I saw the video below a month ago and our church planting director reminded me of it today. This is a helpful seminar from a gifted communicator on exactly what we have been working through here on the blog and in our Summit Small Groups. Being missional. I encourage you to spend the time to work through this at your own pace. Summit leaders, consider this some mobile training.
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As I mentioned earlier I will be out of touch with the blog for most of August. That said, God is allowing his Holy Spirit to mold my understanding of small group / discipleship ministry deeply. Here at the Summit we just held our semi-annual leader gathering we call FRONTLINE. It was an awesome time of vision casting, prayer, and planning for the fall. Allow me to share a brief exerpt from one of the 3 main session messages. This comes partly from Dr. Bruce Ashford in his talk on Planting Small Groups. (I am summarizing from my notes here so If Bruce corrects me I will edit appropriately). I’ve also added my own language and thoughts in here.
This blog comes as a draft in one sitting so I confess my thought process is not totally finalized here. I need some help from my fellow small group pastors and leaders who read this blog. I do not intend the following question to give disrespect as I recognize I am still learning. After 2 years of battling this I have one looming question with the open vs. closed model of small group:
How can we lead the people in our churches to desperately love our world by seeking to make disciples if the small group they are a part of does not lead this charge? I look forward to your responses and I may return to this to refine my thought some on it.
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Across the small group landscape of America leaders, directors, and pastors in small group ministries are gearing up for the fall. My team and I are no different. We’ve got 2 big events this month: A leader’s gathering we call Frontline and a connection event we call GroupLink.If you are a Summit Small Group Leader, Saturday August 15th you need to be at our Brier Creek Campus in the Bay. starts at 8:45.
I am telling you this because I want you to pray for my team and I. I’ve got no hesitation asking you to seek God on our behalf during this critical month. That said, I want to pray for you as well. How can my team and I pray for you? for your small group? for your small group ministry? Let me know via the comment section below. I believe God can change lives through authentic biblical community and your small group can be just that. I want to pray for life change for you and your group this fall. I look forward to hearing from you.
Oh, and like others, I will be more sporadic on the blog this month.
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This series is an edited version of a teaching manuscript the Small Groups Team at the Summit Church used in our first ever “how to plant a small group” seminar held in May of 2009. Read pt. 1 on “Motivation“ , pt. 2: “1. pray and 2. tell people” , and pt. 3 “3.Recruit and 4. Soft Launch.“
Finally! The time has come for all of your preparation work to yield some fruit. If for some reason you jumped straight to this step, oh boy. There is a reason it is the last one. Go back, and re-read. Hard work in the pre-plant stages will yield great returns over the course of your small group life. Ok, having said that here are a couple of things to consider as you plant the group.
The First Meeting
This gathering is so crucial it should honestly be an entirely separate article and training. In fact, you can find that article at spenceshelton.com/the-first-meeting. Hope it is helpful. Summary: Pray, Eat, & less is more. It takes a small group anywhere from 6 to 9 months to really gel relationally so don’t expect fireworks the first time you meet.
Limited initial commitment
Even after the recruiting and soft launch you still have not formally asked for a long term commitment. Invite those present to commit to that short-term time frame you gave them at the soft launch. (see step 4. “details”). Ask them to stick it out for 6 to 8 weeks. This gives people a respectable “out” if for some reason they do not want to continue with the group after that. Don’t worry though, almost always a small group that makes it to 6 weeks is going to want to continue meeting regularly for the next year or so.
Long-term commitment
I’ve seen way too many group leaders miss this step. 6 weeks in, things are going well and you in lieu of rocking the boat the leader does not formally acknowledge the purposes and goals of the group for its future. So the group continues to meet but without a goal in mind. This doesn’t seem like significant to the young excited group, but slowly the group will drift away from being an intentional bible-based Missional community and will become an amorphous collection of friends detached from church life.
To avoid this, consider putting together a covenant for the group members to sign, committing themselves to a certain set of purposes and goals over the next year or so. Ask your small groups coach or staff at your church to help you put this together.
The following questions are designed to help you think through the material above. The goal in working through these questions is to help you set up a plan to plant a small group 2 months from today. Certain questions are directed towards current small group leaders and others towards someone planting a small group. Work through these individually, and review them together with your small groups coach and/or small groups staff.
