Turn Your small groups upside-down
FROM: GROUPMAG.COM / BY: RICK LAWRENCE
Do you have a sneaking feeling your small group ministry has somehow slipped out of gear—things seem okay, but the depth of impact you expected just isn’t there? Here are four high-octane ways to get that ministry engine roaring again.
What role do thriving small groups play in an effective youth ministry? A few years ago I asked Doug Fields—pastor to students at Saddleback Church, group columnist, and author of Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry—what it was like to work at the It Church of our generation. He smiled, shook his head, then told me that almost every week he had youth pastors from all over the country asking to come hang out with him to glean the secrets of his success. Bad idea, he said, because Saddleback’s “secret” to success—the engine for its growth and impact—is its small group ministry.
Idea-hungry visitors, he told me, would see a creative and engaging large group gathering, but they’d quickly get bored following him around to his Taco Bell appointments. His volunteer small group leaders were the rubber-meets-the-road ministry leaders at Saddleback.
And that makes perfect sense. Jesus chose 12 to change the world. He influenced the crowds (and in many cases infuriated them), but he used his small group to bring deep, life-altering impact. Saddleback’s example is just one more reminder that Jesus knew what he was doing.
But the small group environment is just that—an environment for ministry. Smallness alone doesn’t produce fruit. That’s why, several months ago, I recruited a team of youth ministry experts here at Group to offer a small group “makeover” to a youth ministry near our headquarters in Colorado.
>>CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW THEY DID IT
Do you have a sneaking feeling your small group ministry has somehow slipped out of gear—things seem okay, but the depth of impact you expected just isn’t there? Here are four high-octane ways to get that ministry engine roaring again.
What role do thriving small groups play in an effective youth ministry? A few years ago I asked Doug Fields—pastor to students at Saddleback Church, group columnist, and author of Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry—what it was like to work at the It Church of our generation. He smiled, shook his head, then told me that almost every week he had youth pastors from all over the country asking to come hang out with him to glean the secrets of his success. Bad idea, he said, because Saddleback’s “secret” to success—the engine for its growth and impact—is its small group ministry.
Idea-hungry visitors, he told me, would see a creative and engaging large group gathering, but they’d quickly get bored following him around to his Taco Bell appointments. His volunteer small group leaders were the rubber-meets-the-road ministry leaders at Saddleback.
And that makes perfect sense. Jesus chose 12 to change the world. He influenced the crowds (and in many cases infuriated them), but he used his small group to bring deep, life-altering impact. Saddleback’s example is just one more reminder that Jesus knew what he was doing.
But the small group environment is just that—an environment for ministry. Smallness alone doesn’t produce fruit. That’s why, several months ago, I recruited a team of youth ministry experts here at Group to offer a small group “makeover” to a youth ministry near our headquarters in Colorado.
>>CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW THEY DID IT
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on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 at 7:57 p.m..
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