Small Groups

One of the greatest mistakes made by church leaders who want to reintroduce a small group ministry is that they make their first step an announcement from the pulpit. I have talked with dozens of pastors who took this well-intentioned step and it had catastrophic results because those who had a less-than-favorable experience felt disregarded, retired leadership felt dismissed and residual leadership (if any) felt disrespected. There is a critical pre-game plan that must be executed in private before going public. The life-saving practice of CPR offers a helpful pattern to follow.

When an unconscious or unresponsive person is being revived using CPR, it is vital for the person helping to follow the A-B-C steps for resuscitating a person:

1. AIRWAY—Open the airway
2. BREATHING—Breathe air into the opened airway
3. CIRCULATION—Perform cycles of breaths & chest compressions to restore the victim

There are equivalents for each of these steps when it comes to restoring life to your small group ministry. As with actual CPR, it is very important to follow them in order. Many church leaders unknowingly engage these steps in the reverse order (C-B-A), which can have devastating consequences.

The first step in CPR is to make sure the victim's AIRWAY is clear from any obstructions. The one responding to the emergency is to look, listen, and feel for breathing. The parallel for those who are trying to resuscitate community life through small groups is to look for, listen to, and feel out your past, present, and future small group leadership. Conversation opens the airway.

I. AIRWAY—Learn from your past, present, and future small group leadership

1. PAST: Set up conversations over coffee with those who were key leaders (e.g. coaches and longer-term leaders) and significant voices of influence in the past, and ask for their input. It is very important to do the following in each of your meetings:
   
   
   1. Be sincere in expressing appreciation for their past involvement and inviting honest feedback.
   2. Be humble and listen intently to what they tell you.
      
      
   3. Be discerning about who is supportive of you and the attempt to restart the small group ministry. There will be some who express how they are supportive of you but are not personally ready to be a part of re-introducing a small group ministry, and that is okay!
      
      
   4. Beware of those who do not seem to have anything positive to say and use their conversation with you to vent pure negativity. Thank them for their input and move on. It would do more harm to try to win them over. Your goal is not to gain everyone's acceptance and enthusiastic approval. Your goal is to try and get the RIGHT people on your team.
      
      
2. Have phone conversations with the other leaders and volunteers who were involved in the past for a shorter-term (3-6 months). It is well worth the time to interface personally with every past leader, and it will mean a lot to them that you are taking the time to ask. Regardless of whether they are optimistic, ambivalent, or skeptical, you will learn a lot from these people even if they are not ready to jump on board with the new effort. Plus they will appreciate the respect you have shown by initiating communication and inviting feedback.
   
   
3. PRESENT: Acknowledge those who are still involved. Commend them for their commitment, and include them in your future planning. Ask them for their input as well, using the same tips above. Then, invite them to join you for a vision-casting dinner (more on that to follow) that will include emerging small group leadership. Note: If there is present leadership still involved, it is important that you do NOT convey that you are starting up something completely new that is going to replace the past small group ministry. Rather, you are continuing to build upon the foundation of community the Lord has already established. This honors what God has done, and may still be doing through these present leaders, and it shows respect for their continued loving service.
   
   
4. FUTURE: Review your church's master list of members with your senior pastor. Highlight the names of those who have been or are presently involved. Next highlight the names of those you and your senior pastor think are good prospective leaders. As before, arrange sit-down conversations with people you are inviting into leadership roles that carry more responsibility. 1
   
   
   1. Whether you talk by phone or in person with prospective leaders, explain…
      - What you are presenting (tell them that their role is as a facilitator)
      - Why they specifically came to mind as being a small group leade
      - What their group could look like and how it fits into the overarching vision of your church
      
      
   2. Dream with them about possibilities, and give them the freedom of choosing a focus they are excited about (We are all called to be community-builders!)
      
      
   3. Clearly communicate expectations
      - List essential responsibilities
      - Project the time commitment involved
      - Suggest beginning with a shorter duration (3-6 months
      - Request participation in a vision-casting event and initial training
      
      
   4. Clarify that you (or a coach) will be with them every step of the way
      
      
   5. Set a specific time to follow-up
      
      

Before moving onto the next phase of reintroducing a small group ministry, it is important to reiterate a point made in speaking to "PAST" leadership: Get the RIGHT PEOPLE on board with your new effort. You do not want 'naysayers' on your team. It is natural for new or renewing leadership to have questions and even self-doubts, but it is an entirely different matter if a person's heart attitude reflects pessimism, resentment, cynicism, or relentless skepticism.

