Several months ago our Senior Associate Minister asked me to give him the definition of small groups in our church. I struggled with his request. You see, years ago, this church, and most churches across America, had a pretty tight, concise definition of small groups. It went something like this: "A Christian small group is a voluntary, intentional weekly gathering of 3-12 people, led by a trained leader, meeting in a member's home for mutual edification, Bible study, prayer, fellowship, evangelism, service, leader development, and group multiplication." To go along with this definition, we put together rigid policy manuals along with highly structured organizational charts. After all, that's what all the small group books said to do.
Yet the writers of Scripture seem to stay away from such tight definitions and structures. We know a few things for sure about the church: The believers (a various number of them at different times) met regularly (the word daily is used often in the New Testament) in homes (as well as the Temple courts, beaches, riversides, roadsides, mountaintops, gardens, upper rooms, courtyards, jail cells, and undoubtedly other places as well). The early church could be described better relationally than organizationally. Some structures and systems were indubitably in place, but they were not all that evident. Discipleship happened in and through relationships.
I have come to a place and time in my ministry where I just want to simplify everything. I don't want to build a small groups ministry so much as I want to help people connect in life-changing community. I've learned over time that every body needs a skeletal system for support, but if you can actually see the skeleton, the body is not healthy; it's malnourished. When people see the small group ministry at our church, I want them to see the body of Christ in action - all kinds of different parts of the body all in graceful action together.
So we are transitioning our small group ministry (which we call "Life Groups" at Northeast Christian Church here in Louisville, Kentucky), getting rid of some of the "structural requirements" that only served to hinder ministry in the past (for instance, we recently gave all our coaches their "pink slips" and replaced that structure with a more relational "Peer-to-Peer" Huddle concept … but that's for another article).
We have begun forming more new groups around affinities, interests, and needs. (We always had some affinity-based groups in the past, but they were considered more the exception to the rule than a "normal" group.) We still have many geographic-based groups, and now we promote more of a freedom of expression, opportunity, and creativity. In other words, we do not dictate geographic groups or affinity groups, homogeneous groups or heterogeneous groups, generational groups (i.e. parents of preschoolers) or intergenerational groups. We let people decide. (If this all sounds familiar to you, perhaps you have also read Ted Haggard's Dog Training, Fly Fishing, & Sharing Christ in the 21st Century.)
This is a big paradigm change for us. It means we are not trying to start groups to meet perceived needs. We are allowing people to form groups that meet their real needs. It also means we are realizing that many people are already in groups; they just have not recognized them as Life Groups yet. Our job is to simply say, "This could be a Life Group," and then help them to bring God and some intention into these groups.
Here are some examples of some of our new and forming groups:
Family Life Group
Description: A family group with elementary - middle-school-aged kids who enjoy playing games, hanging out, and studying Scripture together.
Sports Parents and Families
Description: Families with kids who play sports. We'll discuss how to maximize the sports experience of you and your kid, study what God says about raising active kids, learn from one another how to win at sports parenting, attend games together, and build friendships with one another.
Couples Bunko
Description: People 40+ without young kids who play Bunko or other games and study the Bible together as a group.
Singles 25-35
Description: Singles group for men and women ages ~ 25-32 will be starting at the end of July.
Men's Road Biking
Meets: Saturday mornings
Meeting Location: All over Louisville.
Description: Group of men who meet Saturday mornings for a road ride. We'll stop and grab something to eat afterwards.
Men's Motorcycle Riders
Meets: Saturdays
Meeting Location: The roads of Louisville and beyond.
Description: We ride all makes and models (Harley, Honda, BMW …), gathering on Saturday mornings for a ride and lots more.
Men's Cars Ministry Life Group
Meeting Location: Monster Garage
Description: Guys who work mostly on donated cars for individuals or families in need. We meet together at least twice monthly to grow spiritually, help and support each other, pray for each other, and continue to grow the Cars Ministry.
How to Study the Bible
Meets: Every other Tuesday, 9:45 a.m.
Description: We use the New Believer's Bible to grow in our Christian faith together, learning and utilizing various methods to study and apply Scripture, including journaling.
What makes these groups a "Life Group"? This gets back to the question of definition. To answer this, you must first understand that our Life Groups Ministry is a values-based ministry. We have five values, which we teach all leaders and continually communicate in a variety of ways. The values are:
- UPWARD (Connected to God)
- INWARD (Connecting to Each Other in Community)
- OUTWARD (Making Disciples)
- FORWARD (Maturing Disciples)
- ONWARD (Mobilizing Disciples)
A Life Group is involved in living out all five of these values to some degree. Different types of groups will emphasize a different percentage of these values throughout their lifecycle together, but all are core values to them.
I teach our leaders how to utilize these values in their groups. For instance, a group of about six men meet every Friday night to play Poker together. About half are Christians who go to Northeast. I am telling Pat, one of the men from the group, that this could be a Life Group, and, at least conceptually for now, he agrees. We've discussed what this group might do to involve the five values, and Pat believes it would not be a big stretch for them. In fact, he told me, some of those things are already happening; it would simply be a matter of being more strategic and more intentional. I'm looking forward to the incredible ministry that I know Pat and these other men will do together.
I like giving our people the freedom to connect in community in ways that work best for them. Allowing them to form groups around natural ties - whether that's people who like to participate in the same activities, learn about the same things, or have the same needs, or people who are already friends or family or neighbors or coworkers - gives me the freedom to not have to play matchmaker and group starter. I can concentrate on what God has called me to - leadership development and support.
Our new Life Groups slogan is Real Friends, Real Faith, Real Fun! And it truly is "real fun" when real friends are doing real life together and growing in real faith with one another. Real Simple!
