Liberty's Library

Originally written 12/01


1. You have been asked by the elders of a congregation that has never had a small group ministry to establish one. Describe in detail how you would go about it.

First things first, the eldership needs to be 100% sold on the idea. I can assume that by the question, they are indeed in favor of small groups. (I can also assume that they have a ‘small groups goal in mind.) They also need to publicly approve of small groups for the benefit of the members.

Now that the Eldership is behind the idea, we need to begin educating the congregation on small groups. They need to know what small groups are and how they work. A good way to do this is by going back to the beginnings of the New Testament church when they met in houses. Tell them why the church began meeting in buildings (Constantine became a Christian and organized them into buildings) and how the small groups are still an effective way to come together.

Say I were going to call our small groups ‘Life Groups’; a way of educating about the groups is making an acrostic that incorporated all the aspects of the groups and what the goals are:
L – Love…getting to love one another
I – Involve…getting involved in one another’s lives
F – Fellowship…enjoying the togetherness of the family
E – Evangelism…without this aspect, we are losing a powerful tool. Inviting others to group meetings (outreach).

The next step would be cultivating the idea of the groups to the congregation. This entails setting a goal for participation. Let’s say that the Eldership wants an optimal level to be 60%. This should be a striving or rallying point for the congregation.

Secondly, setting a date for implication or a “go date” is needed during this process. This also helps to serve as a rallying point.

Finally in the cultivation stage, announcing the leaders and co-leaders (Leader training is simultaneously happening…see next section). This should help to make a connection with the members as now, more people than just the Elders and the Minister are visibly involved.

Lastly in my planning stage, plan a countdown to the implication dates and involve the membership in preparing for the kickoff by holding a special service concerning the power of small group dynamics using Jesus and his disciples or His closer friends as a Biblical example.

Splitting into Groups
During the time between the public announcement of the small group plan and the countdown to implication, we have been holding a training seminar for all those interested in being small group leaders. (You may even want to begin a small group with just the leaders at first so they can learn how to direct a group…time suggested; 6 weeks). I will probably find that people within the seminar will naturally emerge as leaders. Along with leader training should be the establishment of a co-leader system. This step is in expectation that the groups will multiply then divide when the number gets too big to be a small group. The Co-Leader(s) would then take the satellite group and become its group leader.

Once the training seminar has been completed, I am going to allow the leaders to recruit people for their small groups. I expect to see a ‘common ground’ trend, as people tend to gravitate towards groups with which they can identify.


2. You have been asked by the Main Street Church of Christ to perform an overall analysis of congregational effectiveness. Describe how you would go about this.


I have to admit, this question is a bit vague, so I’m going to have to go on what I think is meant by this question. Effectiveness is the measure of how you are doing as a congregation versus what the congregational goals are. The Body needs a yardstick to measure up to; something to visualize progress or the lack there of. There are several ways to gage effectiveness.

1. If one of your goals is to grow proportionally with the community, look at the growth of the congregation over the last few years and compare to the growth rate of the community. If the community is growing at 5% over five years and the body is growing at barely 1% over five years, effective growth is lacking.

2. If one of your goals is to appeal to the demographics of the community, look at the demographics in the community and compare that to the congregation. If the building is in a predominately black community and 80% of your membership is white, you are not effectively representing the community. Likewise, if your community is made up of younger families and the congregation is mostly elderly folks, you are heading towards stagnation.

3. Look into the ministry systems of the Body. Are they active, involved, is outreach being done, are Bible studies being conducted? Are they producing results that are helping the membership attain their preset goals? Are contacts with non-members being followed up? Is there an influx in new members?

4. Does there seem to be discord among the members? Look for factions and cliques forming within the congregation. Is one of the groups being catered to more than others? It is wise to monitor the tension within the family because cracks in the foundation affect the whole structure.

5. Note the attendance at church functions and assemblies. Are you maintaining numbers that reflect your team goals? Do the same numbers of members show up when you hold a service-oriented project versus a fellowship event like a cookout or ballgame? Maintaining a family atmosphere is crucial in effective group dynamics.

6. Finally, but by no means the last possible analysis tool, gage the outreach and encouragement towards the members themselves. When a brother is having surgery, do members take care of the brother’s family by providing for them? Do members grieve with the grieving and rejoice with the overjoyed? The family needs to love each other in times of sorrow and in happier times. Is this reflected in the Body that meets in your location?

This list is by no means all-inclusive, but these should give a good look at the overall effectiveness of the congregation in question. The important thing to remember is without preset goals it is impossible to measure progress. Without that initial starting point or point of reference, you cannot see where you’ve been and where you are.