“This group has changed my life!”
“That’s nothing,” another replied, “This group has saved my life.”
I sat there and silently rejoiced as I heard one teenager after another tell how the weekly gathering in our home has been used of God to make a difference. I was grateful for the impact of a healthy small group in the lives of high school students. I also thanked God for the simple, yet powerful practices that allow God to work mightily in creating a healthy small group.
How come some small groups “have it” and others don’t? Why do some small groups attract and keep people, while others struggle to stay alive? How come some grow and multiply and some do not? Is there some a set of activities a small group can do to improve its health and vitality? What are the common denominators of highly potent small groups? What can be done to increase the probability that a group will grow and multiply?
If such practices exist, are they beyond the reach of the average small group and will they take years to master? Or is there a set of activities that are simple, attainable, and realistic enough that any small group that desires to be healthy can put them into their weekly gathering?
I believe there is an answer to these questions. I have had the privilege of leading small groups and coaching small group leaders for …gulp …almost thirty years. It began when, as a 16-year old public school student, my friend and I we started lunchtime Bible studies at our high school. They “accidentally” grew and multiplied. Then in college I started a discipleship group that spread over the campus. During my summers in college I got to help start groups in little towns in England and in high rises on Manhattan in New York City. When I graduated from college, I started a few groups in rural Virginia. Then I was hired to train, write curriculum, and oversee 300 small group leaders at a large Christian university. Later I started a group in my basement that grew into a church that now has over a hundred groups and has birthed several other churches.
Most of these various groups became healthy. Some grew, and some multiplied, but some did not. Through the years I noticed that the long-range effectiveness of a group revolved around some simple habits practiced during group gathering and flowed over into the week.
All groups need to become healthy. Many small groups deeply desire to grow and multiply, but are not sure how. It is really not complicated at all.
Several years ago I wanted to help the group I led and the many groups I was overseeing become healthier. By studying cell and small group ministry and thinking through my own experience, I identified five practices that made the difference between health and disease, effectiveness and ineffectiveness. I put them into our weekly small group agenda and the results were amazing. A new group of a few teens and myself grew, multiplied a few times and became a ‘supergroup’ of ten small groups ministering to sixty high school students a week.
I began asking the leaders I coached to adopt these habits and build them into their weekly gatherings. Without exception, those who did these habits became much healthier groups. And those who did not…well, they did not.
I am so excited about the simple beauty and potential power of these practices because they really do work. Following the five practices of an effective small group makes all the difference between mediocrity and greatness, between routine faithfulness and dynamic fruitfulness, between stagnation and multiplication. Following them allows God to increase His transformational activity in the group.
The best quality about these practices is that they are doable. Any group can put them into their weekly agenda and begin to see powerful results.
Applying these five practices will take your group to a new level. They are a path to group health and group.
THE FIVE PRACTICES OF A HEALTHY SMALL GROUP
- WELCOME: BUILD COMMUNITY
- WORSHIP: TOUCH GOD
- WITNESS: WIN THE LOST
- WORD: KNOW THE TRUTH
- WORK: SERVE SOMEBODY
Dr. Dave Earley is an experienced pastor, small group leader, church planter and coach. He serves as the Director of the Liberty Center for Church Planting at Liberty University. He is also Chairman of the Department of Pastoral Leadership and Church Planting for Liberty Theological Seminary. He has authored ten books on subjects such as small groups, leadership, prayer, and the Christian life. www.daveearley.com This article is an excerpt from his new book (w/ Rod Dempsey) The Pocket Guide to Leading a Small Group: 52 Ways to Help You and Your Small Group Grow www.touchusa.org