I've stopped telling our small groups they need to multiply or birth their groups.
That might sound odd; I've been encouraging and envisioning leaders to multiply themselves for years. I teach and write on this topic regularly. Multiplication is a natural, fundamental principle of life. Throughout Genesis, God says, "Be fruitful and increase in numbers (multiply)." Jesus' marching orders for His church involves multiplication. What happens to a family or any other organization that does not multiply itself? It dies!
So why do I not stress multiplication of groups at our church anymore? Because I think it emphasizes the wrong thing. Yes, we need multiplication of groups, but that is simply the byproduct. I want to put the emphasis on the process, not the final product.
So we are working diligently to teach the discipleship process to our group leaders. The purpose of every group is discipleship, and every group leader is called to be a shepherding disciple-maker. The process is simple: Disciple ? Develop ? Deploy. My reasoning is this: When people are growing in their faith—when they are being truly transformed spiritually—the natural next step should be for them to step out and lead others. Why? I can think of at least two reasons, a Biblical one and a developmental one:
1. The Bible describes a process of spiritual growth that results in leading others, teaching others, and bearing fruit:
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. … Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity (Hebrews 5:11-6:1, my emphasis).
The writer of Hebrews is making a huge connection here between spiritual maturity and leadership. It is simply assumed that if you are becoming a mature follower of Jesus that you will step out to lead or teach others.
Jesus said, "My true disciples bear much fruit" (John 15:8, NLT)! This seems rather straightforward to me: if you are not bearing fruit, you're not really His disciple.
Stepping out of our small groups also means stepping out of our comfort zones. Most American small groups can be described by the 7 Cs: comfortable, careful, calm, cozy, content, casual, and cliquish. Jesus calls us to something totally different. Truthfully, I tire of hearing people say, "We love our group; we don't ever want to leave." Somehow these folks have forgotten the mission to "GO and make disciples …"
Jesus made it clear that being His follower involves a cost. He said that following Him must come before our families, jobs, money, everything. Jesus' apostles left everything to follow Him. Jesus said, "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12:25).
Following Jesus means sacrifice. Jesus spoke about taking up our crosses and following Him. If you've seen The Passion of the Christ, you know what carrying a Roman cross meant. Jesus calls every one of us who has decided to follow Him to live sacrificial, surrendered lives, to die to our own selfish desires, to our own dreams, to our own plans.
Jesus made a shocking statement in Luke 14: "Anyone who does not give up everything He has cannot be my disciple." Again, Jesus' words cut to the heart. Following Him is costly.
That costly call applies to our community as well as our individual lives. It can be described by another 7 Cs: courageous, contagious, committed, commissioned, caring, carrying, and Christlike. Small groups do not exist for community. They exist in community for the mission Jesus called us to: making disciples.
As small group leaders, we absolutely must be discipling our people—seeing them grow spiritually to the point where they are able to—no, where they can't help but to—step out and lead others. That's our challenge!
2. The best way for individuals to continue growing is to step out and begin teaching or leading others.
A new Christian grows like crazy. Getting into a small group spurs on that growth. The growth curve looks like this:
After awhile, however, that growth usually begins to slow down a bit and eventually the growth becomes incremental at best. Their spiritual development becomes plateaued:
Individuals can remain in this plateaued state for years—attending small group faithfully every week and considering all this normal. But it's not. To begin to grow spiritually again, these people need to step out of their comfort zones. They need a challenge that will spur on their growth and make them rely more on God's power. Anyone who has ever stepped out on faith to do something that stretches them: speaking in public, sharing their faith, or leading a small group, for example, discover that they grow more than they ever had. Those who teach others always claim that they learn far more than those they are teaching.
The best thing you can do for your group members is to get them out of your group! Disciple them, develop them, and then deploy them so their growth curve looks like this:
I love the description of small groups as "leader breeders." When the emphasis is on discipling people in groups, new leaders will naturally result. That is, when those groups move from comfortable and careful to courageous and contagious. As Abraham Maslow said, "You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety." Let's choose forward and onward!
NOTE: I have written a booklet called Onward, which provides a simple 14 step process for developing and deploying small group members into a small group leadership. For information, contact me at micmac@smallgroups.com. Or just send $4.00 (which includes shipping) to Michael Mack, 8702 Hickory Falls Lane, Pewee Valley, KY 40056.
