Growth

September 24, 2020

Three Signs It’s Time to Start a New Group

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 Leadership

August 20, 2020

Challenging Paradigms

By Group Ministry

By Reid Smith

All of us come to the table with our own experience, biases, and presumptions about what works best with starting and multiplying healthy groups in a church. Over time, paradigms (or ways of thinking) about groups formulate in our minds, which in turn influence the culture of the community being built. This is natural, but should be challenged so that the culture of community in your church is being shaped strategically around informed convictions instead of unchallenged paradigms.

One of the best ways of challenging paradigms is by asking questions. As you search God’s Word and your heart, your paradigms might change or be further solidified. These inquiries are meant to be thought-provoking and are good to process with other trusted leaders whether or not you’ve launched groups in your church yet.

Are you ready to begin building a strategic culture of community in your church? Clear your mind and honestly grapple with these 10 questions:

Do you think of groups as a “ministry” of your church or as the building blocks of every ministry area of your church?
Is there a clear vision for groups? What language does leadership intentionally use to support this vision?
Does your church put more emphasis on joining or starting groups? What are the pros and cons of the language leadership uses to support this emphasis?
Do you consider it to be more advantageous to have a broad/open-ended or narrow/specific definition of what constitutes a “group” in your church? Explain.
What is the primary motivation of getting people in groups (retention, member care, increasing engagement in church activities/volunteerism, spiritual maturity, mission, etc.)? Are other critical things being under-communicated as a result of this emphasis?
On a scale of 1-10 (with ‘1’ being “if I have time and feel like it” to ‘10’ being “a vital spiritual habit I prioritize weekly”), how important do you think your average church member views their personal involvement in a group? Explain.
What are the qualifications for serving as a group leader? Would you consider yourself to have a high or low bar? Explain.
Do you have an ongoing rhythm of equipping leaders once they get started? Describe any gap you see between what this looks like now and what you hope it will look like.
What does success look like to your group leadership? How is it measured and celebrated?
How is growth and multiplication built into the way groups are communicated and stewarded in your church?

It is actually a good thing if you’re walking away from this exercise with more questions than answers. Take time to figure out how the Lord wants you to plant, prioritize, and prune your group life so that Christ-centered community can grow healthy and strong.

If you’re not the Lead/Senior Pastor, then find a way to process these questions together, agree on responses, and document them. This will establish and maintain a strategic culture of community that will start and multiply healthy groups throughout your church moving forward.

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.

Group Leadership

August 6, 2020

Leadership Investment Rhythms

By Group Ministry

By Reid Smith

Intentional investments made over time into developing group leaders will empower them to create healthy environments where biblical community can grow. This requires meaningful touchpoints in different ways with enough frequency that leaders feel known, loved, included, and challenged and they continue learning and growing.

Different leaders need different kinds of care. This care will look different for each leader based on their experience in leading groups. There are repeatable investment rhythms you can easily put into motion to build relationships for healthy leadership development. A group leader will fall somewhere on the spectrum of new to experienced. For simplicity sake, we will only look at these two general categories:

New leaders typically want time to interface with you in person and be connected with other leaders. They are helped by a higher frequency of touchpoints that are more personalized. You want to love on these leaders and provide ample attention and direction, especially within the first few months as they begin leading.

Experienced leaders typically prefer a lower frequency of touchpoints that don’t require as many in person meetings. They need to know you’re there and care, but they don’t need the same level of engagement as new leaders. Keep these people in the loop and show your appreciation for them.

NEW	EXPERIENCED
Pray for them regularly Call or text 1x/mo* Meet in person 1:1 or group format 1x/1-2 mos Send email or note 1-2x/mo Visit group twice in first 6 mos Be available as needed	Pray for them regularly Call or text 1x/mo Meet in person 1:1 or group format once per semester Send email or note 1x/mo Visit group 1x/yr Be available as needed

* Weekly frequency during their initial training & up through their first study

The concept of “span of care” applies as the scale of your group leadership grows. For example, let’s say you have eight group leaders. You’ve built relationships with them over time and have been able to provide the necessary care, but you want to do more. About this time, four new leaders emerge out of these groups who are eager to launch their own groups.