If your gut tells you an individual has taken an adversarial position against you and/or your attempt to restart the small group ministry, DO NOT attempt to accommodate them. It would be a mistake to try to convince these people to join your effort or for you to feel obligated to invite them onto your team because of their past or present position of church leadership. You will be 2-3 times more effective with a team of three leaders who are of the same heart and mind than a mixed-bag of ten.

As I once heard from Bill Hybels at a leadership conference (paraphrased): "It is of paramount importance at the outset of any leadership endeavor to ensure that you get the right people on the bus with you; and conversely, that you do not start going down the road with the wrong people." Having the wrong people on the bus with you obstructs the airway and renders the next two steps ineffective.

II. BREATHING—Include all the leaders in a vision-casting dinner and training experience

After you have opened the airway by carrying out your pre-game plan with the emerging leadership, the next step in resuscitating the small group ministry is to bring all those who have expressed a positive openness to re-starting the small group ministry together for a special dinner where you cast fresh vision. Use it as a springboard for inviting these leaders into a subsequent training experience. During the initial vision-casting dinner, communicate your church's…

1. Mission and core values
   
   
2. Vision of how small groups will further your church's mission by fueling the growth of biblical community
   
   
3. History with small groups and what you have learned from earlier attempts (based on feedback you have received from a number of leaders)
   
   
4. Belief in the importance of small groups and the benefits that come from them
   
   
5. Current and projected need for small groups to ensure healthy church growth
   
   
6. Renewed definition of a small group
   
   
7. New support structure for its small group ministry
   
   
8. Dream of what the new small group ministry looks like in action
   
   
9. Ongoing plan for training, resourcing, and supporting your new small group leadership community
   
   
10. Love and commitment for everyone present.
    
    

Here are some other helpful pointers: Incorporate a breakout session where people can discuss a few questions with other leaders at their table. Invite people to share questions that you will address during the training. Include a meal and childcare for this special event. Conclude by circling everyone up and commissioning your new small group leadership community together.

The other important part of breathing new life into your small group ministry is hosting an inspirational training experience that includes all of the new and existing leadership. Space does not allow a detailed list of what this could involve (see endnote for more). 2

The third step in CPR involves restoring breathing and sometimes even circulation to the unresponsive victim. Like people, small group ministries can have faint breath or no breath, irregular circulation or no pulse. It depends on the degree of let-down from the earlier attempt at starting or re-starting your small group ministry. It depends on who was involved, who is still involved, and those who say they do not want any part of it.

Take heart. The Lord wants you and the community of your church to experience His resurrection life. Furthermore, He wants the community life of your church to explode and impact your surrounding community. Fundamentally, the Church is the community of God and His people. Therefore, as Jesus builds His Church, He will build His community.

The airway needs to be opened through open communication with past, present, and future leadership.Obstructions to the airway need to be removed by ensuring you have the right people on the bus with you. Next, you start breathing life into the small group ministry by building a unified team of leaders through times of vision-casting and training. If these actions have not been performed, it is extremely unlikely that chest compressions (public communication) are going to regenerate the life-flow of community through small groups.

III. CIRCULATION—Reintroducing small groups as a church-wide ministry through public communication

As mentioned earlier, sometimes church leaders kick off their attempt at re-starting their small group ministry by going public prematurely. Do not circumvent the process of securing and uniting your new small group leadership community in the fresh vision that under-girds your new attempt. Your small group leadership community provides the necessary backbone to this church-wide initiative, especially when there is a history of unsatisfactory results. In other words, you need to have your team together before game time. It instills great confidence in the whole congregation to know the necessary groundwork of preparing a new small group leadership community has already been done.

When it comes to reintroducing small groups as a church-wide ministry, it is vital that the senior pastor joins with the small group pastor/director in communicating the new vision. Earlier attempts at small group ministry that never really took root can oftentimes leave a bad aftertaste that lingers. Hearing the philosophical "why's" directly from the senior pastor and the fresh, practical "how's" from those leading the new effort neutralizes this distaste.

