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Church Leadership

Four Ways We are to Shepherd our Groups

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The elders of the church were put in place to shepherd the congregation in the same way we as small group leaders are to shepherd our portion of the church. Although we are not that familiar with shepherds in today’s society, God chose shepherds throughout the Bible to lead His people. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and David were all shepherds chosen as leaders by God. Jesus even referred to Himself as a shepherd: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me” (John 10:14).

Here are four ways we are to lead as shepherds for our groups:

  1. From the heart

They know each sheep in their care and will work hard to get them to their destination. The small group leader’s role is to help the people in their group take the next spiritual step to get them from where they are to where they need to be. A shepherd leader will work hard to make sure no one is left behind on their spiritual journey.

  1. With compassion

Jesus (the ultimate shepherd) set the example as a leader who always had compassion for His followers—even when it was most inconvenient.

We see in the book of Matthew Jesus withdrawing for time alone to grieve immediately after receiving the news of the death of John the Baptist, but He still could not escape the crowds.

When Jesus heard about it, he withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick. (Matt. 14:13–14)

Even though Jesus had every right to not care for another person at that moment, He saw sheep without a shepherd and had compassion for them. There will be many times as a small group leader where a member of your group will have a need at the most inopportune moment. It may be a phone call late at night. It may be someone who wants to stay after group to talk. It may be someone at church who needs to grab time in the lobby during the service you are about to attend. While inconvenient, it’s at those times where we have to remember the compassionate example of Jesus.

  1. From the front

“When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:4). A leader that people will follow is a leader willing to go first. This may mean sharing a vulnerable story with the group to set the example of authenticity. The group will model the behavior you display. If you want your group to be open, open your heart first. If you want the group to serve, serve them first. Leading from the front does not mean dictating direction. It means setting the example for others to follow.

  1. Sacrificially

There will be times when leading your group will be a sacrifice. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). While your sacrifices will probably not involve laying your life down for someone, opening your home to a group of people weekly is a sacrifice. You have to keep the house clean, put up the pets, pull out all the extra chairs, make sure there is food, etc. It’s exhausting to host a group! You will need occasional breaks to not burn out, but that sacrifice of time and effort will lead to a group that bonds through consistency.

At the end of our time as leaders, we want to know we led our flock well. We can look to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and follow His example of shepherding His flock. Though we will not be perfect, we want to lead from the heart, lead with compassion, lead from the front, and lead sacrificially.

Chris Surratt (@ChrisSurratt) is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience. He served on church staffs prior to becoming the discipleship and small groups specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is the author of Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group, from which this is excerpted and adapted with permission from B&H Publishing Group. You can follow his blog at ChrisSurratt.com.

 

Church Leadership

5 Steps to Developing a Secondary Leader

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The first step toward launching a new group for new people is identifying someone in your group to be a secondary leader or apprentice. This will be someone who is developing into a mature believer and is showing signs of taking ownership in the group. He may not recognize the leadership potential in himself yet, so you will need to affirm those gifts you see.

I use these five steps to develop secondary leaders in my groups

Step 1: I do. You watch. We talk. 

After I have approached my potential secondary leader and asked him to pray about taking more ownership in the group, I will encourage him to watch how I facilitate the next group meeting. We then arrange time (possibly after the meeting) to connect and talk about his observations. This begins the process of modeling what I want him to do.

Step 2: I do. You help. We talk. 

If my potential secondary leader is ready to move on, I ask him to facilitate a portion of the discussion at the next group meeting. I give him the questions several days ahead of time so he can be prepared to navigate through the transitions and potential answers. We again meet afterward to discuss the experience and next steps.

Step 3: You do. I help. We talk. 

The next step for my secondary leader is to facilitate a majority of the discussion while I help where needed. I may still lead through the prayer time at this stage until he is comfortable handling it himself. We again meet afterward to discuss the experience. If this step goes well, he should be ready to own the next one.

Step 4: You do. I watch. We talk.

