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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.
Church Leadership

Four Discipleship Groups We All Need

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Joining or leading a discipleship group can be an intimidating and seemingly complicated process for people in our churches. While there are certainly a lot of details to think through, the basic mission for any group or relationship should come from the singular command Jesus left us in Matthew 28:19: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations”.

We can see from this passage that Jesus made it simple—we are to make disciples. If our groups are built on this command, when shifting in relationships occur, the foundation is still strong. Relationships on their own are fragile, but when partnered with intentional discipleship, they can be the catalyst to sustained life-change.

If we are following Jesus’ great commission, then it makes sense to also follow the pattern He left us in forming discipleship communities. We can see through scripture that Jesus created disciples through four different types of groups. 

1. Group of Many

So, where did Jesus start? He didn’t look to gather a huge crowd or even a small group of people, but he began in the community he found himself. We can see this pattern starting with Jesus as a boy in the temple.

After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. – Luke 2:41-46

Jesus intentionally spent time with people and asked questions. He wanted to understand before moving on to what was next. Our first “group” should be the community we find ourselves in. Our neighborhoods, our coffee shops, our office, or anywhere we interact with people to ask questions and understand their stories and experiences. This is our first mission field. Look for those natural interactions that can lead to relationships. 

2. Group of Twelve

The next community Jesus engaged with was his group of twelve disciples. He intentionally and prayerfully chose twelve men to walk with him and carry on the mission when he was gone. After Jesus had returned to heaven, we can see this practice of meeting together in smaller groups continued by the early church in Acts 2:42-47.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. 

It is clear in this passage that the early church devoted themselves to God and each other through both corporate gatherings (the temple) and in the home (house to house). We are now carrying on this 2000-year-old tradition by launching groups to meet in homes, apartment clubhouses, office break rooms, church classrooms, or anywhere that a group of 8-12 people can meet together to have community (fellowship), discipleship (prayer, wonders and signs), and mission (sold their possessions and added to their number). 

3. Group of Four

Even as Jesus did ministry with the twelve, there were three disciples he spent the most time with: Peter, John, and James. We can see this special relationship play out in Mark 14:32-24. 

They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” 

He formed this smaller group of four, and allowed them more access throughout his ministry, because he understood the importance of time spent with just a few to carry on the work. As disciple-making deacons, our next step after forming a small group is looking for those 3-4 same-sex people within the group to form more intentional discipleship relationships with outside of the group meeting times. 

4. Group of Two

If we look closer at Jesus’ smaller group of four, we see that there was one who was even closer than the others: John. This close relationship is testified to by John in, among other places, John 20:1-2 (emphasis added).

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

This intimate bond did not mean that Jesus loved the other disciples any less, but it’s obvious that John sought Jesus’ affections more than the rest. We all need that person in our lives who knows us better than anyone else. That person with whom we can share the highest of highs and lowest of lows. He or she may be a mentor, a spouse, or a close friend. 

To learn more on how to launch and lead one of these groups, check out my new book, Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group.

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

Summer is for Family (and that includes your small group)

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For a lot of us, summer means more time with family. Kids are home from school and family vacations are the norm. We also tend to have a bit more margin than during the other seasons. As small group leaders, that extra time spent with family should also include our group members. Your small group should be looked at as a family, not a function. With a function, we can take breaks and come back to it when we feel like it. With family, there is no such thing as extended breaks.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take a break from hosting weekly group meetings. Hosting a Bible study every week (or even bi-weekly) can be grueling, so you deserve to take a breather for a couple of months. However, there are many ways to stay connected to our “family” during the summer months without gathering as consistently for a study.

1. Have fun!
Go to a ballgame. Celebrate the Fourth of July fireworks together. Get together for a picnic. Race cars at an amusement park. We can sometimes suck all of the fun out of group life, and summer is a great time to put it back in.

2. Go on a short-term missions trip together.
Nothing bonds a group better than being on mission together. The trip does not have to be international—there are massive needs in communities all around us. Partner with an organization that is already making a difference and take your group on a weekend mission trip.

3. Serve a local missions organization.
There are food pantries, youth centers, and other missional organizations in almost every community. Pick out a Saturday in June or July to serve as a group. If it’s a great experience with an organization making a real difference, commit to an ongoing relationship.

4. Do an online study.
Choose a video-enhanced study on smallgroup.com. But instead of meeting together every week for the discussion, set up a Facebook group page to go through it online. Your group members can watch the video on their own, and then post comments on the page. A great study to try this summer would be “Making Space” by Jeff Vanderstelt.

By getting creative and thinking outside of the box, your group family can still stay engaged in community this summer.

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. He is the author of Small Groups for the Rest of Us and Leading Small Groups.
Church Leadership

Five Roles of a Small Group Leader

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A small group leader has many roles to fill. The key to a healthy and multiplying group is to give as many of those roles away as soon as possible. You can identify which roles to give away first by knowing which ones are naturally weak for you. We all have areas of leadership where we are stronger and weaker. Someone in your group is going to excel in a role where you might struggle.

Here are what I believe are the top five roles (not in order) for every group leader. As you read the list, think about which ones you should start giving away now.

1. Fun Planner

A key to your group staying healthy is being intentional about planning fun activities during every semester or quarter. That can be a game night instead of a doing the study, going to a ballgame together, or organizing a picnic during the spring or summer.

2. Food Planner

The beginning of every group meeting should be a time of just hanging out, and food can be an important part of that first 20 minutes. It gives people in your group something to do while having important bonding conversations before the study portion of the meeting.

3. Host

Every group needs someone to officially host the meeting. That may include providing the space for the meeting, but it always includes being a smiling face at the door to set the tone for night. A good host will help lead to an effective meeting.

4. Shepherd

Your group members are needing more than a social time and a Bible study. The goal should be to have your small group feel like family. Families care for one another and are there for each other when circumstances are great and not so great. We should celebrate and weep with our group members equally.

5. Prayer Time

Prayer is an important element during the group time, but it’s also essential between meetings. A praying leader is a leader worth following. You should pray consistently and specifically for your group members each week.

Is there a role or two on that list that you can give away soon?

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 

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