Leave Quarantine with a Stronger Small Group Ministry

Leave Quarantine with a Stronger Small Group Ministry

by | Apr 14, 2020 | Small Group Strategy

The Coronavirus outbreak has produced some unlikely consequences. Who would’ve thought that something that was meant to keep us apart is actually pulling us closer together? Well, forward-thinking small group pastors thought that!

Image by Tony Prats from Pixabay

Churches around the country are reporting a 50% increase in small groups since they started new online groups. Even though people have to stay apart, there is a definite need to be together. These groups are coping with this new normal.

But the problem with any significant uptick in small groups, whether it be a church-wide campaign or the response to a pandemic, is keeping the groups going once the initial effort has subsided. Don’t look at this as a temporary response to a temporary situation. Look at the new online groups as an opportunity to build on something going forward. Here are some things that you can do right now that will help your groups continue once social distancing has been relaxed:

Give Your New Groups a Next Step.

Most groups fail because they are not offered a next step. Whatever series your groups are doing right now, give them something new to start immediately. Quarantine in most places will continue for another 30 days, so groups still have both the time and the need to gather.

When you offer a next step, give new groups one choice. Don’t let them get lost in the choices online. Your goal here is to get them to continue. The only decision you really want the groups to have to make at this point is whether or not they will move forward. Don’t add choosing a study to that decision. You want to keep this simple. If it becomes too complex, then the groups will stop.

Support Your New Leaders with a Coach.

Recruit your best group leaders to look in on a couple of new leaders each and see how they are doing. There will be a lot of ups and downs with groups. Some people are busier than ever, while others are bored as ever. Groups are experiencing various stages of grief: denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance. How are your leaders navigating this? People are dealing with a great deal of stress. Some have lost their jobs. Others are going crazy with their kids at home. Still others are essential workers who are putting it on the line every day. This is an intense time. How are your leaders handling it?

You have to be proactive. But, there’s not enough of you to go around. So, you have to multiply yourself if you want your groups to continue. Otherwise, these big group numbers you’re posting will slip away week by week until everything goes back to “normal.” Why waste the opportunity to keep these groups going? Give them a coach ASAP!
Strategically Plan for Fall.One significant next step for all of your groups is a fall launch or campaign. Give them a heads up now. Tell them where you’re headed in the fall and when groups are going to start. Even if you only have a series title and a start date, this is enough to keep your groups moving forward.

No one is 100% certain how the summer is going to go. My suspicion is that when the weather is nice and the stay-at-home orders are lifted, people will be gone. They will head to the beach, to Disneyland, to the great outdoors — basically any place that isn’t their house. While groups should try to connect in-person or online at least once a month over the summer, your fall series will be the glue that keeps these groups together.

Use the new planning tool, the Exponential Groups Workbook, to map out your fall. This workbook is loaded with templates, exercises, and examples that I use in my coaching. Just having a few of these templates is well worth the cost of the book. By working through these chapters, you will develop a strategic plan for content, leader recruiting, group formation, coaching, training, tracking, and envisioning where your groups can go. 

You can preorder the Exponential Groups Workbook for $12 with free U.S. shipping through Friday, April 17, 2020. When you preorder, you will receive access to the Exponential Groups Summit and downloads of the most popular tools in the workbook. 

The Exponential Groups Workbook contains the following charts, exercises, examples, and templates (by chapter):

  1. Launching – What is a group? exercise, Discipleship Ministry Evaluation, Setting God-Sized Goals, Exponential Groups Launch Timeline.
  2. Aligning – Seasonal Strategies, Navigating Obstacles to Alignments, Nonalignment Season Exercise, Curriculum Production Timeline
  3. Weighing Risk – Risk, Requirements, and Rewards Exercise, Who Qualifies to Lead? Exercise, Mindset Exercise.
  4. Coaching – Coach Job Description, Sample Coaching Timeline and Scripts, Series Sneak Peek Slide Presentation, Sample Sneak Peek Invitations, Prospective Coach Sign-Up Form, 
  5. Recruiting Leaders – Sharing Group Ownership Exercise, Coaching Scripts, Breaking Connection Barriers: 30%, 60%, 100%, Leader Recruiting Timeline and Scripts for Senior Pastors, New Leader/Host Sign Up Card Sample, Sample Series Promotion Script, 
  6. Initial Training – New Leader Briefing Agenda, New Leader Briefing Presentation, New Leader Briefing Packet, New Leader Information Form, New Leader Briefing Sign-In Sheet, 
  7. Connection Strategy – Lego Exercise, Relationship Lists Exercise, Active and Passive Recruiting Strategies Examples, Sample Connection Night Ad, Connection Night Picture, Connection Event Layout and Photo, Sample Small Group Invitation, Small Group Connection Instructions for Group Leaders, Small Group Sign-Up Sheet, 
  8. Sustaining Groups – Next Steps Flyer, Sample Mid-Series Survey, 
  9. Leadership Track – Bringing Back the Requirements Exercise, Small Group Basic Training Outline, Small Group Leader Job Description, 
  10. Coaching and Training – Sample Weekly Training email, Sample Leader Retreat Agenda, Coaching & Leadership Phases Exercise, 
  11. Tracking Growth – Sample Survey to Collect Group Rosters, Sample Meeting Report Reminder, Meeting Report Form, Meeting Report Summary, Monthly Group Summary Report, Coaching Report, Coaching Summary, 
  12. Beyond Alignment Series – Disciple-making Phases Exercise, 