For Current Small Group Leaders
1. The person most likely to plant a new group out of my group is…
2. I commit to personally invest in this individual through…
3. To see my group plant a new group in 2-6 months, I need to begin preparing my current group starting…
←I———————I————————–I————————–I→
Today 30 Days 60 Days 90 Days
For New Group Planters
1. 20 people least likely to kill me if I invite them to the new group…
2. Based on what I’ve heard tonight, I could potentially launch a new group when?
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Tagged: how to plant a small group, leader development
This series is an edited version of a teaching manuscript the Small Groups Team at the Summit Church used in our first ever “how to plant a small group” seminar held in May of 2009. Read pt. 1 on “Motivation“ and pt. 2: “1. pray and 2. tell people.”
Start with a core group
Its best to have 2-4 people (couples count as one) who will agree to plant this group with you. These are the people who are willing to say “sink or swim I will be with it. And at the end of 6 weeks, if it tanks, the three of us will go to chili’s and have some laughs over it.” You and your core group, once established, are now on a mission to recruit the rest of the members of your group. We discourage you from taking the next step in recruiting before establishing your core. This really is the key element of starting a healthy, stable small group and most likely (though not necessarily) will come from your current small group*.
*One way to establish familiarity in the core group if you are all coming from the same existing group is to “subgroup” for discussion and prayer time. That is, have your core group still meet with the rest of your current group, but separate out into a different room or area for prayer and discussion.
Become intentional in your search
Start thinking about people from within your current small group, from within your campus, from within your circle of influence. Don’t wait on your small groups staff to hand you a list of names. We’ve found people are much more likely to accept a personal invitation from someone they’ve met versus an email invitation from someone they were forwarded to by the church staff. Here are a couple of ideas to help jumpstart your search:
Be strategic in how you talk
If you walk up to someone on your list of 20 and say “I want you to be in a very intimate life-changing small group with me that will meet weekly for the next year and we will share life together” you likely get a restraining order put out on you. Sure you hope your group will develop some great friendships, even life-long ones, but you have the responsibility to meet people where they are. So instead of asking someone to commit to a year long small group the first time you speak with them, just gauge their potential interest. I’ve often asked someone “I’m thinking about starting a small group at my home and was wondering if you’d be interested?” That’s it. No commitment right there. It allows people the opportunity to respond. Whatever you say or do to gauge interest, remember that people are not as excited (yet) about this new small group as you are. Meet them where they are.
Gather socially
Once you have done the legwork of recruiting people, it is time to take the next step in shaping your new small group. From here it is time to soft launch the group. The soft launch is a way for you to gather the people together who are interested in a social setting. The goal here is establishing who is actually interested in participating in your group versus those who may have indicated interest but cannot participate at this time. The soft launch can be one or two social gatherings you initiate over a month’s time to begin building relationships with these potential group members.
Be concise and clear
The “programming” of a soft launch should not be more than 5 minutes and should simply involve you addressing everyone (briefly) acknowledging you are hoping to begin a small group at your home soon and hope those present will consider joining you. You should give brief details and a clear reason why you want them to be a part and then stop talking. Remember, you are more excited than they are and you are bringing them along but they probably aren’t at your excitement level yet. So be excited, but don’t preach a sermon!
The details
Of course if you are going to give details, you will need those details firmed up. Establish an intended launch date. Important: While you need to set your small group meeting on a night available to you, acknowledge that you are open (if you are) to hearing from everyone what day will work best in their schedules. Also, let them know you are not looking for an indefinite commitment. Give them a short-term timetable (6-8 weeks) for them to think through.
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Tagged: how to plant a small group, leader development
This series is an edited version of a teaching manuscript the Small Groups Team at the Summit Church used in our first ever “how to plant a small group” seminar held in May of 2009. Read pt. 1 on “Motivation.“
With an understanding of why we need to plant more small groups, the below are a few steps designed to set you up for success as the leader of a new small group. Please follow these with the guidance of your small group leader and/or small groups pastoral staff.
Too often we tend to jump into a task, especially one at church, without seeking God for wisdom in discerning whether or not this is the season of life to commit to it. If you commit to leading a group at the Summit, we want you to do so only having prayed significantly over it. If your current group leader challenges you to lead a new group, ask him or her to pray with you over the decision. This is not to scare you away from leading, but instead to encourage you in your prayer life. As a group leader we on the Summit Small Groups Team will encourage you towards a rich and faith filled prayer life. If you are not at the Summit your pastoral team at your church will likely do the same. Let me give one caveat: do not spend forever “praying about” the decision to plant a small group. Pray, evaluate your life situation, read your bible, seek Godly counsel from others around you, then act. Since I know I just touched on understanding God’s will, read our lead pastors recent blog on Finding the will of God.