It is now time for my secondary leader to facilitate the entire group experience while I observe as a participant in the group. This can be a difficult experience for me as a leader because that secondary leader will probably lead differently than I would. That’s okay and, in fact, it’s healthy. It’s now time to turn over the reins and begin the process with someone new.

Step 5: You do. Someone else watches. 

This process will eventually lead to birthing a new group. The secondary leader can either step out of the current group to lead a new group for new people, or I can turn the leadership of the current group over to him as I step out to launch the new group. The latter scenario can set the secondary leader up for success quicker. He is already comfortable with the current group, and I will be more prepared than him to start over.

This process will eventually lead to birthing a new group. The secondary leader can either step out of the current group to lead a new group for new people, or I can turn the leadership of the current group over to him as I step out to launch the new group. The latter scenario can set the secondary leader up for success quicker. He is already comfortable with the current group, and I will be more prepared than him to start over.

Chris Surratt (@ChrisSurratt) is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience. He served on church staffs prior to becoming the discipleship and small groups specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is the author of Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group. You can follow his blog at ChrisSurratt.com.

 

Church Leadership

3 Reasons Why Your Church Should Stop Offering Groups

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Did you know that the company Walgreens invented the chocolate malt? According to Wikipedia, “in 1922, Walgreens’ employee Ivar “Pop” Coulson made a milkshake by adding two scoops of vanilla ice cream to the standard malted milk drink recipe (milk, chocolate syrup, and malt powder).” Yet if you have a late-night craving for one today, you’re not going to head to Walgreens.

Or did you know that Timex sold the first home computer at a cost of under $100 in…1982? They quickly made the decision to stick to their core business of making quality watches.

What both of these successful companies eventually decided was that just because we can doesn’t mean we should. As church leaders, we can offer a thousand different options to our congregation, but it doesn’t mean we should. That even applies to small groups. A lot of churches look to groups to solve a discipleship plan void, but they don’t take the time to think through the implications of making them work.

Here are three reasons to think about possibly eliminating your small groups.

1. They’re just another program.

Your church members need a clear spiritual pathway, not another program. Adding programs to the schedule is easy. The hard work comes when you start eliminating unnecessary programs to clear the path for life-changing environments. If small groups are on a long list of options for people to join, they will lose every time. Take some time to think through everything that you offer outside of Sunday morning worship. If small groups are not a vital next step for people, then you might consider taking them out.

2. The senior leader is not behind them.

The senior church leader has to be completely on board with your small groups system. Most pastors know that their church should offer intentional paths to discipleship, but they struggle with knowing how to implement a healthy groups system. The lead pastor has to be the head cheerleader for developing disciples within the framework of community. If your senior leader is not willing to be a part of a small group, only a small percentage of your congregation will be willing to give it a shot.

3. They’re not in the budget.

Any ministry or program worth having is worth paying for. We are willing to devote a good amount of the budget to the initial spiritual step—the Sunday service—but not always to the discipleship plan that should follow. As much as we would love for groups to happen organically, it is going to take money to help them launch and succeed. Biblically solid curriculum is not a luxury for groups; it’s a necessity. Your group leaders need guidance in order for the right discussions to take place during meetings. They also need to be taken care of with occasional coffees and swag. If you’re not ready to make small groups an essential part of the church’s budget, then you might reconsider their existence.

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with over 22 years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Team at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN, and was on staff at Seacoast Church in Charleston, SC, for 15 years. He also manages SmallGroup.com for LifeWay Christian Resources. Chris’s first book, Small Groups For The Rest Of Us: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes, was just released by Thomas Nelson. You can follow his blog at chrissurratt.com or follow him on Twitter @chrissurratt.

Church Leadership

Four Questions to Ask as You Launch your Group

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Fall is a great time to launch a new small group, or relaunch one that has taken a break for the summer. Most people will be settling back into their life rhythms by Labor Day. Summer vacations are an Instagram memory, schools have welcomed students back, and new families have relocated into your community. In order to take advantage of this opportunity to invite people into biblical community, there are a few questions you should be asking right now. Here are four important ones:

  1. Where will this group be located? 

You have many choices of where your group can be located, and each one will help shape what type of group it will be. A natural choice would be in someone’s home. This type of group will quickly foster community because of the familiarity already established in a home. Sitting on a couch in someone’s living room will invite a more intimate conversation than most other locations.

