Don’t you love it when a plan comes together!? Perhaps you started a new small group and used a great new curriculum or group agenda to get it started. Everyone loved it. People grew. The group grew. Things went great…for a while. Then it came time for the group to choose the next study focus. How do you follow something that was so life-changing?

If there is one thing that is true about small groups, it is that there are some common issues that happen in almost every group. These can be relatively small in scope, or they can become group destroyers. However, all of them can be avoided with just a bit of planning.

Most life-saving inoculations occur at the very beginning of a person’s life. The same is true of small group ministries. The way we promote small groups influences what people will expect from them and, ultimately, how they will engage with others once they are in them.

Sometimes issues arise in small groups that are best resolved by breaking into even smaller groups. Here are some occasions when shrinking may benefit your group.