Appendix – Sermons on Community by  Dr. Tony Evans and Pastor Don Wink.

You will read case studies from these churches who have successfully implemented the Exponential Groups strategies.

Ward Church, Northville, Michigan
Vertical Church, West Haven, Connecticut
New Dawn Church, Miami, Florida
Connect Church, Lawrence, Kansas
Hoboken Grace Church, Hoboken, New Jersey
Christ Church, Fairview Heights, Illinois
Rivertown Community Church, Marianna, Florida
LifeBridge Christian Church, Longmont, Colorado

Contributors to the workbook include:

Bay Hope Church, Lutz, Florida
Connect Church, Lawrence, Kansas
Calvary Christian Church, Winchester, Kentucky
Ward Church, Northville, Michigan
Brookwood Church, Simpsonville, South Carolina
Manna Church, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Olive Branch Community Church, Corona, California
Northwoods Church, Peoria, Illinois
ChurchTeams.com
Lutheran Church of the Atonement, Barrington, Illinois
Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, Dallas, Texas

Ready to Jump In? Click Here.

For more information on church online and online small groups, visit onlinegroups.US.

Make Every Group a Healthy Group

by | Jul 31, 2018 | Small Group Coaching, Small Group Strategy

Every small group pastor wants healthy leaders and healthy groups. Sometimes that feels like an unattainable goal.
How do you connect with every leader and every group on a regular basis when you always seem to be putting out fires? Let’s face it – you spend a good deal of time addressing the latest crisis which robs time away from your strategic planning. It’s hard to work in it and on it at the same time.
While you do your best to keep up with your leaders, the reality is there is only so much of you. There are only so many hours in the day. You have a limited amount of time, energy and attention. If you’re like me, small groups are not your only responsibility. You tend to resort to email blasts and training meetings that are half full to invest in your leaders, but you’re always left wondering how you could help your leaders more?
A small group leadership team with coaches to care for every leader would be ideal. But, it’s difficult to build a coaching team when the demand rests in finding a group for the person who signed up last Sunday. When there’s not a group to plug them into, the prospective member has to wait until you can recruit a new leader and start a group. When do you get to think about a coaching structure?
But, let’s say you get a reprieve from the tyranny of the urgent to form a coaching structure. How would you build it? Who would you recruit to coach? What would they do? Those three questions delay most small group pastors from even starting.
Like you, I was very frustrated with coaching group leaders. I have made about every mistake that can be made with coaching, but in the process I’ve figured out some things that have helped many churches like yours.
Let me guide you through a proven way to build your coaching structure that is customizable to your church. I understand that your church is different from other churches. There is a way to have both what works in coaching leaders and what will work for you.
You don’t have to go through the heartbreaks of watching excited new leaders become discouraged to the point of not even starting their new group. You can avoid the aftermath of poorly supervised leaders taking their group away from the vision of your church. The lack of a coaching structure means the problems and issues of your small group ministry is solely your burden to bear.
But, if you took the same energy it takes to recruit leaders and place people into groups and invested yourself in building a coaching structure, your groups would get further faster than you could imagine. More of your new leaders would actually start groups because someone was walking alongside them and offering encouragement. All of your group leaders would be healthier, which in turn will create healthier groups. And, your burden would be lightened. You could actually have the margin you need to plan for the future of your ministry.
In the Coaching Exponential Groups Online Course, I will guide you around the pitfalls of small groups ministry and help you build a coaching structure, define the coaching role, recruit the right people, equip coaches to serve leaders, and disciple your people through groups. In about an hour a week for six weeks, you can follow a step by step process to get the help you need to effectively lead your groups.
Give the course a try. If it doesn’t work for you, then I will give you a full refund in the first 30 days. I will assume all of the risk, because I believe these strategies will help you significantly.
But, don’t just take my word for it, hear what others have to say about the course.
Let me help you make every group a healthy group.
Allen