Tell your group
Start this week introducing the group planting concept to your group. Start encouraging your group members to think missionally. Encourage them to pray with you about the next phase in your group plant. Hopefully your current group is having a good experience. What if you could tell them “hey, invite everybody you want to small group.” If your group is maxed out with people, that can’t happen. When you start adding the 15th, 16th, etc, persons to your group, statistics say they will be the least likely to “stick.”
Listen, for an existing group, this is the biggest hurdle. I think we all know this, especially those of us who have done this before. The reason it is a big hurdle: real biblical community is sadly hard to find and when you find it you don’t want to let it go. Your group members fear you are trying to destroy relationships they were created by God to be in. Why would you do that? 2 responses for you:
If you are not currently in a small group, you should consider joining a group before starting a new group. This is the best way to get to know the intent your church has for how its small groups operate. While their will be exceptions to this principle (no group within 20 miles of you for example), and even if you have prior small group leading experience, participating in group life at your church before leading in it will most often prove to be a valuable first step.
Tell your Small Groups Staff
Your small groups staff is set-up as a resource to help you succeed as a group leader. The sooner you enlist their support, the better your chances for success are. They will be able to provide you with the training, resources, ideas, and ongoing coaching you need to develop into a mature group leader. Too many individuals embark on this journey without ever consulting their pastoral team. Often, these same individuals burn out from exhaustion or failure in recruiting, or they drop out of the church because they establish a small group totally disconnected from the life of the church. Neither of these are God’s design for discipleship. Talk to your pastoral team. Again, they are there intentionally for you and you would be wise to take advantage of such a resource!
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Tagged: how to plant a small group, leader development
This series is an edited version of a teaching manuscript the Small Groups Team at the Summit Church used in our first ever “how to plant a small group” seminar held in May of 2009. The purpose of this series, as was the purpose of the seminar, is to equip any Christian man or woman with the basic plan needed to launch, or plant as we say at the Summit, a new small group. The section below discusses the motivation behind planting a small group at your church, and the next 3 installments will discuss at length the 5 steps to take to successfully plant a group: Pray, Tell People, Establish the Core, Soft Launch, Plant.
WHY
The aim of this series is definitely the “how,” the practical steps to take to get a small group up and running. However, much more important than how is “why.” Why should your church try small groups in its discipleship model, why should you lead a group, and most importantly why should you lead a group that is always looking to plant new groups. For most of the answer to this question I will gladly defer to Pastor C.J. Mahaney and his book Why Small Groups? Pastor Mahaney and his staff team at Sovereign Grace ministries infused this work with years of wisdom, sound biblical insight, and great encouragement in such a way that I consider it the most valuable resource currently in print in the small group world. Read it to understand most of the “why”. There is one element I will seek to add to the motivation behind planting small groups as it is a part of the foundation on which we are building our small groups ministry at the Summit Church.
Convictions
We believe God has called us to make disciples of Jesus Christ in all nations (Matt 28:18-20). We believe while mission trips both short and long term have their place, the BEST way to reach a local community with the gospel is to for there to be a thriving local church in that community. The local church is made up of people in the community living and speaking the love of Jesus to their neighbors, co-workers, friends, and families. As we believe Jesus gives life to the spiritually dead and dying, we believe the men and women of a local church are the carriers of that life. Thus, a very real sign of a healthy church is one that is unceasingly opening its doors, seats, and homes for more people to encounter the gospel of Jesus Christ. This was the example set by the early church (Acts 2:42-47) and the example set by most healthy local churches today. We are therefore very passionate about putting this into practice in 2 connected places: Small Groups and church planting.
Small Groups are the front door
We want every small group to see themselves, and not the weekend worship services, as the front door of the Summit Church. We have seen people who would never come to a church service participate in a Summit Small Group. And in time, some of them have become followers of Jesus Christ. To maintain this missional focus, we challenge Summit small groups to always be looking for opportunities to plant a new small group. Why? Not because we want to accommodate growth, we want to be a catalyst for it! When a small group sees planting a group as a duty and not a joy, it takes the first step towards becoming an inward focused holy huddle that can be cancerous to its church. A healthy small group longs to see others come to know Christ and to see those people mature in such a way that they are participating in the great commission by making disciples. Basically, a healthy small group is contagious and growth becomes a joyous side-effect of gospel-centered living.
