot-and-qualified is needed?  See also, Diagnosis: The Coaches in Your System.
  6. Evaluate your current plan to develop the coaches on your team.  Remember, whatever you want to happen in the lives of the members of your groups must happen first in the lives of your small group leaders.  If that’s true, then whatever you want to happen in the lives of your leaders must happen first in the lives of your coaches.  Can you see where this is going?  Assuming that your coaches will develop themselves is short sighted and compromises the integrity of your system.  See also, 7 Practices for Developing and Discipling Coaches.
  7. Evaluate (or create) your plan to develop your existing small group leaders.  I am a fan of a very low entry bar of leadership…but the word “entry” is a very important word.  I also know that lowering the bar and recruiting HOSTs won’t often put shepherds into the system, but people who are willing to open up their home.  If you want to make it easy to begin as a host, you’ve got to make it nearly automatic that new hosts step onto a leader development conveyor belt that moves them in the direction you want them to go.  Don’t have the conveyor belt?  Now’s the time to build it!  See also, Steve Gladen on Saddleback’s Leadership Pathway.
  8. Evaluate your existing leaders in search of potential coaches.  Look over your list for high capacity leaders who may be able to put their toe in the water of caring for another new leader or two.  Your best coaching candidates are almost always leading their own group and doing a great job.  Inviting them to test-drive the coaching role by helping mentor a new leader or two is a great way to let them put a toe-in-the-water.  See also, What If Your Coaching Structure Looked Like This?
  9. Take a careful look at the next connecting event you’ve got planned.  Will you take advantage of the next optimum time to connect people?  Do you have several weeks of promotion built in?  Have you designed the event to appeal to unconnected people?  Have you chosen a study that will peak the interest of unconnected people?  Have you already chosen a great follow-up study?  See also, 6 Essential Components of a Small Group Launch.
  10. Evaluate (or create) your recommended study list.  One of the most helpful tools you can provide for small group leaders is a recommended study list.  It doesn’t have to be elaborate.  It can begin as simply as a top 10 list.  It can exist as a page on your website or a simple handout that you keep updated.

What do you think?

From: Evaluate Your Small Group Ministry with This 10 Point Checklist
By Mark Howell

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The Jethro Principle

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This is a VERY practical story, EARLY in the community life of the recently freed Israelite nation. Do you recall the occasion in Exodus 18 when Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, paid him a visit and found Moses hard at work? He certainly couldn’t accuse his son-in-law of laziness. He was busy, busy, busy! (Does that sound familiar in your life?) Moses was attempting to “be there” for everybody. He was on call for any and all occasions.

But, since Moses was working from morning until evening (Exodus 18:13) Jethro warned him that what he was doing was NOT good (Exodus 18:14, 17). In time, he was only going to wear himself out. Perhaps he was speaking from personal experience, but in any case, Jethro realized that as leaders grow weary, they risk burnout. Inevitably, we lose the joy of service we once knew.

Jethro’s advice to Moses represents what is known as the Jethro Principle for leaders. That is, no leader is called or gifted to do everything. It’s the wise leader who understands their limits.

The wise leader will ask the question, “What are the two or three things I do that are most valuable to the Kingdom and my church?” Then delegate the rest. The result is we will work out of our strengths while delegating our weaknesses to those whose strength is in that area. I’m not saying I have all this figured out, but it is a worthy goal of all leaders to listen to the wisdom of Jethro.

If you are NOT the leader, how are you stepping up to take the burden off of your church staff or other leadership? (Exodus 18:24-26)

Just because you’re busy doesn’t mean you’re productive or effective. I can look at my busy calendar and at the end of the day still wonder what I did for the kingdom. I want to do things that will yield an eternal investment, not just stay busy. The real return on our life’s investment is realized when we work through our God-given strengths. May each of us find our strengths and allow God to work through us.

Summer Small Groups

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It is TOUGH to keep small groups going in the summer. So what are we to do since the small group experience is vital to the life of Christians desiring to continue toward spiritual maturity? The momentum has grown only to be confronted with the beach, the mountains, baseball and weekend getaways.

No matter what your group is up to this summer you may need some ideas, things a group can do together and invite others to join you. So, I’m inspired by our young adult group and am offering these suggestions.

  • Spend the day at a theme park like Busch Gardens.
  • Canoeing trip.
  • Paintball.
  • Hiking at Seashore State Park.
  • Water skiing.
  • Cookout in the neighborhood.
  • Homemade Ice Cream competition (ask the small group pastor to come be the judge). Each household in the small group makes a gallon of ice cream. Invite the neighbors over to eat what has been prepared.
  • Camping.
  • Cornhole tournament (perfect competition for men and women together).
  • Go to a drive-in movie together. Take lawn chairs, snacks, and coolers. Sit in front of your parked cars and enjoy a fun evening together.
  • Get a PowerPoint projector and show a movie outside on someone’s white garage door. Invite the neighbors.

Then there are the rainy days… spontaneously call up group members and…

  • Invite group members to your place to watch a movie. Pop popcorn, have drinks.
  • Host a game day at the house (play cards or board games but don’t drag out the Bible Trivia game).
  • Play Nintendo Wii games (this is a grand slam home run every time).
  • Play laser tag together.
  • Go to an auto show at the convention center.
  • Ask someone to be the photographer for the group this summer. Invite those who are not part of the group but who joined you in some of these summer experiences to the first meeting in the Fall.

What ideas might you add to this list?