Group Multiplication

November 9, 2020

Ten Ways to Welcome Seekers into Your Group

By Reid Smith

The best groups are high in health and impact for God’s Kingdom. For both to be true, a small group leader must be prepared to welcome people into their group’s life regardless of where they are at in their commitment to Christ and His Church. We reflect the beauty and greatness of our God when we accept one another just as Christ accepted us (Romans 15:7).

The more small group leaders know how to welcome and encourage people who are seeking truth and reaching out to God (whether they realize it or not) the more effective they will be with engaging them with the gospel in transformational ways. To that end, here’s ten recommendations for how you can welcome spiritual seekers, build relationships with them, and inspire everyone to grow in their relationship with Jesus!

Don’t assume. Consider newcomers as seekers until you learn otherwise. Believers who are new to a Christian gathering tend to convey something about their faith/church commitment up front. If they do not, chances are they either do not have a relationship with God or may not have a strong one. It’s important to avoid making assumptions about what your guests believe. Rather, look for ways to affirm the truth God has already started to impart to them as Paul did in Athens (Acts 17:22-23, 28-29).
Be a connector. Warmly introduce seekers into your small group and connect them with a few people as they come in, helping them to strike up conversations before your study begins. If possible, learn a little about them before they show up to their first meeting as this will help you to introduce them to others in a more personal way. Do your best to remember facts they share about who they are, their family and friends, and how they found your group. Use what you know about them to ignite conversations with other group members. The likelihood of seekers returning increases by at least 50% if they experience a sense of belonging through connection with others.
Empower them. Find out what subjects your truth-seeking guests have an enthusiasm or expertise in and talk about that! People like to talk about things they know about. Seekers will feel more empowered and comfortable talking about things of interest to them. If you listen with interest, you will show that you are interested in them as people and they won’t feel like a project.
Introduce your group. Take a minute on the front end to say what your small group is about and invite input from others so that guests can get exposure to some of the other personalities present. In a small group situation, most people prefer to get a good feel of the dynamic before jumping into the discussion. The more free people feel to participate, the more likely it is they will return.
Include and affirm. Prioritize seekers in your small group time by making it a goal to help them feel safe and a valued part of the gathering. Look for ways to include them socially and affirm any contribution they make to the conversation. One of the simplest ways of helping a newcomer feel ‘at home’ in your small group is to repeatedly call them by their first name. Express appreciation for their input. When seekers say something that does not harmonize with Scripture, don’t be surprised or correct them. Rather, be positive and say something like, “Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!” Discipleship happens through trust-filled relationships that develop over time.
Break it down. Use relational terms to explain theological concepts in your Bible study. For example, salvation is having a relationship with Christ or being friends with God now and forever. Redemption is Jesus helping us to connect with God and know Him. Do your best to stay away from Christian jargon.
Don’t over-accommodate. Most newcomers like to be acknowledged but may not like to stand out or be spotlighted in front of a group…so don’t focus on them. If you keep things normal, your small group will feel more natural and comfortable to them. You can be sensitive to your small group’s form without changing its function. Be yourself and allow the group to be itself. Don’t hesitate to pray or worship in your group if seekers are present. Sometimes this is exactly what God uses to gather lost people to Himself (see Acts 2:46-47.) If somebody needs prayer, pray for them. If you are planning to worship, just do it. Don’t attempt to explain it for seekers. They likely want to see things how they really are and would rather not have you disrupt the flow of what you do on their account.
Talk about being difference makers. Healthy groups have regular conversations about how they can be Jesus’ hands and feet and impact our world with His love and message. Don’t miss the opportunity to demonstrate to seekers in your midst that you genuinely want to show God’s love to people and make a difference in your community. Have that conversation spontaneously or just say you would like to talk about it next time. This allows you to revisit your group’s commitment to evangelism and shows spiritual seekers that your group is…
- Outward-thinking and it’s not all about those in your small group—this actually helps guests feel safer because it makes the communal nature of your group feel less cultic and more caring.
- Serious about making a commitment to share God’s love and grace to a waiting world. People want their lives to make a positive impact on others. This helps them to see that your small group can help toward this goal, making group time a worthwhile investment of their time.
Have a soft landing and end on a high note. When you have truth-seeking guests, leave plenty of time for people to socialize at the tail end of your group. Newcomers tend to be interested in being more personal toward the end of a group than the beginning. This will give time to connect your small group members to guests further and have fun and relaxed conversations. Also, studies show that when something ends positively the entire experience becomes a good memory for people, and one they are more apt to repeat. In private, let newcomers know how much you appreciated them coming and that you really hope you get to see them again!
Don’t hesitate to follow-up. Let your guests know you hope to see them again! If a seeker came with somebody, encourage their friend to welcome them back. Sometimes small group leaders hold off from following up in this way because they are afraid of being intrusive or coming across as pushy. Most guests appreciate this act of kindness and it makes your small group more inviting overall. If you do not risk the remote possibility of coming across as intrusive in your follow-up, newcomers may feel like they are intruding. Revisit prayer needs when you follow-up with them by naturally weaving them into your conversation. This shows you were listening and that you care.

