1. Make your group all about you.
When you first looked for a small group, you may have done so in the same way you shopped for a new car or a new refrigerator. You looked for features you wanted, features like the right people, the right location, the right day or time, and the right kind of study or ministry, just to name of few. The problem with this consumer-driven approach is that it puts you at the center, where you do not belong. A healthy group keeps Christ and Christ only at the center. A healthy group is all about him, gathering in his presence, under his power, and for his purposes … not yours. Click here for more about keeping Christ at the center.
2. Make it all about your group.
A second thing many group members do that screw up their groups is they focus only on one another. Yes, the New Testament is clear that we are to bear one another burdens, build each other up, instruct one another, pray for each other, and much, much more, but these things are only a means to the end of God’s mission for us: to make disciples of all nations. I’ve often described a healthy group as a football huddle. We do need to get on the same page and encourage one another when we gather in our huddles, but we do so in order to break out of that huddle to run the plays to win the game. No game was ever won inside the huddle. I’ve seen many groups fall into ruin by never breaking the huddle. Click here to read more on getting out of the huddle to carry out your mission.
3. Make it all about study.
Healthy small groups dig into God’s Word with an eye to apply it to their everyday lives. Because “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). A healthy group will wrestle with God’s Word together, discussing the rock-solid truth of the Scriptures as well as the ups and downs of real life, and then wrestle with how they can better live according to God’s design. Click here to read more about how to make your group a transformational discipleship environment.
