Well…it is Thursday night and the gang is gathering again. Not sure what will happen, things are pretty open and agendas are floating. We are trying to understand what it means to be church right now…right here. There are between 12-16 adults who meet here each week for study, prayer, worship, care, and to dream about reaching others for Jesus. But it is so much more than that. I have this vision that from this group leaders will arise who in a short time will be hosting their own cell group in their home or in the homes of others. How big is this vision? Really big! Huge! It has come all the way from Korea to Bogotá, Columbia to a little town in Central Pennsylvania. I am sure I am not the only person in North America who has this vision. I am sure God is giving it to many other people. It is about cell groups which are what some would call "closed." What this means is that we are going to limit the number of people who can attend this cell (and all others), because we are convinced that the span of care (the number of people who can be discipled, mentored and coached for success) is between 8 and 12. So we have decided to adopt a method from South America (G-12) and keep the group closed, choosing to equip each person in the group to host their own group of 12 as soon as they sense God giving them okay.
Ten years ago, I would have not have suggested this direction.
Successful small groups attract people. Soon what was a small group is a mid-sized or large group. Ten years ago when I was pastoring two rural congregations, I was promoting the divide and conquer method of small groups. (See my book If It Can Happen Here –Abingdon Press, 2002 ) For example…When your group gets to 10, begin planning to "birth out" a new group. Train people (a host, an assistant leader, an assistant host) and when you begin to grow, you will be able to start another group. While great in theory, the execution of that process was disastrous. I fully recognize the problem was mine. I had not equipped people with the thought that multiplication was the goal. I also did not have a mechanism to help people build loyalties to each other and then abandon those loyalties as they were sent out to form new groups. I recognize now that this theory went against my internal DNA and my sense of community. I am very loyal to people and the people in my inner circle (cell) are the most important people in my life next to my family. We are "iron, sharpening iron" with each other. We care for each other, pray for each other, and feel like family. I can't imagine developing these loyalties and then ripping them apart. So the G-12, with its foundation in longevity appeals to my internal DNA. But I am also wary of developing dysfunctional relationships of dependence. So we keep before us the mission (that all might know Jesus) and the vision (that with cell multiplication we will soon be up to our eyes in deep, meaningful, transformational relationships whose goal is that others might know the wonderful love of Jesus).
But what do you do if you host open groups? You have to take care of the size issue. All too often the big mistake small groups make is they pretend size doesn't matter. Or they are so excited that they are growing, they can't see the wall coming at them at 60 miles per hour. So the growing group goes from 8 to 14 to 20 to 25 to 6 in attendance. Of the 25 at the peak of the group, 19 of them are now convinced that small groups won't work today. What the 19 found was too many people, too little care, no time to talk, and therefore no reason to be there.
There are three ways I see small groups handle the size issue in a "normal" sense. One way is the leader who gets a group started, and when the numbers get large that leader takes some with him/her to start a new group. The second way is the group that reaches 12-15 people and a small group (5 –7) who have similar interests, branch out to form a new group. The third way, and the most rare, is the small group that splits down the center intentionally to create two equally equipped small groups. I have seen all three of these models work. I have also seen many people drop out during the birthing process.
In the new model I am working with, the original group will stay together for a long time: until God calls them out (or calls them to the home office). The purpose is to train leaders, embed the DNA, fractal out new groups as fast as possible to involve as many as possible as we can train leaders, embed the DNA and ….. The point of all of this is to accomplish the mission (Great Commission) in our time, in our lives, in this place. Think multiplication not addition. Here is the real difference: each person is being equipped, challenged and expected to be a leader. Each person who has become a part of the 12 knows the purpose is to form other groups of 12, to learn/coach the 12 in his/her group, and to duplicate that in 6 months. At the first group we have 12 people involved. At the second circle there will be 144 people and at the third circle out from the core G-12 you will have over 1700 people. Let me stress that this IS about quantity. "Look. The fields are white for harvest." -Jesus
Open vs. Closed - Pro and cons:
- Open groups attract more, avoid dependency issues, require less commitment, and you can always revamp, rearrange, or in other ways exit the group as you have need.
- Closed groups can be cliquey, inbred, hostile, and pre-occupied with their own little world. If they lose sight of their mission, they will stagnate and die, and it won't be pretty.
- Open groups get too large, face resistance about "birthing new groups", have fluctuating attendance, and if not committed to birthing, will also stagnate.
- Closed groups which are mission driven, and which, like the G-12, have the expressed purpose of each participant leading their own group, stay crisp, focus on the basics (mentoring, discipling, sending) and are always dealing with new people, new groups, and helping each person find a place to belong and a place to serve.
Sure…some of you might be in a congregation which has used one of the other methods of doing small groups or cells. Perhaps they are working well…perhaps not. Perhaps our brothers and sisters from South America have a model which might be more effective than what we are currently doing.
What matters is not the number of people in the cells. What matters is how many small groups are up and running. What matters is not whether your model is open or closed. What really matters is how many people are encountering the love of Jesus Christ and drawing close to him.
Please email me with comments of what is working or not working where you are. (Jeff@something-different.org and check our website too www.something-different.org)
1. Cesar Castellanos, Successful Leadership in the Government of the Twelve.