You want group members to have more than permission to invite their friends…let them know you WANT them to invite their friends. This attitude is one of the greatest contributing factors to a small group making an evangelistic impact. Small groups can and should always serve to encourage personal outreach.

A small group that has an open home, open hearts, and open hands is a group that is replete with life-giving possibilities. By following the ten recommendations above, you will create an environment where the hospitality of biblical community will receive and reach many spiritual seekers for Jesus Christ!

Reid Smith has been equipping leaders in churches of all sizes and stages of growth for effective disciple-making since 1996. He lives in Wellington, Florida where he serves as a Groups Pastor at Christ Fellowship. You can find more of his helpful resources at www.reidsmith.org.

Church Leadership, Group Leadership

October 12, 2020

5 Ways to Multiply Disciple-Making During a Pandemic

By Chris Surratt

The final instructions of Jesus before He ascended into heaven were 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” (Matthew 28:19-20).

The disciples stood on the mountainside with their friend, and now their acknowledged Lord, and got their marching orders.

What they had seen done they would now do. What they had been taught they would now teach. What they had experienced they would now pass on.

And so the chain goes throughout history: the story of Jesus and what it means to be His disciple has cut through the generations despite every attempt to stop it.

And here we are today, in our own generation, recipients of the same charge Jesus delivered on the mountain that day:

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…”

But now we have a mountain in front of us called COVID-19. Our current methods for finding and making disciples have to adapt to our new reality.

We can no longer just rely on a group leader gathering people in a living room or a classroom to pass on what Jesus started.

Those physical environments will still exist to some extent, but if we want to continue this charge to the next generations, we have to exponentially multiply the disciple-makers in new ways.

Here are five ways to continue the discipleship chain:

1. REDEFINE THE DISCIPLE-MAKING ENVIRONMENTS.

I have often used the mantra that discipleship happens best within the context of community. While that’s still true, we get too locked into what that community looks like.

It can be a group of believers and seekers sitting in a living room, or it can be two or three people on a weekly Zoom call. Or it could be two friends meeting up in a park in the neighborhood.

Discipleship can happen anywhere any number of people are physically or digitally gathered together. It doesn’t always have to be in a classroom on a Sunday morning.

2. EXPAND WHO THE DISCIPLE-MAKERS ARE.

Just like congregants sometimes believe pastoring can only be done by the official clergy of the church, we can get locked into the idea that group leaders are the only qualified disciple-makers.

Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

It starts with Paul discipling Timothy, and then expands exponentially to “faithful men.”

Our group members need to be instructed that they are being equipped to disciple the people in their circles of influence, and then release them to carry it out.

3. EQUIP THE DISCIPLE-MAKERS WITH TRAINING.

Properly training leaders has always been important, but it’s especially vital now as disciple-making has to be expanded beyond the normal group environments and classes.

