By Allen White
How will your small group ministry look different a year from now than it does today? Where will the new leaders come from? How will you fill the groups? How are you preparing to coach and train your new leaders? How will next year be any different?
I was talking to a small group pastor the other day. The conversation seemed eerily familiar. As the pastor explained the current status of their groups and the church’s goal for new groups, I pulled up the notes from a conversation we had two years ago. It was the same conversation – same number of current groups, same goal, same plan, but no progress. This was not the first time. I hear pastors from around the country with hopes and dreams of a stellar group year only to discover these were the unfulfilled hopes and dreams from previous years.
This would lead me to believe one of two things. Either pastors should stop talking to me (I hope not), or there are many more churches who are stuck than I had imagined. Are you stuck? My groups were stuck for seven years before I figured out how to grow the groups beyond 30% of our adults.
Recently, I had a conversation with a senior pastor who was informed by his small group pastor that there would be no new groups for the Winter semester. Obviously, this was quite a blow. How could he have a full time staff member who wasn’t producing any new leaders? The net of the conversation was that something or someone needed to change. Yikes!
Join My 12 Months to Small Group Success Webinar (or read on).
Set a Goal
But, let’s not get stuck on being stuck. How many new groups are you trusting God for in the coming year? Here’s a simple formula:
Start with your Average Adult Weekend Attendance
Subtract your Current Group Members (everything you call a group at your church)
Subtract Members of Other Studies or Groups (other classes, Bible studies, Sunday School, Midweek study, or similar)
Net Potential Group Members
More than likely your potential group members are attending the weekend services, but are not involved in anything else. Notice that I exclude people committed to other types of Bible studies, because what they are doing is working for them, and most likely they won’t add another group.
Now, out of your potential members, how many new groups will you trust God for in the next 12 months? You can simply divide the Potential Group Member number by 8 to get your number. You might increase or decrease that number if you choose. Bottom line: Set a number. Now, let’s make a plan.
Prepare to Meet Your Goal
Take your new group goal, how many group leaders do you need?
Who will they be? Church members? People you know? Anyone who is breathing and willing?
Where will they come from: existing groups, personal invitations, your pastor’s invitation in a service, where?
When you get them, how will you help them get started?
If your groups grow by 20%, 50%, or more between now and next year, how will you prepare for that? How many new leaders do you need? How many coaches do you need to recruit and train between now and then? How will you connect more people into groups? What happens if you church doubles in the next three years? How will you manage that?
While you can never predict the exact number of groups and leaders you’ll have in the next year, you can prepare. What and who will you need to meet your God-sized goal in the next 12 months? How about your senior pastor? Senior pastors promoting groups and participating in a group is a huge factor in gaining new groups. How can you get your pastor more interested in groups?
Join My 12 Months to Small Group Success Webinar (or read on).
By now most churches have launched their small group semesters, series, or church wide campaigns. Some churches have seen dramatic growth in their groups. For others, their numbers are about the same. And, for a few, their overall group numbers are down.
Regardless of where you are, I can help you take the guesswork out of groups by guiding you in how to recruit new leaders, engage your senior pastor, form longer lasting groups, and develop your coaching and training structure. The strategies have been proven by over 1,500 churches in North America. In just the last 7 years, churches who received this coaching have connected over 125,000 people into groups. God has done some pretty amazing things in these churches. Is your church ready for something like this?
Join me for the 12 Months to Small Group Success Webinar on Thursday, March 1 at 1pm Eastern or Tuesday, March 6 at 2pm Eastern. Click here to register.
I hope to see you at the webinar this week!
God bless,
Allen White
Taking the Guesswork Out of Groups
AllenWhite.org
