Transforming Small Groups

If you are a pastor struggling with small groups, we get that.  We’ve wrestled with it too.  How do we effectively engage the Great Commission, to go and make disciples?

The idea of small groups is not very old.  Basically unheard of in the seventies and much of the eighties, the idea of gathering people together in some form other than church began making its way into the Christian cosmos during the early nineties.  This transition was made possible through the work of Ralph Neighbour.  And much of that work centered on the idea of gathering people together for what essentially became Bible studies. Affinity groups, or people who have a lot in common, would gather together with the intention of going through some type curriculum.

And what typically happened was that people would learn the “right” answers to the questions the curriculum provided.  The assumption being that the right information would change people.  And there is valuable insight in these right answers.  But what would often get lost is the real answers that people were wrestling with and having very little wiggle room to deal with what it meant to be a broken human being.

The Alpha curriculum broken new ground by beginning with neighbors and friends, integrating the meal, asking fundamental questions that people have about the Gospel, and allowing people to actually talk about their answers in a safe environment.  But where did people go after Alpha?  Back to the small group.

And as pastors, or even well meaning leaders, attempted to gather people together, what often started strong with lots of participation, would die a slow death as people dwindled in numbers.  Lots of people would get interested in the beginning but over time someone would miss a meeting or two.  Others would get frustrated and stop coming because so and so wasn’t there.  And the inertia and momentum that had flourished in the beginning was lost.

Great leaders would give countless hours to the start and stop process hoping not to succumb to the burnout.  Occasionally a bright spot would emerge…but it was typically the exception, not the rule.  And when a pastor would step into a group, just to participate, people would grow strangely quiet, waiting for him to talk, assuming he knew all the right answers already.

When the Reveal study came out, people began to realize that our systems are not always designed to teach people how to grow to a healthy independence and ultimately interdependence.  And when people were growing they often reached a place that often left them frustrated.  Most were feeding but not learning how to feed themselves.

We believe that it doesn’t have to be this way.  We believe that Jesus modeled a very simple context for the small group, creating a missional context that engaged people in their own restoration and of the world around them.  It wasn’t about learning the right answers but also about participating in something intentional, meaningful, and ultimately designed for growth.

It was a small group of people who wanted to follow Jesus and engage God’s mission in the world.  It was active and living, dealing with real world and present problems.  It has purpose that was larger than the individual motives of the participant’s.  It was deeply rewarding, creating love and joy, peace and patience.  It engaged people in some of the fundamental problems of what it meant to be human and led them to the answer: love and trust.  It invited people to be Jesus because this is what we were designed to be.

If you are a leader or pastor looking for a way to transform your small groups into something intentional, missional and wholistic, we would like to talk with you.  Contact us today for a free digital copy of our leadership manual.