The training has to be immediate and ongoing. Leaders need to know the basics of starting a disciple-making group or relationship, and they will need ongoing training for the constant changing world we live in.

I would suggest scheduling something at least monthly for disciple-makers and potential leaders to attend.

With the wide acceptance of Zoom and Facebook Live, training doesn’t have to be in a specific location or at a specific time anymore.

4. RELEASE CONTROL OF DISCIPLE-MAKING.

We love to control things as church leaders. Part of it is for an assurance of quality and depth, but part of it is fear of the unknown.

We fear how disciples will be created if we are not in charge of the environment. We fear losing control of the whole process. We sometimes fear not getting the credit in the end.

But the only way 2 Timothy 2:2 will be ultimately fulfilled is if we let go those fears and encourage our leaders to disciple outside of the box.

5. CREATE A DISCIPLE-MAKING PATHWAY.

As church leaders, we need to give followers of Jesus a pathway to walk as they become more like Jesus and advance His kingdom.

In this confused and divided world we live in, we need a clear pathway now more than ever before. People need the resources, training and encouragement to take their next spiritual steps wherever they currently are on the journey.

Let’s not let a pandemic stop discipleship; but instead, let’s use this time to creatively multiply our efforts.

This article originally appeared at factsandtrends.net.

CHRIS SURRATT (@ChrisSurratt) is the discipleship and small groups specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources, a ministry consultant and coach with more than 20 years of experience, and the author of Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group.

Start New Groups

September 24, 2020

Three Signs It’s Time to Start a New Group

By Dwayne McCrary

As we begin to regather, creating more Bible study groups will be essential if our churches are to impact our culture. Here are a few things we as leaders can look for so we know when it is time to give birth to a new group.

Discussion is a challenge

Discussion can be a challenge no matter what size of group we lead, but this is especially true of larger groups. God created us as relational beings. Not being able to interact with others creates short-circuits our minds were not made to handle. We want to interact with others. Some of us have found ourselves talking to neighbors we would have avoided prior to March of 2020 simply for face-to-face interaction during the pandemic. Here is the issue when it comes to groups: the larger the group, the less likely substantive discussion will occur during group time. We will know it is time to start a new group when people hesitate or measure their words during discussion in a way they did not before.

There are no open chairs

Most leaders love a full house. We feel successful in our roles when all the spots are filled. But a full room works against involving more people in the Bible study. A full room may make a leader feel satisfied with less urgency to reach out to potential new members. No empty chairs may lead a first-time attender to feel they were not expected and give the impression they are an intruder. On the other side, the group itself may stop inviting newcomers for fear of losing their spot or feeling crowded. Open spots remind us to keep inviting people to join in Bible study. Creating a new group leads to room for more to be involved.

The group has been together for more than 18 months

Staying together for too long is not exclusive to ongoing groups. Groups that are reshuffled every year or six months will often have people who work around the system and find a way to stay together. Leaders may accommodate these arrangements since we would rather people be in a group than be working against us from the outside. Yet, the longer a group is together, the more difficult it is for an outsider to break into the group. A person in the group loses his job and the others rally around him during the transition. Another person has a medical crisis and the group walks beside that person through some deep valleys. These types of experiences create connections and identity within the group but people who join the group after that experience may have a hard time catching up. In this way, the group becomes functionally closed. While we strive for these types of connections, it is important that they do not become so ingrained that no one else is welcome.

We have reviewed only three signs that it may be time to start a new group. What other signs do you look for that tell you it may be time to start a new group?

Dwayne McCrary is a team leader at LifeWay, adjunct professor at Midwestern BTS, and a BIble study leader in the church he attends.

Group Answers Podcast

September 16, 2020

Group Answers Episode 170: Multiplying Disciple-Making During a Pandemic

By Group Ministry

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On this episode of Group Answers, Chris, Brian, and Brandon discuss how churches and groups can multiply disciple-making during this pandemic.

