5 Ways Your Small Group Ministry Needs to Change … Today

By Mark Howell

• Print Version

“Does your small group ministry have the design that will work effectively in light of the seismic changes happening in our culture?”

Can you feel it yet in your community? Are you recognizing the signs that there is a change in the wind? Does your small group ministry have the design that will work effectively in light of the seismic changes happening in our culture?

Ed Stetzer has famously pointed out that “if the 1950s came back, many churches are ready.”
Is your small group ministry designed to meet the needs of the 21st century? How might your ministry need to change?
Here are five ways your small group ministry needs to change today:
1. Decentralize leader development. If you’re still offering a centralized and synchronous form of leader development as the primary way you develop leaders … you are out of touch with two important cultural shifts. The calendars and commitments of your leaders are not that different from the rest of your congregation and crowd. Busy, overcommitted men and women are already able to time-shift virtually every other thing they do. Taking steps to decentralize and offer asynchronous training does more than make it convenient. They make it possible to influence and develop 21st century leaders.
2. Focus vision and training on cultivating friendships in the community. Every day it becomes more and more common for the most likely invitation to be “come over” to my house (as opposed to “come with” me to church). As the shift to a Post-Christian America accelerates, it becomes ever more important to envision and equip members to invest in their neighbors, co-workers, acquaintances and family, cultivating genuine friendships in the community.
3. Tilt connecting strategies to established strong ties. If all of your connecting strategies depend on unconnected attenders signing up to attend an event that happens on-campus you are already missing out on the most natural way to connect people. The least connected people in your congregation and crowd are almost always the most connected people in the community. When the least connected people in your congregation and crowd participate in a social event (office party, block party, Little League game, softball league, etc.), they are strengthening ties with people who have never attended your church. Why not leverage these already established strong ties?
4. Create culturally aware value-added next steps and first steps. If the next steps (out of the auditorium) and first steps (from the community) you are offering depend on an established Christian interest or worldview (i.e., Men’s Fraternity, Beth Moore Bible studies, Precepts, etc.), you need to be aware that the needs and interests of the unconnected attenders in your congregation and crowd are not that different than those in the community. Identifying, creating and offering next steps and first steps that appeal to those with a Post-Christian worldview (single parenting skills, budgeting, etc.) is already an essential ingredient.
5. Infuse ordinary grouplife with connection to a cross-cultural cause. Involvement in providing clean water, orphan care or stopping human trafficking are three of the most cross-cultural causes. Small groups have commonly been involved with supporting missionaries and local and global church planting efforts. When caring for the least becomes part of ordinary grouplife, the causes your small groups are involved in become more relevant to neighbors, co-workers, acquaintances and family.  

Mark Howell serves as Pastor of Communities at Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas, NV. He founded SmallGroupResources.net, offering consulting and coaching services to help churches across North America launch, build and sustain healthy small group ministries. He spent four years on the consulting staff at Lifetogether and often contributes to ministry periodicals such as the Pastor's Ministry Toolbox and ChurchCentral.com. More from Mark Howell or visit Mark at http://www.MarkHowellLive.com