ARCHIVES
February 2010
02.23.10
If Small Groups Were Biblical
There seems to be a lot of talk about “biblical” small groups. No doubt about it, if small groups were biblical the world would be quite different. But if groups were biblical, we’d be asking a whole new set of questions when we got together. Questions like:
- Is there a stand to take? (Acts 4:1 – 20)
- Is there a property to be sold? (Acts 4:32 -36)
- Is there a weird death to be discussed? (Acts 5: 1 – 10)
- Are there healings and demon removals to be celebrated? (Acts 5: 12 – 16)
- Is there another martyr to be grieved? (Acts 8:54 – 59)
- Is there a miraculous escape from prison to be celebrated? (Acts 12:1 – 19)
- Are there miraculous conversions to be rejoice over? (Acts 16:16 – 34)
- Is there a resuscitation to be jazzed about? (Acts 20:7 – 12)
I wonder… If these were the questions we brought to our groups next week, how long would the discussion be?
Is it possible we’re ignoring the most important personality in any group… the Holy Spirit? What do you think?
02.19.10
The Summit, Lyman Coleman and the role of the pastor
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter HERE.
The Summit started out with a series of questions asked to each of the 9 guys who presented (10 experts were there, but Rick Howerton moderated).
Up next, Lyman Coleman. Here's the question he had:
What's the role of the senior pastor in small groups ministry?
In general, the role of the senior pastor is to be so convinced that he is doing the work that Jesus would give him that he stakes his whole life on it. The pastor needs to be in a group, and needs to bring up stories of what God's doing in that group in sermons and in casual conversations. The pastor who champions small groups well depends on a group for his own life, and wants that same type of experience for everybody.
Is it possible for a group model to become all it can and should be without the senior pastor not making it a reality in his life? No! I have never seen a successful group ministry where the pator isn't the small groups champion from the pulpit.
Is your pastor a small groups champion?
02.19.10
The Summit, Reid Smith and Missional Groups
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter HERE.
The Summit started out with a series of questions asked to each of the 9 guys who presented (10 experts were there, but Rick Howerton moderated).
Up next, Reid Smith. Here's the question he had:
How can groups become missional?
Many churches view "missional" as an activity, but it's really more of a heart attitude. It's a lifestyle, modeled by somebody who is compelled by the compassion of God for humanity. Being missional is not comfortable. It's gut-wrenching.
It's easy to give tips on "how" to be missional. But the "want-to" is more complicated and more difficult, and I'm not sure there are as many Christians out there who are saying, "Break my heart for what breaks yours!" That's the kind of heart it takes to truly be missional.
The big question is: How can our groups become an extension of the missional purpose of our church? It starts by building the small groups around the core values of the church. When we get down to what it looks like to be missional, we'll notice that it's very natural.
- It starts with who you know already.
- Pray for open doors
- Fellowship around things you have in common
- Be ready to be overwhelmed by the opportunities that God will give.
You can be in community, but you need to also be a community builder. When people have a compassionate heart, the'll long to be missional.
What does "missional" mean to you?
02.18.10
The Summit, Bill Donahue and starting a small groups ministry
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter HERE.
The Summit started out with a series of questions asked to each of the 9 guys who presented (10 experts were there, but Rick Howerton moderated).
Up next, Bill Donahue. Here's the question he had:
How do you start a small groups ministry?
I'll start off by affirming that clarity is more important than certainty. (HT: Andy Stanley)
1. What will happen if we do this?
- Why do you want to have groups?
- What role do they play in growing a person's faith in the life of our church?
- Is this going to be a core value of our church? Or will this just be a program for a season?
- Be clear about the "Why?"
2. Focus on the "point leader" (small groups pastor) position
- Who is going to help guide this whole process?
- It doesn't have to be a paid staff. But whoever it is, they need to understand their role and how they are to relate to the rest of the church staff.
- They need to be clear on the question, "What do you want me to do?"
3. Be clear on leadership development.
4. Don't be afraid to pilot some groups.
- There are two main ways to start a small groups stystem:
- By "emancipation proclamation" - launch lots of groups at once
- Pilot method - start 4 or 5 new groups, test them out, see what works and what doesn't, and be ready and willing to make changes if needed.