Tips:

1. Redefine the disciple-making environments.
2. Expand who the disciple-makers are.
3. Equip the disciple-makers with training.
4. Release control of disciple-making.
5. Create a disciple-making pathway.

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Leading Small Groups.

Group Leadership

September 14, 2020

Five Ways to Know You Need to Join a Small Group

By Group Ministry

By Susan Hill

Small groups play a vital role in discipleship because they are the place where believers have the opportunity to come together and build close relationships within the context of the local church. In a perfect world, every church member would be an active member of a small group. But maybe you’re still on the fence about joining one. Here are five ways to know if you need to join a small group:

You want to study the Scriptures at a deeper level. One of the primary benefits of participating in a small group is studying the Scriptures with other believers. In a group study, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from other people, ask questions, and discuss how to apply the Bible to daily living. Also, you’ll probably study portions of Scripture that you might not read on your own. As Christ-followers, we should have a growing knowledge of the Scriptures, and one of the most practical ways to grow in our understanding of the Bible is to study among a community of believers.
You long for community. It’s often been said there are no “lone rangers” in the Bible. God designed people for community, and it’s impossible to become the person He created us to be apart from the local church. Being an active member of a small group provides the opportunity to build relationships with other believers. If you commit to being an active member of an ongoing small group, over time, there’s an excellent chance you’ll meet many of your closest friends there.
You want a place to serve in your community. Many Christians want to serve in their community but don’t know where to start. Small groups provide an excellent outlet to locate needs in the town you live and serve in those places. Areas to serve might include local homeless shelters, soup kitchens, non-profits, hospitals, nursing homes, universities, or anywhere in your community where there’s a need. As Christians, we are called to love God and our neighbors (Mark 12:30-31). Our communities should be better off because of the presence of the local church. Small groups serving together in the community are an excellent way to achieve this.
You want friends who will pray with you. We all need prayer. Being a part of a small group means you already have a group of believers in place who are willing to pray on your behalf. In most small groups, there’s a time for people to share prayer requests. As you become familiar with people in your group, you’ll share phone numbers and email addresses. When something comes up during the week, and you need someone to join you in prayer, you’ll have a group of people to contact.
You want brothers and sisters in Christ who will be there for you through thick and thin. No one joins a local church with the intention of falling through the cracks. Everyone longs for a place to worship in the local church where they know people and are known by others. Attending worship on Sunday mornings is a crucial part of the Christian life, but involvement with our church family shouldn’t be limited to one hour a week. In many churches, it’s easy to come into a worship setting on Sunday mornings and leave without being seen or speaking to anyone. A small group is the best place to nurture deeper relationships. Small groups allow believers to genuinely get to know one another and build relationships that last through every season of life.

Susan Hill is a writer, Bible teacher, and full-time editor at LifeWay. She is the author of Dangerous Prayers: 50 Powerful Prayers That Changed the World, as well as numerous devotional books. She and her husband John live near Nashville, TN with two unruly Golden Doodles.

Group Leadership

September 10, 2020

10 Tips for a Brand New Group Leader

By Ken Braddy

I wish someone had written this article for me “back in the day.” My first step into becoming a group leader took place right after I got married. My new bride and I were recruited to teach a group of eighth grade girls. I had no clue how to be an effective leader at that point in my life, but I had the job of leading those girls, and as I remember, we had a bunch of them!

As I reflect back on that experience, and as I have spoken with hundreds of group leaders across the country, I’ve come up with a “top 10 list” of things that brand new group leaders should consider. I’d have been a better teacher if someone had shared these with me in 1987. Yes, I just dated myself. If I could tell my younger self only 10 things, here they are in no particular order.

