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How to Launch and Transition an Outreach-focused Group
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Making Your Small Groups Models of Evangelism
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What would you guess is the most difficult of the five purposes (worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism) for most of those in your church? If you guessed evangelism, you would be right. Although people acknowledge its importance, whenever I ask people to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, they consistently state that they have the most difficult time trying to live out the purpose of evangelism.
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Out of the Holy Huddles and Into the World
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Frequent moves have left my husband and me far from extended family. In our early years of marriage, I found this very painful. I now realize that the small groups we have belonged to have been our family support network. In many ways we have become closer to people in our small groups than to our own family members because of their availability and compassion. Still, this closeness also has a downside.
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The Makings of a Great Outreach-focused Group
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Organizing or leading an outreach-focused group in a church setting is not for the weak. However, if you have been called and gifted by God for this task, you are in for the ride of your life! Anytime you attempt to bring others into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will experience the lows – and highs – of spiritual warfare.
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Upside-Down Assimilation: Moving People from Outreach Small Groups to the Larger Church Community
We may get invited by someone we know, but many make their way to church communities because of special programs, reputation of the church, or location of the church building. The entry point is typically the large group gathering. For that reason, we have put a lot of effort into making our worship services places that are welcoming to visitors who don’t already have a close connection within the church. For the most part, our worship services and large group gatherings have been the front door of most churches.
But what about when people find their way into the church community first through a relational small group experience?
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Turning Our Group Inside Out
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Becoming ingrown is a natural tendency in Christian small groups. Small groups are usually composed of believers who become comfortable with each other and tend to resist adding newcomers to the mix. The following is a real story of an attempt to break out of this cycle and reach unchurched non-believers.
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