Have you launched a small groups ministry at your church? If not, are you ready to?
02.18.10
The Summit, Steve Gladen and Recruiting Leaders
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter.
The Summit started out with a series of questions asked to each of the 9 guys who presented (10 experts were there, but Rick Howerton moderated).
Up next, Steve Gladen. Here's the question he had:
How has Saddleback recruited 3,500 small group leaders?
There are principles and there are methogologies.
Principles:
1. How do you define a leader?
- Jesus' requirement was "follow me."
- 3 years later, it was "die for me."
- The problem in churches is that we recruit people for "die for me" right off of the bat.
- We need to shift our paradigm for what it takes to be a leader.
2. What do you call your leaders?
- We call them "hosts."
- Throughout out connection and campaign strategies, we have made it a point to lower the bar on what it takes to lead a small group.
- We tend to have more people with the gift of hospitality than that have the gift of teaching/preaching.
Isn't it great that Jesus didn't go after the pretty, most biblically literate, best peopel, but went after the people who said, "Yes" to the question, "Follow me"?!?
How do you recruit leaders? Is lowering the bar a valid way to recruit leaders?
02.18.10
The Summit, Bill Search and the Sunday School/Small Group mix
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter HERE.
The Summit started out with a series of questions asked to each of the 9 guys who presented (10 experts were there, but Rick Howerton moderated).
Up next, Bill Search. Here's the question he had:
What are the pros and cons when churches use Sunday School and small groups?
I can't figure out why there's such opposition to one or the other. Here are the pros of each, together:
You can always have a place to point people (Sunday Schools, for the most part, meet every single Sunday morning).
It reflects different learning styles. You're able to offer a classroom environment, driven by a teacher, and a home-based, relaxed, discussion-driven environment.
So, in my eyes, there's no significant pro/con distinction. One thing to keep in mind, though: you have to figure out if you have the meeting space for Sunday School. But if you do, why try to get rid of a system that's helping people grow in their faith?
What about you? Do you think that Sunday School and Small Groups can co-exist within a single congregation?
02.18.10
The Summit, Carl George and Leadership Training
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter HERE.
The Summit started out with a series of questions asked to each of the 9 guys who presented (10 experts were there, but Rick Howerton moderated).
Up third, Carl George. Here's the question he had:
How do you do leadership training?
It's a good distinction to keep in mind: training is different than coaching. Training has an educational and a behavioral dimension to it.
I always start with, "What do you want to learn?" Then, I take from them the places where they're "itching" for more knowledge and behavior improvement.
I've found that people who are willing to learn, and are willing to talk through upcoming stressful assignments that will take place in their leadership positions, are able to be trained well.
Can you answer the question, "What do you want to learn?"
02.18.10
The Summit, Eddie Mosley and Assimilation
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter HERE.
The Summit started out with a series of questions asked to each of the 9 guys who presented (10 experts were there, but Rick Howerton moderated).
Up third, Eddie Mosley. Here's the question he had:
What's the best way to assimilate people into small groups?
The best way is to utilize multiple facets of opportunities to connect.
The group launch event centered around meeting new leaders and forming connections with new members in a one-time event works great for some people. But not all. Enlisting hosts for church-wide campaigns works for others. That personal invitation is what helps truly connect them in groups.
Warning: Don't adopt a model just like it's written. Tailor a system so that it works for you, and you utilize multiple ways for people to connect.
But let's not neglect the rold of the senior pastor in talking about what's happening in their own group, and how God is growing them spiritually through small groups. That's a vital part of assimilating people into group life.
How do you plug people into groups? Is there a way you could tweak your method so that it's easier for people to experience community?
02.18.10
The Summit, Randall Neighbour and Intergenerational Groups
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter HERE.
The Summit started out with a series of questions asked to each of the 9 guys who presented (10 experts were there, but Rick Howerton moderated).
Up second, Randall Neighbour. Here's the question he had:
What can we do to integrate our children into group life?
This is easily the greatest challenge in small groups. Typically, the question that is asked is, "What do wo do with them?" But that's the wrong question. The question that should be asked is, "How can we integrate them into group life?" The reason is that children aren't merely the church of tomorrow. They're the church of today.