1. Teaching is not telling. Learning is not listening. I remember telling my wife something really dumb after accepting the group leader position with those eighth grade girls: “Charles (my pastor) has his 45 minutes, now I have mine.” Yikes. Because no one told me differently, I thought my job was to prepare a lesson and do all the talking. After all, I’m the one who studied and prepared, and I had a lot of important things to tell those girls. Wrong. I would have been a much better teacher if I had learned to more fully engage them in the Bible study. Little did I know that there are 8 learning approaches. I learned to incorporate those in time, but boy do I feel bad for that first group of girls. I was a “talking head” and I’m sure they were bored to tears.
2. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Yes, leading a group is important. Yes, it’s a serious thing to be responsible for the spiritual growth of a group of people. But don’t take yourself too seriously. Have fun. Laugh at yourself. Realize that if the group is laughing at you, that’s OK. You really only have an audience of one—the Lord. Don’t worry what others think about you, your teaching, or a host of other things. Seek to please the Lord in all you do, and if you trip up, know that gravity is going to still work, and the sun will rise tomorrow. The world won’t end, so loosen up.
3. If you have to choose between being a great teacher or a great shepherd, choose shepherd. My son entered the 12th grade when our family moved to Nashville, Tennessee. He began his last year of high school at a strange new school, and he had to find new friends. One place I hoped that would happen was our new church. He only had 5 other young men in his Sunday School class, but when he began missing on Sundays (he visited other churches with Christian guys he met on his football team) his teacher never contacted him. Not once. Not in twelve months. Although this man was a good teacher, I’m sure, he was a lousy shepherd. My son learned all too quickly that he didn’t matter to his 12th grade teacher, and it soured him on the church. The old saying is true: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
4. The person with the biggest group doesn’t win. As a new group leader, I thought the goal was to have the biggest group. And we did. It was great. Everyone wanted to be in the groups my wife and I taught. We learned how to teach, we had fun with the students outside of Sunday School, and we hung out. No one ever told me that having the biggest group wasn’t the goal. What I should have been told was that the goal was to grow my group to the point I could start a new one. Another teacher could have then come along to shepherd and teach half my group.
5. Your group exists for people far from God. One thing I learned about group life: if you aren’t careful, your group will turn inward pretty quickly. It takes strong leadership to constantly remind your group members that the group exists to reach new people. After a group has been together 18 months, it naturally begins to close. Reaching new people gets hard. You must consistently help your group see the many people in your community that might go to your church and attend your group if they were aware, invited, and cared for.
6. Work hard to include new people in the group. People will not assimilate themselves. You have to work hard to help new people fit in, and your group members are the key. This is why it’s so important to become great at inclusion. It is possible to be a member of a group, but never really belong to the group. That’s a terrible feeling, and one reason people drift away and are never seen again.
7. Your group isn’t your group. Read Amos 3:12. It contains a prophecy about Israel, and it is couched in shepherding terms. Part of this verse gives us insight into the life of a shepherd. “As the shepherd snatches an ear or a piece of a leg from the lion’s mouth…” tells us that shepherds protect their sheep. Nothing new there, right? Well, read the verse again; the sheep had already become lunch for the lion. Why would a shepherd risk life and limb for an animal that was already dead? The answer is, “Because the shepherd is not the owner of the sheep.” The true owner has temporarily given the shepherd responsibility for his sheep. If the shepherd goes out with 100 sheep, he’d better come back with 100, or have a good explanation (hence the reason he was so concerned about grabbing a piece of the sheep from the lion—it served as proof that he hadn’t stolen the sheep to begin his own flock). All this to say, as a group leader, the people in your group aren’t yours—you’re the stewarding shepherd. The “owner,” God, has given you temporary responsibility to care for His sheep—His people. Never use the words “my group” or “my classroom.” Everything belongs to God, not you. I needed to hear that as a new group leader.
8. You should hold onto your group members with a loose grip. Because of #7 above, I must let people go if my group gets too large. The goal is to see people discipled, and that happens best in the context of smaller groups. Larger groups are fun to teach, and they can be a sign that you’re doing something right, but when the pastor asks you to divide your group so that greater care can be given to the members, do it! They aren’t “your” people anyway, right? Right.
9. You should spend more time in prayer. Spending time with your group members is commendable. Spending time studying your lesson is also important. Doing ministry together as a group is important. But the most important thing you can do is to spend time in prayer. Pray for your pastor, pray for your group members, pray that the Lord protects you from the fiery darts of the evil one.
10. Don’t do anything stupid to lose your position of leadership. In today’s world, someone is always watching. Always. Be mindful of the places you go, the things you look at online, and the words you use in social media. Everything you do is a potential skeleton in the closet years from now, and you don’t want to do anything that disqualifies you from serving the Lord. Too many ministers have learned this the hard way, and lifetimes of schooling, experience, and wisdom have all been erased instantly by a misspoken word, a lapse in moral or financial judgment, or some other reason. Finish the race you’ve begun. Don’t disqualify yourself. The church needs godly men and women now more than ever. Be strong. Be smart. Be one of the ones the Lord commends when He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Church Leadership

