In launching the Coffee Shop Church, we are striving to build a system for enabling small group leader success. (The Coffee Shop Church is an off-church campus small group network in Lansing, Michigan that reaches out to the un-churched. Our motto is, "Connecting with God in a comfortable place at a comfortable pace." For more information, please visit www.CoffeeShopChurch.com.)
Over the summer we recruited 10 leaders, using announcements on the local Christian radio station. These are busy people who attend other churches, but they volunteered to be Coffee Shop Church leaders because they wanted more out of their spiritual walk with Christ. We formed two "turbo groups," calling them Espresso Groups, and trained them in our approach of leading outreach small groups.
Our major emphasis in training leaders:
- The group is there to provide the leader with a personal ministry.
- The leader's main objective is to care about the group members and their spiritual situation.
- The leader serves as facilitator for the Holy Spirit, who does the work.
- The responsibility for spiritual growth is up to the individual, not the leader.
By keeping the requirements of leading a group simple, we are trying to take the pressure off the leader—and his or her inherent qualities for leadership—and place it on the system. We define this as an "anti-hero" approach. Simply defined: No one should have to sacrifice themselves for the success of the group. This places the pressure on us, the Coffee Shop Church organizers and coaches, to structure the groups to function properly, regardless of who the leader is. This is no easy task.
We are still testing our "anti-hero" approach, making modifications as needed, but we have seen promising results:
- Gina, my wife, stepped forward to lead the training, allowing me to focus on developing the organization. This naturally transitioned into the coaching phase, where Gina coaches the 6 women leaders and I coach the 4 men.
- We have experienced life change inside the leadership group, which affirms that we can create healthy community using our high-accessibility, low commitment approach.
- We successfully split the original group, which grew from 4 to 12 regular attendees in the past 12 months. We have provided a leader and assistant leader for both groups.
June 2003's Inc. Magazine's article, "Why leadership is the most dangerous idea in American business," serves as a primer for "anti-hero" management theory. Author Michael Hopkins made 4 main points, and I use them in applying our "anti-hero" approach to leading a small group:
1. "Ask why you're here. Know what you want. Don't apologize."
This is to say, leaders should lead to get something out of the experience. This sounds selfish, but it's not. A spiritually-hungry leader is better equipped to serve, more enthusiastic about the ministry, and more resilient to set-backs. Why lead a Coffee Shop Church? What is in it for you? We offer our group leaders the opportunity for personal ministry, a required "next step" in everyone's spiritual growth— and that is what our leaders are looking for.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matt. 5:6)
2. Don't ask "how?" Ask "who?"
Initially, we would ask in frustration, "How are WE going to develop the leaders to lead our small groups?" Then we started praying, "God, who do you want to lead these groups?" And so we start looking for other people to do the work. This slight change in thinking brought excitement with each person who signed up for the Espresso training, knowing it is God's responsibility to grow his ministry with the people he has in mind.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,…" (Ephesians 1:11)
3. Embrace the difference between "I am my small group" and "I lead a small group."
When the leader is the group, the group is prone to fail when tasks, time commitments, and/or temptations (i.e., spiritual attacks) overwhelm the leader. (Most Americans are overwhelmed with the busy-ness of life.) Staying true to "WHO, not HOW" leadership, we are pairing our leaders. By this, we are intentionally developing and banking leadership for future needs. This structure provides three benefits:
- The co-leaders share responsibility for caring for group members and running group meetings.
- The on-the-job training continues, and as we add new leaders, the existing leaders receive coaching experience as they coach one another, preparing them for a coaching role in the future.
- As the groups grow and birth new groups, we should have an easier time providing leaders that are familiar with the system, other leaders, and their group members. " Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 8:19-20)
4. Forget Superman. Be a part of something.
The Coffee Shop Church attracts its share of interest for being new, but we experienced a 75% success rate in signing up potential leaders for our Espresso training. We believe it is because we present them with an opportunity to be part of reaching people where they are, and we offer a structure that is built for the average person who has not previously lead a group— not Superman or Wonder Woman. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. (Philippians 3:12)
Please pray for the Coffee Shop Church, which is an on-going experiment in faith, in outreach and in anti-hero leadership. If you would like to follow our progress, please visit www.CoffeeShopChurch.com and sign up for the Coffee Shop Newsletter.
(Group-oriented materials for the Coffee Shop Churches are focused on eliciting discussion, thought, and life-changing action. We used the Amy Foundation's book, The Master's Plan for You, which is excellent for presenting the qualities of a follower of Christ. This book has an evangelistic flavor.)