You quickly realize that you can’t maintain the same level of care with your first wave of leaders and also pour into the next wave. To meet this growing demand, you select one of your most capable and available leaders to function as a “coach” and invest into half of your experienced leaders (4) and half of the new leaders (2). Instead of your span of care becoming unmanageable at twelve, you equally divide care for the whole group of leaders between you and your new coach resulting in a 1:6 span of care.

Keep in mind that span of care is an elastic concept in practice. For example, coaches with greater margin and leadership competency can care for a greater number of leaders. Yet, it is important to continually assess what level of care leaders need because even the most experienced leaders face personal crises and challenges in group life that will require greater investment at times.

Occasionally, you and your coaches should plan to substitute an in-person touchpoint with a half-day retreat or conference that will develop your leadership community. There is an array of top-notch content available on demand for this type of setting. Adding variety into how you invest in your leaders will help guard against these rhythms falling into ruts.

The table above can serve as a rule of thumb to help you determine what healthy investment rhythms should look like in your church as you assess the maturity and specific needs of your group leadership.

Group Leadership

July 30, 2020

Three Ways to Overcome During Difficult Seasons

By Deborah Spooner

What does it take to be an overcomer?

As you launched your groups at the beginning of this year, you likely had certain goals set—solid ideas of what success would look like and hopes for conversations, relationships, or service opportunities that your group would progress toward as meetings continued. Then, challenges—as they always do—arose.

Yet, the challenges of the past several months have exceeded even the typical trials of life. A pandemic is causing chaos. Many are dealing with the long lasting economic consequences. Churches are facing difficult decisions for reopening and are seeking how to best serve as the body of Christ. Groups are facing childcare challenges amid social distancing. Mental health is a growing concern. Relational dynamics are being pushed to their limits.

Yet in the midst of this difficulty, we all have opportunities to overcome. As your group members work through external challenges that often pose internal struggles, here are three ways you can step in to help.

Ask Core Questions

As circumstances around us reveal deeper realities transpiring within us, you have the opportunity to have crucial conversations with members of your group. They might realize they are struggling in particular areas: relationally, emotionally, or spiritually. Questions they’ve grappled with beneath the surface about God, purpose, or their identity might now be on the forefront of their minds. Asking questions such as “What are you learning about God in this season?”, “What sin is God revealing to you during this time?”, “What thoughts and questions are taking up a lot of your time?”, or “In what areas of your life do you feel defeated?” can lead you towards Christ-centered conversations, gently helping your leaders dive deeper into how the truth of the Bible can help us overcome weakness.

Remember Brokenness

Many group members may feel discouraged, defeated, overwhelmed, purposeless, or tractionless during this time. In a lot of ways, many of us are coming face-to-face with the simple reality that we are not in control. Even though we might have believed we could control our next hour, day, week, or year, it has been made clear that so much is beyond our grasp. This can make us feel helpless and broken, unable to succeed in loving others, in our jobs, or in our ministries as we once did. However, we can remind our group members that this brokenness is human and points us to the Perfect One—Christ. He can show us the way to overcome. Instead of focusing on our failures and brokenness, we can overcome through turning our eyes to the truth of what Christ says about us and how He enables us to face each day.

Pursue the Overcomer

Even when much seems out of our control, we can still choose how we spend our time and where we fix our thoughts. Encourage your group members to overcome the challenges of this time through pursuing the Overcomer by spending time in the Word and in prayer. Challenge them to join with one or two other group members (even if virtually) for prayer, Bible reading, and accountability whenever possible. Encourage them to memorize key verses that can fill them with hope and strength throughout the day. Challenge them to set reminders on their phones to stop and pray throughout the day for their own situations and for others in their group. The best way to overcome is to consistently seek out the Overcomer who sought us first.

Even though this season is challenging, there is hope. Overcoming is possible. Through whatever means possible, encourage your group not to lose sight of this.

If you’d like additional resources on core questions of who we are and how to Overcome (where some of these ideas are expanded), check out the two Bible study resources below. These are available as DVD kits with teaching sessions for group use or as digital video sessions for group or individual use.

Overcomer Bible Study

Many people feel they are less than who God says they are. We get our identity from our careers, our political positions, our roles in the family, and a number of other lesser things. However, when we understand who God is, we more fully understand who we are. This small group study uses clips from the film Overcomer to examine how we determine our identity and how we can find our true identity in Christ (5 sessions).