Another location choice could be a room at the church. This location will help the group lean more into the Bible study than quickly building community. Classrooms have an underlying culture of learning, so that type of environment will naturally shape the group meetings.

  1. Who will we invite?

After the location has been determined, it’s time to make a potential invite list. That list would include family members, neighbors, and coworkers—the people you may already do aspects of life with. After you have that initial list, broaden it to people just outside your inner circle—maybe someone you talk with at church who doesn’t seem to be connected to a small group, or someone you’re friendly with at work. There may also be a neighbor you wave at as you pass who could be open to an invitation. Most people are longing for deeper community, but don’t know where to start.

  1. What will we study?

A healthy small group is more than just a Bible study, but having a good study puts God and His Word at the center of it from the beginning. After you have determined who will be in the group, look for an initial Bible study that will speak to the spiritual and life stages of most of the members. For example, if it’s a group with mostly young families, choose a study on biblical marriage or parenting. If the group is mainly comprised of young professionals, choose a study about helping make wise life and career choices. After the group has been together for a season, you can establish a discipleship curriculum pathway that helps push members out of the spiritual comfort zones.

  1. Where will we serve?

A small group can become insulated and unhealthy if it doesn’t look to make a difference outside of the meeting walls. It should be established from the first meeting that the group will look for serving opportunities for everyone to participate in. A good place to start is to look for needs within the community where the group meets. A school that needs back-to-school supplies. A local firehouse that could use baked goods for appreciation. A single mom’s yard that needs mowed every couple of weeks. You can also check with your church leadership about local organizations to partner with periodically.

Asking and answering these four questions at the beginning of the group will help your group launch–or relaunch–get off in the right direction.

Chris Surratt (@ChrisSurratt) is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience. He served on church staffs prior to becoming the discipleship and small groups specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is the author of Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group. You can follow his blog at ChrisSurratt.com.

 

Group Leadership, Uncategorized

Free Groups Webinar on Coaching Leaders

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How can you develop an effective coaching system for your group leaders? That is the topic that we are going to tackle in this free webinar on August 6, 2019, 11am – 12pm CST. Here are a few of the questions that myself and our expert panelists will take on:

  • Why should a church offer coaches for leaders?
  • What do you look for in an effective coach?
  • What kind of expectations should you have for a coach?
  • How do you recruit coaches?
  • How do you train a coach?

Spots are limited, so register soon at the link below!

Church Leadership

Open Group or Closed Group?

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There are a few decisions for your group that will have trade-offs depending on the decision you make. You will need to decide what direction will be best for the long-term health of your particular small group.

An important initial decision to make is whether to be an open group or a closed group. Open groups are simply open to new people joining through the life of the group, and closed groups may be open for the first week or two of the group but will then close to new people until the end of the life of the group.

Case for Open Groups

Groups that choose to stay open to new members have a missional mentality that welcomes people who need biblical community. Having your group stay open also helps multiply the effectiveness of the church reaching people quickly with the gospel. Church buildings only have so much room for groups to form community, but there is no limit when we take our community outside those walls.

We sometimes picture small groups as a way to get current church attenders into biblical community, but think about how much more effective an invitation to your church would be if it came through an invitation to be a part of your small group first.

  • They will have already been exposed to the pastor’s teachings if you are doing a sermon-based study.
  • There is a built-in follow-up through the group meetings.
  • There is no rush to get them there on a Sunday.
  • The invite starts and continues with a relationship.

If groups are to become the new front door of the church, they have to start with our neighborhoods. Our world has changed so that most people don’t know their neighbors anymore. When I was growing up, our neighbors were a natural extension of our family. We knew all of our immediate neighbors, and I spent almost as much time in their houses as I did in mine. The thought of inviting a neighbor to your church wasn’t that scary at all.