Children need to be with their parents. They need to see them giving deeply to others and receiving from them as well. They need to see the richness of fellowship that their parents have with others.
Daphne Kirk has had a major impact in this area. She rightfully says that your children don't have a "junior varsity" Holy Spirit within them. They have the real Spirit...the same one that adults have! Here are some of her resources:
Reconnecting the Generations - this is the "why" book...why connecting with your children now will keep them connected you later.
Intergenerational Cell Resources - this is curriculum for truly intergenerational small group meetings
02.18.10
The Summit, Greg Bowman and Coaching Structures
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter HERE.
The Summit started out with a series of questions asked to each of the 9 guys who presented (10 experts were there, but Rick Howerton moderated).
Up first, Greg Bowman. Here's the question he had:
Can you point us to some coaching structures that are working?
There are 3 things to making a coaching system work:
- Understand very clearly what you want to accomplish
- Are you wanting to develop a system that helps with communication? Or one that develops leaders?
- Execute what you want ruthlessly
- Most churches give up because it's the hardest work in the church, and they don't execute the strategy well enough
- Study other churches, and find a model that seems like it would work in your context, and adapt it for your people.
- Whether you pay your coaches, have individual coaches, or a team approach, adapt it to your context.
Coaching systems work not when coaches are asked to be a middle manager, but when they are asked to be an encourager, a shepherd, and a listening ear.
What system do you use?
02.17.10
Meet The Small Group Summit guys
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter HERE.
This series of posts has been driven by a conversation that has been going on with the guys who will be, tomorrow, discussing small groups with the world. That discussion is called The Summit. You can sign up for the event HERE.
The men who are a part of this discussion are amazingly wise, strategical, creative, and articulate. They're funny, loving, and strong leaders. They're pastors and consultants who work in many different denominations. They're on the cutting edge of small groups ministry. But above that, they love the Lord. Their hearts beat to help connect people in redemptive community and help effect the heart change that they themselves have experienced. I wish you could be here for the discussion, but since you can't, I hope this blog serves you well. In addition, here are some ways to connect with these guys, and follow what God is doing in and through them.
Steve Gladen
02.17.10
What do you do with children in your group?
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter HERE.
Is intergenerational ministry something that you raise as a value in your group? In other words, as most small group leaders have asked, "What do I do with the kids during group meeting time?"
Randall Neighbour offered a more pointed, helpful question:
What are you doing in your groups to integrate children into the mission of small groups?
- My son, when he was a senior in high school, after attending small group with his dad, said, "That was the coolest thing I've ever seen you do. I've seen you preach great sermons and lead great conferences. But seeing you pray over someone was the coolest thing I've ever seen you do." - Rick Howerton
- At our church, we've tried to form intergenerational groups, and have had very little interest. The general consensus is, "I love my kids...it's everbody else's that I can't stand." But in my personal group, we have children present with us. We don't do a lot of faith practice stuff together. But it's the frequency of interaction, and the camaraderie that built in the group, that's so helpful. -Bill Search
- In our group, we adopt a student from the high school ministry. Our goal is to invest in their lives. They help us out with childcare during the group meeting, we celebrate their birthday and significant events in tehir lives, and we also commit to raising the funds necessary for them to go on a missions trip with the church. - Eddie Mosley
- Families are studying the same central message in small groups...just not together. Children are broken into small groups on Sunday morning, and make it through a multi-year curriculum that concludes with a missions trip. But, to be honest, we may not be as intentional as we should be. What I'm wrestling through now is, "How do we import what we're doing well with adult small groups?" and, "How can we export what we're doing well with the children's ministry into our adult small group experience?" - Steve Gladen
- If your goal is increasing in knowledge, then dividing children up based on ages makes great sense. But what if your goal isn't necessarily just increasing in knowledge? - Rick Howerton
Daphne Kirk is the foremost intergenerational minstry expert right now. Here are 4 of her books that Randall has found helpful:
Reconnecting the Generations - this is a "why" book, helping show you "why" connecting with your children now will keep you connected with you later.
Intergenerational Cell Resources - this is a curriculum for truly intergenerational small group meetings
Heirs Together
What Shall we do with the Children? - this is a training curriculum for how to integrate this, given by a children's pastor.
