I love the power of small groups.  In a small group, people are known, loved, accepted, challenged, and served.  But here’s my problem with most small groups…they are primarily educational not transformational.

For the past 20 years churches have been moving adults away from the classic Sunday School model and into home-based small groups.  Unfortunately, the only substantive change was the location and time of our meetings.  We may have a bit more group discussion and ice breakers, but we have essentially taken the Sunday School model (based on the educational model given to us by society) and moved it into our homes.

Now don’t get me wrong…I’m all for people gathering together to study the Bible.  But if this is all we do, I think we are missing some of the latent power of small groups.  What if - in addition to studying the Bible - our small groups participated in a variety of transformational experiences?

• Working together in a soup kitchen
• Leading the worship & teaching at a chapel service in a homeless shelter
• Doing a prayer walk around their communities
• Hosting a block party so they could connect with the un-churched
• Preparing & taking meals to shut-ins
• Host a “love feast” (the Lord’s Supper - Jude 12)
• Adopt-a-block to make sure people have the basic necessities (food, clothing, bedding & toys for kids)
• Travel together on an overseas missions trip

What are some transformational experiences you have experienced - or would love to experience - with your small group?

I spent the entire day in Springfield, IL yesterday hanging out with fellow Small Groups Pastors from Illinois & Indiana.  One of the things I enjoy the most is being able to sit down with guys & gals who are “in the trenches” of small group ministry just as I am.  We all have different churches and different ministry environments, but the core issues we deal with are often universal.

If I were to boil down a days worth of conversation yesterday, it revolved around the topic of spiritual formation - the process of helping people grow in their walks with God.  As one pastor worded it, “we need to find ways to challenge people to take ownership of spiritual growth.”

As we talked around that topic, a few key thoughts came out…

• We need to utilize some sort of spiritual assessment tool to help people measure their spiritual growth.  The inherent difficulty here is that you can’t measure things such as increases in love, peace, joy…these are all subjective evaluations.  Therefore, whatever assessment a church were to use would need to incorporate both objective (church attendance, hours spent serving, tithing, etc) and subjective (hope, faith, patience, kindness) factors.

• We need mentors.  Men & women need to have older men & older women speaking into their lives.  We need to gain the insights and experiences and wisdom of people who have gone before us.  And older people benefit as well with a renewed sense of purpose and significance.  (We’ll be addressing this topic in an upcoming session of Men’s Fraternity.)

• Taking the need for mentors into consideration…we need to reconsider the benefit of small groups that are multi-generational.  Rather than gathering people together who are all in the same life stage (i.e. young couples), we need to combine together men & women who are at different ages and different levels of spiritual maturity.

There were many more take-aways from our conversations yesterday, but these three thought seemed to dominate our conversation.  I’ll write more later about my personal take-aways as they relate to Great Oaks.

We are beginning to put together our plans for the Fall Semester of small groups at Great Oaks.  I met with my Small Group Coaches recently to discuss any special foci for the semester as well as potential leaders for new groups.  We have begun making contacts with these individuals asking them to pray about the opportunity to lead a 12-week group.

We have some early commitments, several individuals who have committed to praying & considering the opportunity (we’re following up in 3 weeks), and a few immediate No’s.  Most people are simply caught off-guard that they already need to begin thinking about the Fall semester; it seems like the Summer Semester just started and already plans are underway for the Fall.

Believe it or not, we are only six weeks away from beginning our promotion for the Fall Semester!

Have you ever started reading a book and know in the first few chapters that it will inspire you, challenge you, and require you to buy copies for your peers & the people you lead?  Sticky Church by Larry Osborne is that book for me.

I just picked it up today after having it recommended to me by some fellow Small Group Pastors.  I will probably read the whole book today…it’s that good.

To my Small Group Coaches…expect to see a copy in your mailbox soon!

Tags: books, small groups

I think someone should write a book about the role of food in helping people grow spiritually.

When our small group began meeting, we decided that once a month we would meet for a Family Meal.  Essentially, it is a monthly potluck where group members bring some food and their kids for a relaxed evening at someone’s house.  (For our Study Nights we ask parents to arrange childcare.)

These Family Meals are one of my favorite moments as a group.  There’s something about eating a meal together that draws you closer.  The conversation is pretty random, but there are always moments of laughter and moments of candor.  We talk about our children, our careers, our hobbies, our joys and our struggles.  People tend to let their guard down over a meal, and spiritual growth happens without even realizing it.

I think this is why Jesus ate so many meals with people.  In the New Testament, you see Jesus sitting down for a meal with people at weddings, in homes, in upper rooms, at festivals, and on the shoreline over a campfire. You see Jesus eat with those who loved him and with those who hated him.  You see Jesus eat with the righteous and the unrighteous.

Eating a meal with someone invites them into your life and allows you to enter into their life - and that is doing life together.

In November, I partnered together with leaders from Eastview Christian Church in Bloomington/Normal to host a roundtable discussion for 22 Small Group Pastors.  Since that time, I have been wrestling with a couple of statements that were made during our discussions.

It would be great if I thought these statements were wrong, but deep down inside - in places where Small Group Pastors don’t like to talk about - I agree with them.  I’m just trying to figure what they mean for small groups at Great Oaks.