There are a couple of things the senior pastor should not ignore or dwell on, but they are crucial to recognize: 1) The past attempt(s) and the leadership's appreciation for all of those who were involved and 2) The new attempt and how it is different.

As a continuation of explaining the WHY behind small groups, it is also important for the senior pastor to communicate why the church values small groups, why they are so important to the church's mission, and why it is vital for everyone to be involved. These things can be presented in a multi-week sermon series that leads up to the weekend when connection opportunities will be presented. The communication of opportunities for people to connect into a small group may be done by the small group pastor/director once the 'WHY' foundation has been laid by the senior pastor.

The reintroduction of a church-wide small group ministry should be given a place of prominence in the weekend services. This communicates that small groups are not a sub-ministry or optional program in the adult community life of the church. A way to build on this is to present opportunities, verbally and practically, for people to connect into a small group.

Another strategy that helps to dissipate the bad aftertaste of earlier small group ministry shortcomings is to talk about group life in the context of seasons. In other words, say "The first season of our small group ministry will look like such-and-such." This lets the church know you are asking them to begin with a shorter-term commitment. It also affords you the flexibility to change course from season-to-season in order to remain relevant for the ever-changing makeup and needs of your church community.

The other advantage to doing this is that it gives you a "new excuse" to talk about small groups in a big way each quarter. A key principle to ensuring the success of restarting your church's small group ministry is to keep groups in front of your people. Give your newly-fashioned small group ministry plenty of "face time." Advertise new groups, highlight existing ones, and encourage people to connect.Talk about groups once or twice a month in front of the whole church.Doing this shows the value you place on them. People should be able to find a group and connect into it on any given weekend. Never stop talking about how small groups are integral to your church life and spiritual life.

For instance, our church recently introduced a new way for people to connect into our community life by using 6-session DVD-driven group studies we produce in-house that correspond with the current weekend series. 3 We are direct and to the point in telling people why we place such a high value on small groups by succinctly communicating how they are an essential part of our strategy for discipleship. For example, we say, "If you want to grow, it's critical that you're here on the weekends and that you're connected in a small group. In fact, that's what discipleship looks like for us here: Large and Small. In other words, if you want to grow stronger as a follower of Christ and experience more of a closeness in your relationship with God - it involves participation in the large AND small. What that looks like is regularly attending our weekend services and being a regular participant in a small group." We talk about how our DVD group studies offer a way for people to take what God is doing in their lives on the weekends and build on that during the week.

Successful church small group ministries rarely stay the same over time. As an integral part of the church's community life, they too are organisms. A growing small group ministry usually employs a variety of strategies. There is not one tried-and-true strategy that works for all churches all the time.

Restarting an unresponsive person's circulation usually requires some cyclical repetition of breathing and chest compressions. Likewise, there can be some repetition to the application of this third step of CPR to restoring life to your small group ministry by feeding your emerging small group ministry with fresh communication and different opportunities for people to connect 3-4 times a year. The point is to stay creative in helping people to connect and grow together in Christ. Networking with other like-minded churches and sharing creative ideas and resources helps this process.

A person who is revived through CPR does not immediately spring back to their feet and take off running. Similarly, a small group ministry that has life restored to it needs to be nurtured and nursed back to full health over time. It requires care-full and clear communication. It requires consistency in prayer and the promotion of small groups in your church's weekend life. It also requires a united leadership front and an openness to new seasons of community life that connect with your church's mission. That is a lot to expect, but of this you can be sure: If you follow the A-B-C steps for restoring life to your small group ministry, then the odds are strongly in favor of revival.

1. Here are some additional recommendations for inviting people into key leadership roles: 1) Arrange one-on-one meetings with your most highly-committed people and clearly share the vision of the small group ministry first 2) Next communicate expectations and the time-commitment involved for the role under discussion 3) Take the time to build buy-in with these stakeholders by inviting them into the process of formulating the actual roll-out plan 4) Once the core leadership team for the developing small group ministry is formed—host a casual, interactive, and fun brainstorming gathering in a home 5) Involve your key leaders, like coaches, in the training and development of resources; if possible assign each one to a specific category or affinity of groups.

2. Download a free outline from this sponsored and safe link: www.2ormore.org/documents/sample_training_schedule.pdf

3. Download free written and video samples of the current study, "Living In Amazing Grace" from www.southlakechurch.com