August 31, 2020

5 Questions to Ask Before Relaunching Groups

By Chris Surratt

The thought of launching anything right now may seem daunting, but we shouldn’t let a pandemic stop discipleship. We may not be able to all gather in person this fall, but we can still meet and study the Bible.

Ken Braddy, LifeWay’s director of Sunday School, and I recently hosted a free webinar on launching and relaunching groups in the fall. Here are the five key questions we discussed.

1. WHY LAUNCH GROUPS IN THE FALL?

We both agreed that the fall is the best time of the year to launch or relaunch groups.

August/September is normally a growth season for churches as church members return from summer vacations and new people move into the community.

Although this year’s rhythms will look different because of the pandemic, there will still be a lot of people ready for new and old connections after several months of isolation.

Most churches will launch a new preaching series in the fall, which makes it an ideal time to consider a campaign where all of your groups are studying the same thing for a few weeks.

That helps create urgency and excitement around joining a group.

2. WHAT ABOUT EXISTING GROUPS THAT HAVEN’T MET THIS SUMMER? CAN THEY BE RELAUNCHED WITH NEW PEOPLE, OR SHOULD THEY JUST RESTART?

The same momentum that helps propel new groups can help relaunch existing groups.

It’s natural for groups to take a breather during the summer months, and especially during this season of not meeting physically together.

A lot of groups started strong with Zoom meetings then quickly developed Zoom fatigue and stopped meeting.

This fall is an excellent opportunity to breathe new life into those groups by starting fresh with a new Bible study or by adding new people to the group.

Also, changing when or where the group meets can bring new excitement. If the group has been meeting exclusively online, try meeting socially distanced at a park or on the church property.

If Sunday morning hasn’t been working, consider changing to Sunday night or a weeknight. Sunday School doesn’t have to be on Sundays.

3. WHAT ARE THE BARRIERS TO THINK THROUGH FOR GROUPS MEETING THIS FALL?

Childcare issues are already at the top of the list for most groups, but they’re especially important now.

It will be some time before parents will be comfortable with leaving their children in close proximity to other kids, so you may have to stop offering group childcare for a while.

I’m a big proponent of having food options at a small group meeting. It helps people start to feel comfortable quicker, and who doesn’t love food?

However, how you offer the food may have to change. My small group will normally have a buffet style of snack offerings with a line of bowls and community dipping spoons for each. That arrangement will no longer be acceptable.

Some teachers will be slow to return to the classroom. Older teachers who have pre-existing conditions may not be comfortable serving in more crowded pre-COVID conditions.

Some will return slowly, and others won’t return until there is a vaccine. This means we’ll need to recruit and train new leaders.

Do you have time to deep clean your house or classroom before group every week?

Guidelines for restaurants reopening call for thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting everything between every customer. That includes door handles, tables, chairs and menus.

Are you prepared to offer that level of cleaning for your group each week? People will expect it.

