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Bill Donahue, Ph.D.
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 Willow Creek Association, Exec. Director Small Group Ministries and consultant to Willow Creek Community Church
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Articles by this Author
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Building a Great Coaching System
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Few leaders understand what it takes to lead and build a growing small group structure. We all have some ignorance and few of us ever received training in the area. We resorted to trial and error, and learned along the way.
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Wearing the Spiritual Director’s Hat
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Years ago at Willow Creek, we realized that our small group leaders wear many hats—vision caster, encourager, disciplinarian, discussion leader, and shepherd, to name a few.
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Connecting the Unconnected
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It is always exciting to see a church launch their new small group ministry—lots of enthusiasm, groups starting, new leaders coming on board, a kind of "buzz" in the air. But what does it look like three to five years later? Now what?
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Affinity – Likeness or Commonness?
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People group. And affinity plays a role in how we connect. But in recent years the “affinity group” has come under attack and its viability questioned. Do such groups promote shared ignorance or exclusivity, tearing apart the fabric of biblical community?
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The Emerging Church and Small Groups: What does the future hold?
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It is no secret that there are multiple movements taking place across the kingdom landscape. Only time will tell which ones survive and thrive. One thing is for certain, however, communal life is central to almost all of the current emerging expressions of church life. More intentional than the previous generation, the rising cadre of church leaders consists largely of communal architects, shaping the church into smaller communities for greater missional impact and presence. Not since Wesley’s little bands of the 1700’s, the haystack prayer gatherings of 1806 and beyond (starting from a small group of 5 and launching prayer groups still today), and the Jesus Movement of the 1960’s have we seen such a church-wide emphasis on community.
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