Defined Bible Study

When you introduce yourself to someone for the first time, you have an opportunity to define yourself. You disclose your name, profession, and interests. These factors help our culture define us, but are those answers enough? There are bigger answers our culture can’t answer: Who am I? Why do I matter? And before asking, who am I? You must first answer, who is God?

The Scripture teaches that we are all made in the image of God. We do not define ourselves–the Creator does. We were all created to be known and loved by God. Once the answers are clear, we can move forward and discover all God has called us to be (8 sessions).

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.

Group Leadership

July 16, 2020

8 Keys for Building a Community Culture

By Group Ministry

By Reid Smith

Culture is something you feel. Every group of people and organization has a distinct culture. It’s the water in which you swim when you’re hanging out in an environment or with a group of people. It’s what you experience through all your senses when you are gathered with others who are included in it.

You, for example, are experiencing more than just coffee when you sit inside a Starbucks. There is a culture that has been intentionally and artistically created to entice customers to return and build brand loyalty. Although our motivations differ, church leaders want people to return and consistently engage in community life for infinitely more important reasons.

Pastors love it when people say their church feels like family. It’s always a win when folks say they feel like they belong and enjoy connecting with others each week. However, most leaders are not conscious about all the factors that contribute to this. The DNA of culture must be deliberately molded, and just like a potter with clay, it is best to do this at the very beginning of a new work.

Regardless of where you consider yourself in building a community culture in your church, here are eight keys I’ve discovered along the way that will help in this process:

Discern God’s plan for building community in your church and reaching your surrounding community with the power of the good news. It’s safe to assume the Lord is already at work building His church where you minister and your primary job is to figure out how that’s happening. Invariably, it will be a community of two or more people pursuing Christ together. So how is God already moving in your midst to reach the lost?
Decide together with your core leadership team how everyone will prioritize community and relationship-building. How will each one live it and lead it? The involvement of pastoral leadership in a church’s community life is the linchpin to the ongoing growth of biblical community. There is no substitute for what the most influential and visible people in the church model and advocate, particularly on the weekend.
Don’t allow groups to be viewed as another ministry program/department of the church or as something that good Christians do. A programmatic paradigm can be lethal to the life of organic community. It is not groups that we’re after ultimately…it’s what happens in groups. Biblical community empowers believers and churches to function as the body of Christ should (Rom 12:4-5; 1 Cor 12:21-27).
Dedicate resources towards building community. Invest time, energy, and money into the leaders and resources that serve as the life source of community in your church. By virtue of resourcing this area of your church, you will be enhancing all areas. There is no shortcut to healthy ministry that flows out of healthy relationships.
Discover who is gifted in communications and beat the drum of community every chance you get. You want to show and tell people what you believe about the importance of biblical community in their spiritual growth and well-being. Use all forms of communication: platform, print, digital, visual, and stories to convey what God is doing through the community life of your church.
Design a community life calendar and include no less than three church-wide opportunities per year for people to get plugged in. Present new ways for people to get connected in new types of groups. Feature existing groups and new group startups in your weekend announcements, website, social media platforms, slides, etc.
Determine that every event you host or program you run will be used as an opportunity to help people take their next step toward greater engagement in your church’s community life. Churches tend to pour a lot of time and energy into planning events but the next step for people to take is an afterthought. Flip this. When events are built around a clear next step, more people are inspired to actually do something and you’ll see measurable fruit from your organized activities.
Devote yourself to building a community culture. The journey will be filled with successes and setbacks, but stay with it. Study churches that do it well and read books by leaders who are community building champions themselves. Attend groups conferences and take staff and key volunteers with you. In other words, be a learner and take others along with you. Never settle.

This is all worth doing wholeheartedly because healthy spiritual relationships are essential to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 John 1:7, 3:14, 4:20). Furthermore, when spiritually lost people come to a loving community, they tend to come to Christ (Acts 2:47; John 13:34-35; 1 John 4:12). Building a community culture is not optional for a church that wants to advance God’s mission in the world and these keys will help you and your team in the process.

Church Leadership

February 28, 2020

6 Ways to Overcome the Imposter Syndrome

By Group Ministry

By Aaron Earls

Most church leaders can recognize the damage prolonged doubt can have on their ministry.

