Imagine calling out everyone with the gift of evangelism to begin a "Going Group" that would encourage other groups in your church to share their faith! Imagine calling out everyone in your church with the gift of mercy or service to begin a group-based "Helping Hands" ministry! The possibilities are limitless! A small group ministry is a strategic means of unleashing the latent power of the spiritual gifts that God has placed within your church body.
Oftentimes, a church's database will contain a history of service and/or the spiritual gift profiles of people in the church. This information can be used to identify areas of interest or spiritual gifts in order to create new ministry teams and groups. Small groups can be created around the affinity of spiritual gifts and can serve as the catalyst for new ministry initiatives based on valuable information contained in the church office.
A gift-based group provides a context for the proliferation of defining moments, which emerge from the synergy of similar gifting and shared passion. In other words, life-transformation results from people's spiritual gifts coming to the surface.Commonly, this transformation takes the encouragement of somebody who is like-hearted. God reveals Himself through spiritual gift deployment. This is why Paul refers to a spiritual gift as the "manifestation of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:7). When a small group is used as a "situation room" or "brainstorming center" for ministry and mission, it breeds activities and conversations that allow the Holy Spirit to do His work.
This scenario is exciting because people are likely to respond to things that tap into their dominant spiritual gift(s). In fact, a person's spiritual gifts are usually closely aligned with their calling and can help to further define their calling. This creates great energy in a group's initial gatherings because people tend to be passionate about what they are called to do. There will also be a sense as to who should lead this new affinity group, or at least good candidates to lead, based on responses to an invitation to meet and discuss possibilities.It is nothing short of awe-inspiring to watch someone realize that their gifts are part of the Lord's plan, and that by using them with a focus on serving Him, they can fulfill the life God wants for all of us.
One challenge in taking this approach is communicating with the church body about gifting in sufficient depth that the church will catch the vision and the potential. It is also important to develop a database of the collective gifting within the church to help evaluate opportunities and potential contacts. You can address both issues by teaching about gifting in your core classes and by including a gift assessment activity.[i] (A suggested process for creating gift-based groups is offered at the end of this article.)
Start these groups with a discussion of realistic tasks in which they can engage together. The tasks can be efforts that address needs within the church or community. It is important to ensure three things:
- The initiative discussed has a definitive ending point in mind. It is okay if it becomes something that is ongoing, but give people a 'trial run' to begin.
- It needs to be clear who the leader is for the emerging group or ministry team. It would be good to spontaneously appoint this person in the presence of everyone assembled.
- Develop a plan for reporting the outcome of a completed effort to the larger church body in order to encourage the formation of other gift-based groups.
Groups or teams are not necessarily being organized to address current ministry needs within the church body. What you are doing is implementing a highly relational strategy that starts with what people are already gifted to do and passionate about doing. You are creating externally focused ministry by helping people recognize need that they may not have discovered without the call to activate their gifts for Christ.
For example, a member of your church could be an entrepreneur in using the Internet in business. He offers a workshop that is open to the community in "Making the Internet Work for You." In the workshop, he introduces himself as a member of your church and shares how he was prompted to do what he is doing because of the small groups in your church. At the end of the workshop, he offers an opportunity for people to sign up for a 3-6 week group that has a theme related to the workshop's focus. In this case, maybe this short-term group could be: "Using Technology to Strengthen Your Family and Faith." Other members of the church could be invited to be a part of this short-term shared interest group in order to create a forum that is encouraging the mixing of seekers and believers. All along, he is up-front about the intent of the workshop and the group, sharing his hopes for the people attending.
Another possibility is creating a "Hope & Action" small group that is team-led by those with spiritual gifts in mercy and evangelism. Make the initial meeting informational, and then invite people to sign up for a two-session group, which leads to a short-term team that is focused on raising awareness in the church about HIV / AIDS.[ii] Another step beyond this is to form long-term action teams from those attracted by the initial gathering that will provide care for those who are HIV-infected.
Being proactive in identifying ministry opportunities will allow us to be missionally strategic in our response instead of reactive to the so-called 'tyranny of the urgent' that ordinarily arises within the church and is directed overwhelmingly to the needs of existing church members. This will inspire a subconscious shift from a foxhole mentality to being a visible and active force that is prepared and ready for engagement.
Gift-based groups are a way of mobilizing God's people to reach the neediest, and in so doing, they meet Christ face-to-face (Matthew 25:31-40). Planting life-giving community in the midst of need by launching gift-based groups is responding to Jesus' call to love Him by loving others. As believers are meeting the needs of others, they feel closer to Christ – much more so than when they are focused on their personal needs being met.
One way to expand on this idea is to create strategic partnerships with local parachurch or volunteer agencies. For example, if a church wants to reach out to students on a college campus, it is more prudent to work with those who have been doing so versus trailblazing an effort with an inexperienced team. It becomes a matter of identifying a point person with the heart and the appropriate spiritual gift mix to contact the leader of an on-campus Christian ministry (i.e. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship) in order to develop a cooperative outreach effort.
This approach has several benefits, a couple being: 1) You are blending your church members with those who live in the world you are wanting to reach and 2) You are providing a local church fellowship where student believers and pre-Christians can attend and grow together. Small groups can be formed around this new initiative when relational traction develops between those who are reaching and those who are being reached. The shared information and resources will allow your church to use the inroads already made into the community and subculture to reach people with the Good News.
We are directing people into gift-based initiatives using small groups in hope that life-giving community will be built. Use your church database for the administration of ministry, but be sure to dream of how you can use it to ignite a missional community. Equip fellow workers within the church, and encourage partnerships outside of the church with the vision of reaching the whole world with the whole Gospel.
New ideas for ministries will emerge by inviting people into dialogue about things that are in their heart to discuss and do for God. New partnerships can result in new ministry initiatives that are effective in producing new believers. People who would have otherwise not had contact with the people of God will be touched as a result of the Body of Christ being called into action together.
A Suggested Process for Creating Gift-based Groups[iii]:
- Survey or collect information from your church's database (records). Offer a list of spiritual gifts, and people can indicate which ones they believe they have based on their heart and experiences. You can be more specific by using a spiritual gift assessment that can help people confirm the gift-mix they believe God has given to them.[iv]
- Compile information collected and categorize it on the basis of spiritual gifts. For example, group everyone with the spiritual gift of evangelism together, everyone with the spiritual gift of shepherding together, etc.
- Invite each group with the same dominant spiritual gift to gather together for one evening at the home of a key leader or at the church.Use this opportunity to brainstorm. Do not make the mistake of assigning tasks or projects; avoid leading them with early recommendations. Ask them to dream about their dominant spiritual gift in action. What does that look like? Let the vision of their gifts being used for God define the content of what happens in this first gathering.
- Your job is to provide guidance as to how this initial gathering can continue as a short-term small group (3-6 weeks) based on their feedback. After group participants experience the excitement of being creatively engaged with others who share their passion, they will likely want to continue in the group after its first term. The group could evolve into a long-term small group that is focused on meeting needs in the church or in the community. Whatever you do, let its growth be organic.
[i] Like Saddleback's CLASS 301 where participants develop a personal profile based on their unique S.H.A.P.E.
[ii] For an example of material that can be used see Willow Creek's Hope and Action DVD Kit at willowcreek.com.
[iii] This can be done as a church-wide initiative or introduced through a pilot phase with part or all of your church's existing volunteer base.
[iv] For help and ideas in doing this, check out these online spiritual gift assessments: www.churchgrowth.org/teamministry and http://buildingchurch.net/g2s.htm