“Everyone needs to be in a relationship - not necessarily in a formal small group.”

“There is a danger in declaring small groups as the end-all-be-all of spiritual growth.”

“The church may not need to organize the relational life of people.”

I have also been reading Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups by Nelson Searcy.  This book has been confirming some recent thoughts I’ve had about the most effective way to develop our small group strategy at Great Oaks.  Included in Activate are several statements similar to the ones above.

All of this to say…I’m not 100% sure yet where we’ll land with small groups at Great Oaks, but I am up for the challenge!

Here’s another great quote from the book Activate…

“Average leaders focus on what happens next.  Extraordinary leaders focus on what happens after what happens next.”

Right now, we are gearing up for the launch of our Spring Semester of small groups.  December is a natural time to rest, so many small groups do so with the intention to renew their focus in January.  As the Small Groups Pastor, I am working to make sure we are set for that launch in January.

However, if we are to be truly successful in accomplishing our Vision for small groups at Great Oaks, I know that I also need to be focusing upon the Summer & Fall of 2009.  To that end, I am working diligently with my coaches to make sure we are prepared for a major overhaul of our small groups come Fall of 2009.

We will soon be revealing a major paradigm shift for small groups at Great Oaks.  We believe it will result in greater involvement in groups and lead towards a more focused process of spiritual growth.  It will capitalize on the natural rhythm of life that most Americans follow, and it will allow for regular entrance & exit ramps for being a part of groups. Lastly, I believe it has the potential to increase the number of people who step up to experiment with leading small groups resulting in a natural process of raising up new leaders in the church.

The system won’t be perfect right out of the gates, but we’ll tweak it as we go.  After all, everything is an experiment, right?

The following are resources that were mentioned or recommended during our inaugural Small Group Pastor’s roundtable gathering in November. (I couldn’t figure out how to post them in the Facebook group I created, so they are going on here!)

Books
“Simple Small Groups” – Bill Search
“Transitions Through Adult Life” – Charles Sell
“Sticky Church” – Larry Osborne
“Coming Church Revolution” – Carl George
“Activate” & “Fusion” – Nelson Searcy
“Reveal” & “Follow Me” – Willow Creek Resources
“Clusters: Developing Missional Mid-Sized Communities” – Bob Hopkins & Mike Breen
“Connecting Church” – Randy Frazee
“You Can Double…Two Years or Less” – Josh Hunt
“Simple Church” – Rainer & Geiger
“7 Practices of Effective Ministry” – Andy Stanley
“Growing True Disciples” – George Barna
“30 Days to Understanding the Bible” – Max Anders
“Discipleship Essentials” – Greg Ogden
“Intentional Disciplemaking” – Ron Bennett
“Discipleship Journal’s Best Small Group Ideas – Volume 1 & 2”
“Creating Community” – Andy Stanley
“Community 101” – Gilbert Bilezikian
“How People Grow” – Cloud & Townsend
“Search to Belong” – Joseph Myers
“Making Small Groups Work” – Cloud & Townsend

Curriculum/Campaigns
Wide Angle: Framing Your Worldview – Chuck Colson & Rick Warren
40 Days of Love
Navigators – Design for Discipleship Series; Nav 2:7 Series
Willow Creek – Walking with God Series
Serendipity House Publishing for small group studies (sold by Lifeway)

Online
www.smallgroupexchange.com
www.smallgroups.com
30daystolive.tv

Churches
Real Life Ministries – Post Falls, ID
www.reallifeministries.com

Northside Christian Church – New Albany, IN
www.mynorthside.com

Southland Christian Church – Lexington, KY
www.southlandchristian.org

Seacoast Christian Church
www.seacoast.org

Community Christian Church – Naperville, IL
www.communitychristian.org
Blog: cccsmallgroups.typepad.com

Yesterday, I met with Mark Warren & Jim Probst from Eastview Christian Church in Bloomington, IL.  We are partnering together to host quarterly roundtable discussions for Small Group Pastors.

I love sitting around with leaders and “talking shop”.  I always walk away inspired, challenged, educated, and encouraged.  I love learning from others and being able to share my experiences with others.  Our hope is to keep the pastors connected via Facebook between gatherings.

Really looking forward to our first roundtable next Thursday.  The topic is “Leveraging Small Groups to Accomplish the Vision of the Church.”

I hosted a roundtable discussion with my small group leaders during each service this past Sunday.  Love the opportunity to sit down with my leaders and hear their successes & struggles and offer up my own experiences & observations from leading groups for the last 15 years.

We met in what we call our Starting Point room.  It used to be a large storage room, but somewhere along the way, it was gutted and redesigned/redecorated to make a very nice living-room environment.  I provided coffee, bagels, muffins, and fresh fruit as well.  It’s amazing how quickly people open up in such an environment.

I loved the whole experience, but one of the things I liked the best was seeing small group leaders connect with other small group leaders.  For many of them, this was the first time even meeting some of the other leaders as we have had several new small group leaders step up in recent weeks.

Connections were made…ideas were shared…and everyone walked away with a greater sense of community, appreciation, and preparedness.

Personally, I can’t wait for our next one here at Great Oaks.  I also can’t wait for the pastor’s roundtable I am co-organizing in November.  More on that later…

So…who do you need to gather together for a roundtable discussion?