Now, you are lucky to get a cursory wave before the garage door goes down and your neighbors disappear into the house. Who has time for connecting with neighbors anymore? When we first moved to Nashville, most of the houses in our neighborhood had garage entrances on the back of the house. The only way to catch your neighbor was by chasing their car down the driveway and performing a drop-and-roll maneuver under their garage door before it could shut! I couldn’t understand why my neighbor wouldn’t talk to me again after I did this the first time . . .

Here are a few ideas to connect with your neighbors who are not already plugged into the church or a small group:

  • Throw a block party. Opportunities begin as relationships, and block parties set the stage for future friendships.
  • Host a movie on your lawn for the families in the neighborhood. Put out a few flyers around the neighborhood and fire up the latest Pixar hit.
  • Take part in neighborhood-sponsored events like Easter egg hunts or quarterly “spruce up the neighborhood” days.
  • Organize welcome baskets for new people in the neighborhood. You can also include an invitation flyer to your group in the basket.

Case for Closed Groups

Some groups will choose to stay closed for the life of the group, or until the group members decide to open for new people. We can see this type of group modeled for us with Jesus’ small group. Once He had chosen His twelve, the group was not open to new members until Judas was replaced after the betrayal in the garden.

There are several benefits to staying closed as a group:

  • Accountability can be stronger when the group is full of people who know each other well and are comfortable being vulnerable with one another. Inviting someone new into that group can disrupt the needed intimacy.
  • It takes at least three months of consistently meeting together before most of the relational walls come down. We call those “refrigerator rights” in our group. When a group member feels comfortable enough to walk into our house and open the refrigerator without asking permission first, that’s when you know you have bonded as a family. Inviting a new person or couple into the group will reset the time to get to the refrigerator rights.
  • A few groups, like recovery groups, will by necessity need to remain closed for the life of the group. A more discipleship-intensive group of three or four people meeting outside group time will need to be closed as well.

The choice of being an open or closed group should be determined before the first meeting and included in the group covenant. The group members need to know if they are encouraged to invite guests, or if the group will close for community and accountability reasons.

Chris Surratt (@ChrisSurratt) is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience. He served on church staffs prior to becoming the discipleship and small groups specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is the author of Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group, from which this is excerpted and adapted with permission from B&H Publishing Group. You can follow his blog at ChrisSurratt.com.
Church Leadership

3 Things a Small Group Leader is Not

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The number one barrier to someone stepping up to lead a small group is the word leader.

Take five seconds right now and think about what you imagine when you hear that word. Go ahead, I’ll wait. What came to mind? A CEO of a large company? A head of state? The senior pastor of your church?

We all have preconceived ideas of what a leader should be, sound, and look like. I imagine someone who is tall (I’m short), extroverted (I’m an introvert), a scholar (I, um … struggled), and forceful (definitely not me). Basically, someone who is the opposite of me.

There is no template for an effective leader. Every successful leader is flawed. In fact, the Bible is filled with damaged and flawed leaders. Here are just a few:

  • Adam, the first human being, couldn’t lead his own family. His firstborn ended up killing his brother.
  • Eve, the first woman, became greedy and took the first bite (literally) into sin.
  • Noah, the last righteous man on Earth at the time, got drunk and slept in the nude (in view of his kids).
  • Abraham, the forefather of faith, let other men walk off with his wife on two different occasions.
  • Sarah, the wife of Abraham, let her husband sleep with another woman and then hated her for it.
  • Moses, the humblest man on the face of the earth, had a serious problem with his temper.
  • David, the friend of God, concealed his adultery with a murder.
  • Peter, the man Jesus named “the Rock,” denied Christ three times.
  • Paul, the author of most of the New Testament, was a Pharisee who persecuted Christians before becoming one and was hampered by a “thorn in the flesh” after becoming one.

I could go on and on, but you get the picture: the Bible shows us men and women who had issues just like us. Yet, God still used them to build a movement that has not slowed down in more than two thousand years. Even with the death of the only perfect leader, Jesus!