It’s hard to lead people in following God when we’re struggling with significant doubts about who He is and what He has done for us.

However, many church leaders wrestle with doubts about God while not recognizing it as such or even seeing it as humility.

Many of us deal with “imposter syndrome,” which is feeling like a fraud who doesn’t belong in your position or have the competency to continue there.

We believe we are completely inadequate, and we just hope no one else notices.

Yet we fail to see such feelings as doubting God’s sovereignty in placing us in our current role—be it senior pastor, church staff, small group leader, or simply an influential member.

God’s role in situating individuals is not limited to Esther being made queen “for such a time as this.”

The same sovereign God placed you where you are. No amount of imposter syndrome can change that.

But as you sense those feelings stir in your mind, consider these tips for overcoming the imposter syndrome.

1. Recognize who deals with it.

The most basic lie associated with the imposter syndrome is that you and you alone are feeling this way.

Everyone around me seems to have it all together, but I’m struggling to get through the day.

In reality, virtually everyone feels like a fraud—at least occasionally. Some researchers have estimated 70% of the population confronts such feelings.

2. Note when it most often occurs for you.

Different situations are more likely to spark feeling like an imposter more than others. Keeping this in mind can help you better prepare for it.

Maybe you often feel like an imposter in the middle of success. For some, it may grab you right after a failure. Embarking on a new assignment may spark it in others.

3. Remember past victories (and failures).

More than likely you’ve achieved success in a related area in the past. You’ve probably also failed before.

Yet you’re still here and someone has enough confidence in you to place you in your current situation.

It’s important to remember how God has used you before and been faithful to you through those tasks, regardless of how well you did.

4. Clarify expectations.

You may feel overwhelmed but having a better grasp on what’s expected of you can help alleviate fears that fan the flames of the impostor syndrome.

Ask questions to determine exactly what needs to be accomplished to prevent your mind from running wild with expectations that may be impossible to meet.

5. Talk to someone.

We can be our own worst enemies. Talking to someone else can grant us better perspective.

Sharing our mental burden with others is biblical and beneficial. Simply turning those thoughts over in our own mind often allows the imposter feelings to fester.

Those we talk with can remind us of many of the previous steps in dealing with feelings of inadequacy. Others deal with similar feelings. We’ve faced similar situations before. Our imaginations are running wild.

6. Rest in God’s grace.

Church leaders can spend a lifetime teaching about God’s grace to others while failing to internalize the message themselves.

In fact, church leaders are often the most likely to miss out the freedom God grants them for the tasks He has given them.

As we approach kingdom responsibilities, we can feel the weight while forgetting that Jesus promised His yoke would be light.

We don’t have to be perfect. Christ has already accomplished that. We can move on to simply walking in obedience.

Ultimately, God has sovereignly placed you in your current situation for your good and His glory. Even if you mess up, even if you feel like a fraud, He will never leave you or forsake you.

Aaron Earls (@WardrobeDoor) is online editor of Facts & Trends. This article was originally posted here.

Church Leadership

February 25, 2020

Genocide From Suicide and The Church’s Response

By Group Ministry

by Evan Owens

Suicide rates have been rising in nearly every state year over year for the past decade. Last year, over 47,000 Americans died by suicide, bringing suicide onto the infamous list of the leading causes of death. The American Association for Suicidology (AAS) estimates that there were 1.1 million suicide attempts in 2016. That translates to an attempt every 28 seconds.

We are experiencing the first-ever, self inflicted genocide. We are killing ourselves at a rate so astounding that it has caused the average life expectancy to decrease in America. In other words, statistically speaking, we aren’t living as long as we did twenty years ago. Fewer babies are dying at birth and people over the age of 80 are living longer, but drug abuse and suicide are skewing the data to paint a tragic picture.

Suicide is the second most common cause of death for ages 15-24, second only to accidental death. Those most common to die by suicide are white, middle-aged males. Your banker. The CEO of the healthcare company down the road. The guy in the pew next to you who lost his job last month.

Something has to be done – but what? How should the church respond to this epidemic?

We must continue to restore the value of human life.