To connect with Daphne, and find other resources, a link to her website is HERE.
So I pose the question back to you:
What are you doing in your groups to integrate children into the mission of small groups? Is there a right way or a wrong way?
02.17.10
Barriers to Small Groups as Missional Communities
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter HERE.
How you define a small group must include some ideas around the idea of being missional.
It's true that nothing unites a group like a common enemy. Rallying around a common eneymy, and the growth that happens because of it, helps the group to come together. - Eddie Mosley
Carl George helped to bring the discussion to a point with this statement
Those who won't grow deeper are allergic to evangelism. Are we content to meet only our own needs? We have got to pick up a bowl and start washing some feet.
So, why are groups not more missional?
- Because friends tell friends to come to a big event on Sumnday morning on "bring-a-friend Sunday, instead of hte one-on-one discipleship and responsibility. - Randall Neighbour
- The church has programmed people to think that the first step in a person's spiritual life has to be Sunday morning, instead of your life, or instead of introducing a person to your group. - Randall Neighbour
- We need to find out where God's already working (with respect to evangelism) in a local church, and elnarge those gates! In other words, what is God doing here that is already evidencing the work we're after? Any effect that you can identify as a desirable effect can be enhanced and enlarged. - Carl George
- We make it seem as if evangelism/missions is about building relationships with people who are not like us. But do I have to go out and build a relationship with someone in order to be missional? No! Look at the places you already visit, the hardware store, the supermarket, your neighborhood, etc. - Steve Gladen
- The continuum of missional is "I have to do this..." and "I long to do this because I'm redeemed...", thus driving the question that Rick proposed: The problem may be not so much a question of methodology (how-to), but rather a question of "Why?", thus aiming for the heart. - Rick Howerton
- The level of evangelism that your groups take on is a reflection of the level of evangelism of the leader. - Steve Gladen
- It's not the newest converts who are the most evangelistic. It's the ones who are closest to christ. - Greg Bowman
So, if spiritual growth is involved in people becoming "missional," is the institutional church getting in the way of people's spiritual development?
- The church tends to present spiritual growth as a linear process, but in reality, it's not.
- When you go from "institutional church" into the "desert" (spiritually, metaphorically speaking), your faith gets pushed. Until then, you're just a "good church member." - Greg Bowman
- The house church movement is flourishing in certain areas because, in many instances, the institutional church is getting in the way of people's spiritual development, and it's when they get outside of the walls of the church building that they find themselves rapidly growing in their faith. - Rick Howerton
Two quetsions for you, and your leadership team, to think through:
Why do you think small groups aren't more missional?
Do you think that the institutional church is helping, or hurting, people's spiritual development, including their development to being increasingly missional?
02.17.10
Technology and Community
Ben Reed is a guest blogger here at the Lifeway Small Groups blog. He regularly blogs for Life and Theology. You can also find him on Twitter HERE.
Is there really something important about human touch? Or should we broaden our idea of what "touch" is to include conversational touch via text messages and Tok Box conversations?
Is the current generation losing the ability to communicate one-on-one, face-to-face? Or is the ability to stay connected wherever and whenever serving to increase our communication skills?
There are certainly benefits to technology that we don't even necessarily think of, but that churches use on a regular basis:
- microphones
- speakers
- video cameras/projectors
- sophisticated lights
One conclusion that was discussed was this, "Technology can be used to enhance community, but technology alone is not enough to begin and maintain a healthy, real, and robust relationship over time." (Reid Smith)
We'll see that the healthiest groups, in time, are those that are more of a hybrid between a physical group and a virtual group. Why?
- The healthiest groups have time together outside of the regular meeting time. Technology aids that. (Reid Smith)
- If technology were absent, the result would be a less-than-optimal community life within the body of the church and leadership (when you define leadership as influence). (Carl George)
- The average person's view of church will change as technology continues to expand and grow. We as leaders need to think through how we steer people through the online church process. Do we steer them to a local church, or encourage them to consider that "online" church their "local" church? (Steve Gladen)
How does your church use technology? Do you see it as a help, or a hindrance, to building community? Can it be used as a substitute for community?