Michael Kelley says that “Leadership is the joyful acceptance of responsibility at a given moment.” I like that definition because, ultimately, leading a small group is supposed to be joyful. It won’t always be easy or fun, but knowing you were integral in someone’s life being changed through the power of community is one of the most joyful things you will do.

To help us know what a small group leader is, let’s consider a few things he or she is not.

1. Someone who has all the answers. 

A leader who has all the answers is not a leader anyone should follow. First, it’s impossible, but most of all, we want to follow someone humble enough to admit they don’t know it all. 


2. Someone who can teach the Bible weekly. 

There are some with the gift of teaching, but a small group experience is not about one person teaching and the rest learning. It’s a shared discussion where we are all growing together.

A small group leader is a facilitator of a synergistic conversation with the Bible as the guide.

3. Someone who is everyone’s best friend. 

Our job as small group leaders is not to make deep relationships with every person in the group. Not only is that unwise, but it’s also unhealthy.

Our goal should be to find two to three same-sex people in the group we can disciple outside group time and help other people in the group do the same.

I identify with what Paul said in 1 Corinthians:

“I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not be based on human wisdom but on God’s power”(1 Corinthians 2:3–5).

Isn’t that freeing? God chose me and you, sinners and flawed human beings, because He wants all our faith to be in Him, not in our own abilities. When your group members look at you, they are not putting their faith in you as the leader, but in the Spirit’s power working through your weakness.

The Shepherd Leader

Peter gave us this definition of leadership as he exhorted the elders of the first-century church:

“Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:2–4).

Notice Peter did not say, “Teach God’s flock.” The spiritual gift of teaching is not the most essential gift for a small group leader. In fact, the teaching gift sometimes does not translate well into leading a small group. That is one reason why a senior pastor is not always a great small
group leader. I always suggest 
a teaching pastor be in a small
 group but not lead a group.

The elders of the church were put in place to shepherd the congregation in the same way we as small group leaders are to shepherd our portion of the church.

Although we are not that familiar with shepherds in today’s society, God chose shepherds throughout the Bible to lead His people. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and David were all shepherds chosen as leaders by God.

Jesus even referred to Himself as a shepherd: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me” (John 10:14).

Small group leaders are called to follow in His footsteps.

Chris Surratt (@ChrisSurratt) is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience. He served on church staffs prior to becoming the discipleship and small groups specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is the author of Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group, from which this is excerpted and adapted with permission from B&H Publishing Group. You can follow his blog at ChrisSurratt.com.

 

Church Leadership

#GroupGoals

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It is sometimes hard to know what is real in our society. We live in a world where we judge ourselves with comparisons to viral hashtags and perfect Instagram filters. Everyone’s best life is on full display 24/7. We all have our #SquadGoals and #RelationshipGoals.

Ironically, those Instagram and Facebook posts signal the presence of authenticity. “I’m being authentic by letting you in to what’s going on in my real life.” But we all know that’s a fake authenticity. There is a near-paralyzing fear that comes with true authenticity. The thoughts bombard us every time we start to grow in relationship with others. If people only knew . . .

·   The things I have done in my past

·   My shortcomings as a spouse

·   My failures as a parent

·   My private thoughts

·    Sin based in my insecurities

The beautiful and freeing truth of true authenticity is that being open and vulnerable to a group of people doesn’t require walking in perfection; it requires walking in confession. Scripture lays it out this way in 1 John:

Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him. If we say, “We have fellowship with Him,” yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:5–9 hcsb)

Our natural reaction to sin is to run and hide in darkness, but the power of the gospel frees us to come out into the light. Because of the blood of Jesus, we don’t have to be afraid of confessing our sin—not because we don’t sin or our sin doesn’t have consequences, but because through the gospel, we know we are forgiven of our sins. That allows us to confess without self-justification. Now we can confess to one another not just so we will receive forgiveness from one another, but so that the forgiveness Jesus has already given to us can be pronounced again and again in our communities.