As Christians, we believe that God breathes life into every living being. Genesis 2: 7, “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” This life has value simply because of the one who created it. It is a masterpiece, created to do great things. Psalm 8:5 says, “Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”

Our existence cost God greatly. Romans 5:8, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The value of human life is rising for the unborn. Despite what you may hear or read on social media, the battle to protect the unborn is being won in large, due to the efforts of evangelical Christians. In 1990, over 1.4 million babies were aborted. That number has steadily decreased and projections show that by 2020 there may be less than 500,000 abortions. Christians are restoring the value placed on human life inside the womb.

We must deploy similar tactics and passion in an effort to stem the tide of suicide. Those who have attempted but not completed suicide must be given platforms to share their stories. We must remove shame and instead learn from their experiences. The goal is not to glorify the attempt but rather to inspire prevention.

We must talk about perseverance and give opportunities for it to be developed.

Suicide prevention is only part of the equation – and in my opinon – the less vital part. Romans 5:3-5 says, “Not only so, but we[a] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Catch this: in order for hope to be produced, we must first persevere through suffering. Remove perseverance and hope is lost. This is where the Christian message can flip this conversation on its head and offer a significantly different viewpoint. Scripture doesn’t say to avoid suffering, but rather to embrace it and let it produce something good in you.

As a culture we are losing our grit. Hard things that were considered part of the human experience are now being seen as illnesses to avoid. We seek comfort and wellness above all else. This is evidenced by a booming wellness industry and recording-breaking growth in pharmaceuticals. But while this search for more comfort allows us to numb the feelings that come along with hard experiences, it also robs us of their fruit. When we bypass the pain, we bypass the hope.

As contradictory as it may sound, the path to hope comes through experiencing pain, not avoiding it!

As Christians encountering those who are suffering or experiencing suicidal ideations, we shouldn’t make their life harder. But we should work to help them see the small victories. These small victories rebuild hope. We should encourage them that hardship doesn’t have to crush them, but instead can make them stronger.

We must all become first responders

It would be wonderful if heart attacks always happened in the emergency room, but they don’t! That’s why CPR is such a valuable skill to have. Every person who knows CPR has the ability to save a life with just a little bit of training. Imagine every Christian knowing trauma CPR or mental health CPR. How many lives could we save?

We aren’t all counselors, but we can all learn trauma CPR. Together, we can lead the broken-hearted to the Healer. The city on the hill becomes most visible during the darkest of nights. When people are suicidal, the city on the hill should be a beacon of light and life, offering hope to those who need it most.

Evan Owens currently serves as the Executive Director of REBOOT Recovery. He is certified in military ministry and has personally facilitated trauma recovery groups for over 350 combat veterans and military spouses. REBOOT is a non-profit that helps veterans, first responders and their loved ones to heal from the moral and spiritual wounds associated with service-related trauma.

Church Leadership

January 28, 2020

Increasing vs. Multiplying Your Small Group

By Reid Patton

One of the great blessings of Christian community is the depth of relationships that we experience. People I have been in small groups with have supported me through some of the toughest seasons of life—helped my wife and I move four times, provided meals for us when I came down with the flu for a week, supported us when my wife was recovering from the birth of our daughter. During a recent health scare, the amount of prayers that poured in through text messages, phone calls, and emails from people I live in community with was simply astounding. In community, I have seen the Scriptures come alive to people in such a way that families and lives are changed to the glory of Christ. I believe Christian community is so valuable because I have felt and experienced the value when I needed it the most.

When we experience these benefits, our natural inclination is to dig deep and hunker down. Relationships of this depth are hard to move beyond. And that’s a good thing! That means we are embodying the type of Christian community we find in places like Acts 2:42-47. Men and women connected to Christ and devoted to each other. However, the person we don’t spend a lot of time thinking about is the person who is not there because he or she isn’t connected to a small group.

According to Dr. Thom Rainer, people who become involved in a group in a church are five times more likely to still be plugged in five years later. Small groups make a significant impact on long-term discipleship. We should want to see people find the same type of support, grace, and encouragement we have found in Christian community. To accomplish this, we must begin to value the people who are not there as much as the people who are.

