I was recently asked this question via email from a church leader in Canada: There has been some question in the past at our church about how long a group should be together. A thought had been to “shake” things up or break up groups on purpose and in doing so that it would help. My opinion is that it …

What are the purposes of vision and mission statements? Are they important? Should a small group have vision and mission statements? I’ll answer those questions in a moment. But first I’d like to share a series of mission-related tweets I posted a couple days ago: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore stay on …

How is your group doing at restoring biblical community? Use these 7 questions in your group to help you answer that question. Ask your members to assess your group using a 1–5 scale, 1 being “not at all” and 5 being “100 percent.” Then discuss how you can grow as a group in each of these. Are we devoted to …

I recently read a tweet and blog post that assumes an either-or viewpoint toward small groups. You must choose, the author says, between being an open, outward-focused, welcoming, numerically growing group (or class) and living in authentic, accountable, abiding community. You can’t have it both ways. This often-repeated reasoning emerges from the idea that if a group desires to grow …

Maybe you’ve never considered this, but Rock n’ Roll has provided small group leaders with quite a bit of wisdom. Over the last week, I’ve been posting #rocknrollwisdom as my Small Group Leadership TIPS of the week on Twitter, my Small Group Leadership Facebook page, and LinkedIn. The genesis of all real wisdom comes from the Creator, who uses all …

Small Group Leadership TIPS of the past week as Tweeted, posted on the Small Group Leadership Facebook page, and posted on LinkedIn. *     *     *     *     *     *     * Monday, 12/28: Make God, not yourselves, the main character as you study his Word. #BibleStudy Tuesday, 12/29: Bible study = connecting God’s story to your stories. Don’t settle for either-or. #both-and …

7 Principles Your Group Can Learn from Cyclists in the Tour de France Are you watching the Tour de France? One of the most remarkable elements in the race is the peloton. Cyclists ride in tight packs to save energy by drafting (up to a 40 percent reduction in drag in a well-formed peloton), but there are many more advantages …

Art Credit: www.deviantART.com Jesus’ small group was a mess. It was often dysfunctional. Except for its leader, this leadership training group seemed to lack any observable spiritual leadership potential. Within two pages in my Bible, Jesus had to … rebuke his leader-intern (Mark 8:33). Actually, this verse says he looked at all the disciples as he addressed Peter: “You do …

All that glitters is not discipleship. Christ-Centered, Holy-Spirit Empowered, Authentic, Missional Small Groups that Share Leadership are the environment where discipleship happens best, but I’ve witnessed far too often that many groups focus on the wrong wins. These are all fools gold: Good Meetings. If folks leave saying, “Great meeting!” they may have missed the point. A great meeting does …

This is installment #14, and the last post (for now) in my series on Commitment and Small Groups. Andrew Mason, founder of SmallGroupChurches.com, and I recently discussed this question via video: “Why do you think we often do not see commitment from the people in our small groups?” I think it’s a pretty good summary for this series: By the …