On Small Groups
Throughout life generally and ministry specifically I have fought the urge to hop on bandwagons. While new and exciting things are indeed new and exciting, stewardship of life beckons us to the tried and true. Of course, applying that too rigorously will make you vulnerable to missing fresh ways of doing things and at the same time make you liable to getting stuck in a rut.
One area of ministry that has been in both columns (new/exciting and tried/true) is small group ministry. Witness the house church movement of the last decade. Witness the cell group movement of a few decades back. Witness Bonhoeffer’s Life Together written during World War II. Witness… you get the idea: new and exciting; tried and true.
Christian congregations thrive when members connect to other members in small groups.
You can find tons of books that span the generations which explain how to organize and run a small group ministry. In addition to the good instruction material that is available, I want to emphasize five points.
The first four consider key under-reported components to vibrant small group ministry. The fifth calls you to action.
Mix It Up
Many small group ministries organize their groups around natural affinity: stage of life, neighborhood, number of years in the congregation. It seems to make sense that people with little kids will want to meet with others with little kids, or that people who are retired will want to meet with others who are retired. While there is some intuitive logic to that, it is better to mix it up.
With all the talk of diversity, it is good to have diversity within your small groups. Marrieds and unmarrieds. Young people. Middle aged people. Older people. Include people from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. Include people with different amounts of tenure in the congregation.
When our congregation got really serious about small group ministry, we organized our groups around the idea of availability. Who can meet at what time which day? This approach ended up providing an interestingly diverse mix (within whatever range of diversity our congregation had) that has led to serendipitously rich relationships.
Time
Small group ministry is more like baking bread than making pancakes. You can make pancakes fairly quickly, but bread takes time to rise.
This ministry provides smaller communities of care and support within a larger congregation. This serves a keen purpose. Such communities, like local neighborhoods, simply take time to develop. Don’t expect participants in small groups to develop strong relationships instantly. Give them time. Months. Years. Maybe longer. Effective small group ministry calls for perseverance in participation and dogged determination by those who organize it.
(In)Stability of Members
When it comes to small group ministry, expanding the number of groups and at the same time having members in each group grow more deeply connected provides a great conundrum.
I have read books that diagram how to split groups up or hive off leaders to start a new one when a group gets to a certain size. The plans vary in the specifics, but they tend to be very regimented. They also tend not to work. There are not many people who are willing to leave a close small group experience to go start another one. Splitting one in two is only certain to leave everyone at a loss. Besides, if you have developed a meaningful Christian community of care, why would you tear it asunder and start over?
Better to let natural addition and attrition with each group keep the group experience both fresh (we don’t want cliques—small groups gone to seed) and well connected. Like a lake that has both a stream flowing into it and another one flowing out of it remains fresh, not stagnant, the natural flow of a new person or two into an existing group (new congregational member, someone newly interested in a group) as one or two exit it (people move, people die, people have a change in life situation) will sustain freshness and vibrancy for the group and the group ministry of the congregation.
(Having said that, congregations will always need “pioneers” who are willing to start new groups with a fresh group of people.)
Variety of Activities
Make sure your small group engages in different activities. Certainly, gathering together for Bible study and prayer stands as the cornerstone of small group life. But try other things. Go to dinner together. Attend a ball game. Visit a nursing home for Christmas caroling. Take care of a group member’s yard. Take care of the yard of someone who is not part of the group. Adopt a mission project.
The small group that my wife and I have been a part of for nearly two decades still reflects back on the night our group explored a wine and chocolate pairing.
Pitch In
If your congregation already has a small group ministry, make sure you get involved.
If it doesn’t, contact your pastor and see how you can pitch in to help start one. Small group ministry requires intensive volunteer help and leadership. This might be just the ministry that God is calling you to on your path toward significance.
… and there is this…
I am convinced that one of the things that makes effective, broad based small group ministry so difficult to pull off is Satan. Because small group ministry is of such great value to the Church, it becomes a high value target for the Evil One. He stands against such ministry throwing monkey wrenches, fistfuls of sand, and on occasion an ill-timed clogged up kitchen sink. Because he knows its potential for fruitfulness, he seeks disruption. This calls for perseverance.
And prayer.