The picture is found in James 5:16: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect” (hcsb).

 This verse is transparency at its best. It’s a picture of someone who, convinced of the limitless grace and promised forgiveness of Jesus, confesses their sin. They lay themselves open and bare before others, not expecting shame or guilt, but instead expecting healing. It’s a crucial step on the road to holiness, but that’s just the thing—it’s one step on the road. It’s not an end in itself.

 The gospel both enables us to be truly transparent and compels us toward a greater end that lies beyond transparency. We confess to one another not so we can be real with one another; we confess to one another because we have a desire to be made holy. To be healed. To stop sinning. And we are responsible and even blessed for aiding one another on that journey. James continues on in verses 19 and 20:

My brothers, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his life from death and cover a multitude of sins. (hcsb) 

The work of Jesus makes confession and repentance more beautiful than burdensome. We can share “below the line of shame” because we already know we are so broken that Jesus had to die for us. But we also know we are so loved that He was willing to die for us.

 The only way for a small group to embrace this power of healing is for the leader to model and practice it from the beginning. That is how our group can finally achieve #groupgoals.

 

Chris Surratt (@ChrisSurratt) is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience. He served on church staffs prior to becoming the discipleship and small groups specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is the author of Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group, from which this is excerpted and adapted with permission from B&H Publishing Group. You can follow his blog at ChrisSurratt.com.

 

Church Leadership

Why Does Your Group Exist?

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Every small group needs a reason for existence. Why should we carve out more time in our busy lives to spend it with people we might barely know? For most people and groups that reason is the desire for community. We desire friendship, and that is a good thing.

We all need community. In fact, we were designed by God to be in community. You can see it modeled for us with the perfect relationship of the Trinity in Genesis.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” (Gen. 1:26 hcsb)

We then see it prayed for by Jesus with His final prayer before His death on the cross:

“May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me.” (John 17:21 hcsb)

Community is important, but a problem arises when community is the destination of the group. A small group that gathers strictly around the desire to make friends will live or die on the strength of those relationships. If those relationships begin to shift or separate, so will the group. Without the imperative of being on mission, community is fragile.

Like all aspects of God’s creation, our relationships have been broken by sin. In our sinfulness, we use other people instead of live in God-honoring community with them. But when we believe the gospel, our relationships begin to be reshaped. We, together, are meant to help each other follow Jesus more closely and in so doing to extend the gospel into all the world. This is our mission. This is the redeemed version of community—it’s relationships that are centered on seeing the mission of God come to pass first in our own hearts, and eventually in the world.

We can look at the life of Jesus to see how community was used as the foundation for mission. As we saw in Genesis 1:26, Jesus had this perfect community with the Trinity, but chose to not only leave home, but to leave heaven on a mission to die for those He came to reach. Jesus was the first and greatest missionary of all history!

John testified to the fullness of Jesus’ mission in John 1:

Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him. (vv. 16–18)

Jesus left His community to come to Earth, to realign our priorities, and to make us citizens of a new kingdom. Because of sin, our priorities are broken, but the gospel puts them back in line. The truth of this gospel was the sole mission of Jesus’ life on Earth.

When Pilate questioned who He was, Jesus replied, “You say that I’m a king . . . I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). Jesus was born to share this truth.

We can see clearly why living out the mission of Jesus is related to the gospel. After all, the final instructions of Jesus before He ascended into heaven were centered around this mission—that His followers should “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19–20).

And as you align your group around this gospel-centered mission of Jesus, remember that we had to hear the good news before we could share the good news. We had to be brought to life by the message before we could be its messengers. What this means practically is that we have to be open to living out the gospel in our group by inviting those who need the gospel the most.

With time of living it out, this missional way of looking at our world becomes a natural outflow of what the gospel has produced in our lives. We desire deeply for others to experience what we have in our life-giving community. Helping group members see their world through this new missional lens will slowly move them beyond just the desire for friendships.

This article is excerpted from the just released book, Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply your Small Group by Chris Surratt. Used by permission from B&H Publishing.

