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 …

I wrote yesterday about Lyman Coleman and his thoughts on small groups as an assimilation strategy for the church. Today, I want to share some more personal thoughts about Lyman. I first met Lyman Coleman in 1992 when I wrote a feature article about him for The Lookout magazine (right). I had called Serendipity House, the ministry he founded, to …

I spent a day with Lyman Colemen recently and talked about small groups ministry over the last 60-some years. Lyman founded Serendipity House and for more than 30 years, he spoke at church conferences across America. At that time, he was the voice of the American small group movement. Mike and Lyman Coleman, August 2013 Lyman Coleman leading a Small …

Recently, I was commenting on a discussion on the Small Group Churches site about why small group ministries sometimes fail in churches. The author of the original post, +Andrew Mason, suggests three very good reasons this happens, but I believe there may be one big overarching reason. I’ve seen many churches start small group “programs” like any other program in …

Some churches call their small groups that meet in homes “Community Groups.” I like that name for two important reasons: (1) the name reveals where authentic Christian community takes place and (2) it indicates that these groups are a primary vehicle for the church reaching into its community. Small groups are (or at least should be) places where friends are …

Are you an authentic small group leader?  If we as small group leaders say we should all be witnesses yet do not do so ourselves, this hypocrisy teaches people to be disobedient. It gives the message, “I say you should share your faith, but I do not really mean it because, as you can see by my actions, I don’t …

Right after Heidi and I got married, we moved into a forty-unit apartment building. We wanted to start a small group to reach out to the people who lived there who did not have a relationship with God, but we had no idea how to start one. So I asked Glen, a minister at the church we attended, how we …

Our country needs revival. Our churches need revival. And some believe small groups are the answer. They aren’t. Small groups have no more chance of initiating revival than a fireplace has of starting a fire. No programs, methods, philosophies, or forms can bring about what only God can do. Regardless of how biblically sound, culturally relevant, and structurally effective they …