4. WHAT ABOUT VIRTUAL/ONLINE/HYBRID GROUPS? IS THAT A LONG-TERM STRATEGY?

Both Ken and I agreed that online—or some type of hybrid group strategy—is here to stay.

Not everyone is going to be comfortable attending physically right away, and some group members may be in the most at-risk demographic and should not attend until there is a vaccine.

Now that people are accustomed to attending online through Zoom or Hangouts, having an option for people to attend virtually is wise.

The virtual option is especially wise for Sunday School. Because of the success most groups have experienced during initial COVID-19 sequestering, the Zoom experience will transfer to on-campus classrooms.

Teachers will use iPads, laptops, or smartphones to broadcast live via Zoom. This will allow absentee members and guests to continue meeting with a group when work, play, or illness takes them away on Sundays.

5. WHAT IS A GOOD TIMELINE FOR A FALL LAUNCH?

First, determine what leaders are coming back for the fall so you know how many new leaders you will need to recruit. Make sure to think about online and in-person groups.

Next, schedule your next training online. Even returning leaders will need training on new methods and curriculum for this season. Facebook Live or Zoom webinars are tools you can use for your training sessions.

Finally, fully plan out your “Plan B.” What happens if you start with groups meeting together physically, but circumstances change and they have to move back online?

We have the luxury of some experience now, so this is the time to get a comprehensive plan in place for leaders.

This article first appeared in FactsandTrends.net.

Group Answers Podcast

August 26, 2020

Church Leadership

August 24, 2020

Congratulations: Your Church is Now a Church OF Small Groups

By Chris Surratt

One of the most common questions I receive from church leaders is: “How do we make our church a church of small groups instead of a church with small groups?”

For clarification: A church of small groups is typically not program driven. They’ll have the basic ministry options of worship, kids, students, missions, and groups.

Groups aren’t competing with a menu list of options for congregant’s time and attention.

Small groups are the best option for community and discipleship opportunities.

A church with small groups will typically offer a long list of ministry and event options for congregants to be involved in.

Groups may be on the list, but they are considered one of multiple ways to find community and be discipled through the church.

In this last scenario, small groups will lose the battle for time and resources almost every time. People are naturally going to choose the path of least resistance when it comes to growth.

Larger group gatherings and events are easier to get in and out of than a small group of people gathering in a home or classroom on a weekly basis.

So, if you’re hoping to move toward less programming and more connecting, then congratulations! Thanks to the current coronavirus pandemic limitations, almost every church is now, or will be soon, a church of small groups.

At the time of this writing, coronavirus cases are soaring around the United States, and many states are now stepping back in their reopening plans to hopefully flatten the curve again.

Several churches had moved to in-person gatherings again, only to have to move back to online only after outbreaks in their communities.

This will further force churches to re-examine discipleship paths and the role of groups in them. Now that we know small groups have to be the priority going forward, what do we do now?

1. DON’T PLAN TO GO BACK TO WHAT WAS.

I don’t think any of us truly knows what life will be like on the other side of this pandemic, but I bet we can agree that it won’t be the same.

People are learning new habits and rhythms that will change how we offer ministry in the future.

For example, online groups are here to stay. There will be in-person groups in the future, but the last few months have proven that digital community can work when it needs to.

We need to approach our online strategy the same way we do our in-person one.

2. HIRE OR DESIGNATE AN ONLINE GROUPS DIRECTOR.

Now that we have established that online community is here to stay, it will need intentional leadership to flourish.

This is a new frontier for most churches. You don’t have to find someone who has a computer science degree or a digital background, just a strategic thinker who’s willing to learn and adapt.

3. REEXAMINE ALL OF YOUR CURRENT RESOURCES FOR GROUPS.

I’m old enough to remember when compact discs were first introduced. Until then, all of my music was either on cassette tapes or records.

I still recall the moment when I first heard the clean, crisp (some would argue—too crisp) sound of digital audio.

I started immediately switching my audio library from analog to digital. We’re at that moment with our libraries of resources for groups.