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Teams at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN., and Seacoast Church in Charleston, S.C., prior to becoming the Discipleship and Small Groups Specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is the author of  Small Groups for the Rest of Us: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes. You can follow his blog at www.chrissurratt.com.
Church Leadership

The Top Five Small Group Systems

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According to Dictionary.com, the definition of the word “system” is: “a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized scheme or method.” We are sometimes afraid of systems in the groups world because we feel community is supposed to happen organically, not through an organized scheme. But at its core, a system is simply a way to help people know what to do next and how to do it. If groups are our primary path to multiplying disciples, then our people need a good system to know what they are and how to do them. 

There are a lot of small group systems to choose from, and there is not one system that fits all. Every church has to do the work of discovering who their people are, what their vision and mission is, and then choosing and tweaking a system that works best within that ethos. There is also no perfect system. Each one will have it’s pros and cons that need to be weighed before landed on. Here are five of the most popular groups systems and pros and cons for each one.

1. Open Groups System

An open groups system will primarily offer groups that are open to adding new people throughout the life of the groups. 

Pros: Open groups give the opportunity for group members to be missional in their circles of influence. They are encouraged to invite friends and neighbors to join their groups at any time. Open groups also give new church attenders a place to connect immediately.

Cons: It can be more difficult for groups to achieve accountability and vulnerability if there are new members constantly being added. Also, it can be hard for new members to feel comfortable in an existing group if they don’t already have relationships there.

2. Closed Groups System

A closed groups system will primarily offer groups that are closed, after an initial sign-up period, throughout the life of the groups.

Pros: Closed groups can achieve community and accountability faster than open groups. Without the possibility of new people coming in, group members can be more open with their lives.

Cons: If closed groups stay together longer than two years without multiplying or adding new people, they can become stale and possibly toxic. They will start having the same conversations around the same subjects and spiritual growth may be stunted as a result.

3. Missional Groups System

A missional groups system will encourage church members to gather their group from the community in which they live. 

Pros: Missional groups are naturally evangelistic in form. Instead of relying on the church to fill their groups with attenders, leaders are trained to see their community as a mission field. Some missional group leaders will move to a location specifically to form a group there.

Cons: It can be much harder to launch and maintain a missional group. The bar for leadership has to be higher because the group is truly a microcosm of the church. Also, it’s more difficult to help new attenders join a missional group, unless they already live in a community with an existing one.

4. Discipleship Intensive Groups System

A discipleship intensive groups system primarily offers smaller gatherings of 3 or 4 same-sex groups for deeper discipleship, conversations and accountability. These groups are sometimes referred to as “D Groups.”

Pros: Larger small groups of 8-12 people are perfect for community, but not always the best for accountability and discipleship conversations. Especially if they are mixed gender. We all need this level of community with a few others to help us go deeper in our walk with God.

Cons: Not everyone in the church is ready for this type of group. If you are reaching outsiders on the weekend, they need somewhere less intrusive to test the community waters before they dive into an intensive discipleship group.

5. Free Market Groups System

A free market groups system offers attenders the opportunity to form groups around something they are passionate about, or are already doing with a group of people. For example, a group of men, who already get together to ride bikes on the weekends, can be a free market group.

Pros: Groups are much easier to form. People who are already doing life together can add some “God time” to help members grow spiritually through relationships. Also, invites to join a group are more natural than asking someone to go to a home for a Bible study.

Cons: While community is easily achieved in a free market group, discipleship may not be. A consistent Bible study will not in and of itself disciple someone, but will help group members look to the Bible for answers to life’s questions instead of just each other.

Those are five of the most popular groups systems available, but your system may eventually offer groups from different categories. It’s most important to know why you offer the types of groups that you do, so you can cast a consistent vision for why people should lead and join them.

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Teams at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN., and Seacoast Church in Charleston, S.C., prior to becoming the Discipleship and Small Groups Specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is the author of  Small Groups for the Rest of Us: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes, and the recently released, Leading Small Groups. You can follow his blog at www.chrissurratt.com.

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