Small Groups are the lab
Because of our convictions about the local church (see above “Doctrine”) We are very, very passionate about church planting at the Summit. Outside of our lead pastor no ministry has given more input into how we structure our small group ministry than our church planting center. We believe the next generation of small group leaders at the Summit are going to come out of those presently in small groups. Therefore, we want to give them a small taste of the church planting process. This is why we use the language of “planting” small groups. Because healthy churches plant new churches, they don’t SPLIT and Multiply (at least not in the United States). Our church planting team teaches people how to develop a core team to go out with a lead planter to provide support, encouragement, and multiplied influence in the new community. Likewise, we do not SPLIT small groups, we send out a small core team (anywhere from 2 to 5 people) to PLANT a new small group. The steps to accomplish this (seen below in the “how” section) mirror in a scaled-down way the steps a new church planter takes to get his church rooted and established in his new community. So not only do our small groups get to actually taste what our church planters are doing, we are likely to find our next church planters by observing who is thriving in the small group planting model! When we see a small group leader successfully plant a new group three or four times, we may ask him to consider being assessed for church planting because he would pretty much be doing the same thing he has been doing just in a different location.
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Tagged: how to plant a small group, leader development
At the Summit this summer we are in the thick of gathering leader commitments for Fall ‘09 – Spring ‘10. Busy time which is part of the reason why I’ve backed off of the posting for the summer. Dont worry, back in full swing in about 2 – 3 weeks. Below is the link to an article from a small groups pastor I have recently connected with. I think it is an excellent quick overview of the “need to know” for someone getting ready to lead his/her first small group.
http://www.smallgroupexchange.com/Articles/1135/New_Leaders_Crash_Course_by_Adam_Workman
Along these lines, I will be posting a 5-7 part series over the next two weeks entitled “How to plant a small group.” This comes from a group planting seminar we did here at the Summit in late May. But before that, check out Adam Workman’s article linked above. Thanks for your partnership in ministry Adam!
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Tagged: how to plant a small group, Monday on the Links
I’ve neglected my “on the shelf page” so thought today I would dust it off. Every month we are sharing with our staff team what we’ve been reading through. Thought this would be a good chance to share some of that with you. And. want to give you the chance to share back as well. What are you reading this summer?
Books:
Here I Stand
Genre: history / bio
Subject: Martin Luther Bio
Author: Roland Bainton
Page count: 302
Comment: Recommended to me as the best out there on Luther. Bainton does a good job telling the story and not just listing facts. Reads like a novel. 4 out of 5 stars.
Learned: Even Martin Luther needed a host of other people to make his words have any real force behind them. Fredrick the Wise was as crucial to the reformation as Luther was in many ways as he was basically the govenor of Luther’s area of Germany. Lesson: You cannot do it alone. Luther held to doctrinal purity and trusted God by trusting his life to others at times. Love jesus, trust God, and work as a team.
Total Church
Genre: Church Health / Contemporary Bio
Subject: Examination of church fundamentals by British Church Planters
Author: Steve Timmis & Tim Chester
Page Count: 208
Comment: We got a detailed handout on it last staff meeting. I encourage you to go read the whole book. WORTH IT
Learned: There is the gospel and the people of God. The most important thing we can do is be a healthy church. We’ve got to see the church not as our volunteer pool but as the bride of Jesus. Cherish, love, and care for these people.
The Dangerous Book for Boys
Genre: Fun / Parenting
Subject: 2 Dads take on stuff every boy should know
Author: Gonn & Hal Iggulden
Page Count: 267
Comment: John Posey gave it to me when I found out I was having a boy for my first child. Best gift I got. I continue to learn from it.
Learned: I think I blogged recently about this one. More available there. But the other day I learned the 5 essential knots every boy should know. So watch yourself in the hallways as I have a 100ft rope and now know how to use it.
Religion Saves
Genre: Christian Living / Culture
Subject: Mark Driscoll on 9 issues christians have questions about right now
Author: Mark Driscoll
Page Count: 288
Comment: Confess I didnt read all of this one but found it a helpful resource I will go back to for commentary on those issues
Learned: Specifically found some help in the first issue he addresses: Birth Control. Working through that issue right now and found his pastoral tone and insight helpful. Along these lines I recommend Randy Alcorn’s pdf-book Does The Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? which you can download for free online at epm.org.
Sermons: ADVANCE ‘09 – all worth a second listen, but specifically Matt Chandler’s message and Mark Driscoll’s Idolatry message.
Blogs:
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Ok, normally Monday on the links is reserved for good edifying discipleship materials. But today, I bring you one and only one, awesome link. actually, I am posting the text here for security reasons but they live in a large country in East Asia and just recently received their driver’s license. In case you dont know people there drive like madmen & traffic is chaos. Now i know why. Below is a series of questions straight from their test. Oh, and Mutiple Choice Question 2 is my favorite. What is yours? And I begin quote “
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Tagged: Monday on the Links
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