Leaving groups to start new ones is hard. Once we have put in the hard work of fostering community, who would want to leave? To see the value of new groups, let’s turn to the first small groups that ever existed in the Book of Acts. In his history of the early church, Luke regularly provides us with status reports to let us know how things are going. We first find these reports in Acts 2:47 and 5:14 where Luke describes how the Lord “added” to their number. Yet when we get to Acts 6:7 we see the same idea but with one critical difference: ^“So the preaching about God flourished, the number of the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7, HCSB).

The difference is the word multiplied, which is a different word both in English and in the original language of the New Testament. Added means “an incremental addition.” This is what happens when we stay in our same groups and continue to accept more and more people. Multiplied refers to exponential growth, meaning the disciples were making disciples who were making disciples and the church exploded.

Some of us have become so comfortable in our own group that we cannot imagine leaving, but starting new groups breaks down barriers because it places new people on equal footing—the group is new, so everyone is new. Starting new groups fulfills the Great Commission mandate to “make disciples” (Matt. 28:19-20) by providing new avenues for disciples to be made.

If you want to create a culture of disciple-making in your church, the best way to accomplish this goal is to focus on multiplying the number of groups instead of increasing the number of people in groups. Take your groups and start to multiply for the glory of God in your community and in all nations!

Reid Patton is a Content Editor for the Custom Content Team at LifeWay Christian Resources, where he produces biblical small group studies for Discipleship In Context and SmallGroup.com. He is the thankful husband of Kristen and proud father of Ceile and serves with the Life Group leadership team at the Church at Station Hill in Spring Hill, Tennessee. In his free time, Reid likes reading and going to record stores. You can find him on Twitter @jreidpatton.

Church Leadership

January 27, 2020

Reporting Progress on Actionable Goals

By Dwayne McCrary

When we think about the actions we track in our Bible study groups, those being asked to carry out the actions need to know we notice them. Recognizing others is one way leaders communicate that it is not about me but about us as a group. We beats me every day.

Once we have decided what to track (see post on what to track), we have to determine what we will do with the information. Here are some questions we need to ask that will help us.

Who needs to know?

This may come as a surprise, but not everyone needs to know how we are doing when it comes to what we are tracking in our Bible study groups. Does a lost person need to know that 50% of the people in the group are engaging daily in the Bible? Making this information available to everyone including lost people could open the door for questions that turn into stumbling blocks: Why are half of the people not looking at the Bible daily? If the Bible is really important than wouldn’t they all be reading it every day?

The persons expected to carry out the action are the ones who need to know.

What do they need to know?

The purpose of tracking something is to give a picture of what is happening. We are not trying to shame them, but give them an honest picture. They need to know the good and the bad. They also need to know how the action impacts the big goal and purpose. If people are sharing the gospel with others then that should impact the number of people believing in Jesus and being baptized. Connect the dots between the two actions showing how one impacts the other.

Don’t forget to tell the story when appropriate. If a person is baptized and they were on a person’s prayer list, include that information if possible.

When do they need to know?

They need to know as soon as possible. Knowing sooner than later encourages them to continue or helps them take corrective action sooner. (Tip: If the groups meet prior to a worship time, try to include a report of the actions being tracked before the worship time concludes.) Accuracy also matters at this point. Being quick but inaccurate undermines the setting of a goal in the first place.

How do they need to be told?

Straight forward is better than hidden. Be truthful and report what is known. If 30 people report that they are praying for a lost person and that is one metric you are tracking, then share that number with the entire group being expected to pray for a lost person.

So many mediums exist for reporting. Pick the way that is used by the most number of people being expected to carry out the action. If everyone being asked to pray for a lost person has a cell phone, then share the report as a group text. Some other options are a group announcement, printed handout, or a centralized graphic (digital or static). Keep in mind who needs to know when selecting the how.

What are you tracking this year and how do you plan on communicating what you are discovering to those expected to carry out the action?

Dwayne McCrary leads various teams at LifeWay that create ongoing BIble study resources for adults. He also teaches two weekly ongoing Bible study groups in his church and is an adjunct professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

6 Ways to Overcome the Imposter Syndrome

2. Note when it most often occurs for you.

3. Remember past victories (and failures).

4. Clarify expectations.

5. Talk to someone.

6. Rest in God’s grace.

Genocide From Suicide and The Church’s Response

All Ministry Sites

Digital Resources

LifeWay Network