All of our training, communication, and studies have to be digital friendly. There will still be in-person opportunities for all of these, but online will become the priority.

4. UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE.

Connecting people through your website can no longer be an afterthought or an additional connection point. It’s now the first step for a majority of people inside and outside your congregation.

How easy is it to find a group from the first page? Can people get connected to a group with a minimal number of clicks? Are your groups consistently updated so people aren’t trying to join non-existent groups?

5. RECRUIT DIFFERENT KINDS OF LEADERS.

Offering online groups opens the door to potential group leaders who wouldn’t have stepped up before.

Not having to worry about having a host home, providing childcare, traveling to the group location, etc., takes away a lot of barriers for people.

If you have a role description for your group leaders (and I strongly recommend having one), create two versions now for in-person and online groups.

This will help you think through the type of person to pursue as you recruit your new leaders.

Just because our churches may not be gathering in mass every Sunday doesn’t mean we should stop meeting.

We actually have more environments for intentional discipleship now than ever before—now that we all have churches of small groups.

And what’s more, we can equip our churches of small groups with timely resources. LifeWay has partnered with various Christian leaders to share messages through their Bible studies that can speak to needs now. To tackle doubt, try Help My Unbelief. As we face dissatisfaction and questions on where we can find happiness, explore The Good Life. As we become more engaged with the cause of justice, seek out The Church and The Racial Divide.

A version of this article first appeared at FactsandTrends.net

Group Leadership

July 20, 2020

Five Reasons We Need Unchurched People in Our Groups

By Dwayne McCrary

After the Spanish flu pandemic, believers expressed a renewed interest in Bible study groups. We can certainly see why today! We miss the community found in the company of other believers. Talking through a Bible passage and listening to how others receive the truths found in that passage encourages us to process the passage further and gives us food for thought. We come to understand that our questions and doubts may be close to normal. The value of these groups is seen further through time spent praying with one another in person.

However following the Spanish flu, some began to see Bible study groups as places for believers to be nurtured and moved away from groups built for all people including the skeptic, searcher, and non-believer. People who are not yet believers need to study the Bible and we need them to be in our groups. Here’s why.

We need the dialogue. The longer we live as a believer, the more likely our friends will be believers. We begin to talk in “believer” terms and lose our “unbeliever” dialect. Losing some of that language is a good thing, but we must still find a way to communicate with unbelievers. We are called to share the gospel and we need contact with unbelievers to do so. Keeping our Bible study group open to all people puts us in a position to share the gospel more readily.
We need the accountability. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul called on them to imitate him as he imitated Christ (11:1). The Corinthian believers needed someone to show them what a follower of Christ looked like and Paul was willing for them to examine him. By placing himself on this pedestal, Paul was making himself accountable to all who were looking to him as an example. We need to know others that need an example and we need the accountability to be such an example.
We need to remember. The longer we live as a believer, the more likely we are to forget the guilt, the search, and the sense of lostness that comes with being separated from God. Losing that sense impacts our gratitude for the cross and the salvation Christ provides us. We need to always be mindful of the grace granted to us.
We need to be challenged. We sometimes get comfortable with our beliefs and rarely revisit them. Being around unbelievers will lead us to explain why we believe what we believe. Doing so will help us refine and sharpen our beliefs, while keeping us from becoming complacent about what we believe and why.
We need to learn to love. We are directed to love our neighbors, all of them. The best way for breaking down a “them” and “us” mentality is spending time with whomever we consider to be “them.”

The believers in Bible study groups that purposefully remain open to all who join gain a great deal from the presence of unbelievers. Believers need those who don’t yet follow Christ to be in our Bible study group just as much as they need to study the Bible for themselves.

Dwayne McCrary leads some teams that create ongoing Bible study resources at LifeWay including Explore the Bible (goExploreTheBible.com). He teaches two groups in his church (one for empty nesters and one for three year olds) and is an adjunct professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City.

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