10 THINGS TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE STARTING A SMALL GROUPS MINISTRY. By Steve Gladen
1. Know where you are headed
When you consider a believer, a follower of Christ in your church, what is it you want them to look like and act like? What is it you want them to “be”? Too many churches start up a small-groups ministry because it’s “the thing to do.” But it may not be the thing to do. Once you know what you want, then you can back up and decide what will get you there.
At Saddleback Church, we want followers of Christ to balance the Great Commission and Great Commandment in their hearts. We want to see them belonging to Christ and His church, growing deeper in Him, serving God where they are gifted, sharing Christ and surrendering every aspect of their life to God. That is spiritual health for us. Check out our Spiritual Health Assessment.
What do you want? Once we knew our “end in mind,” we asked the question: What will get us there? Our answer came from Acts 5:42, and it involved a combination of weekend services and small groups.
2. Find the lay of the land in your church.
Photo by kalebdf.
Talk to people. Talk to the key opinion leaders in your church—and if you don’t know who they are, ask around! Get the people who built the church and go through step one above. Find the history of the church and the passion that made your church what it is today. What’s the heartbeat of your Lead Pastor? What makes them tick? What is their strategy to number one?
Before you ask any of these questions, ask yourself something: Do I have the relational capital to ask these questions? If you do, great! If you don’t, take the time to get to know the people that need to hear these questions. Relationships take time. Sometimes you will find the answers to the questions without even asking anything.
3. Who will run point?
Paid or not paid isn’t the question when it comes to this point—passion is the question. Who has the passion for the people to be the healthiest followers of Christ in your church? Who has the passion to build a delivery system that can handle the people God will send your way? Who has what Psalms 78:72 describes in David? Who has the humility of knowing it’s not “them” but “God” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)? Who is willing to do “whatever” (John 10:10) with the right attitude (1 Peter 5:2-4)? Who is “called” and willing to learn?
4. Who is on the team?
Every leader needs a team. If you were to start a business you would get your “C” team together—CEO, COO, CIO, CSO, CTO, and so on. So who is your “C” team, your Christ Team, to make this happen with His grace and strength? Start praying for people who want to see the same thing you want to see and who have different gift sets than you.
Then, ask them to join you. People won’t volunteer; you need to ask them. Claim back some of their 168 hours a week for Kingdom work. For some, you may need to align their Kingdom work for greater Kingdom efforts.
5. What will be your strategy?
At Saddleback Church, the best way for us to start a small-groups ministry is through a campaign strategy. Now, understand that if you don’t go through the process outlined above, running a campaign in your church will start a bunch of groups, but they will probably be purposeless and drift. (Click here to learn more about our Campaign Strategy)
Along with strategy, you need a culture to drive the strategy. Campaigns are successful at Saddleback because throughout the year our people hear from the pulpit the importance of small groups—through testimonies, sermons, commercials, and most importantly through personal stories of the teaching pastors in their sermons.
6. When will you start?
To answer this question, look at both the calendar and your church culture. There are usually three times to start small groups: fall, January, and post Easter. For Saddleback, fall is culturally the best time for us. We start our campaign a few weeks after school starts so families can get into their new routines. We use the summer to get ready, September to recruit, and October to launch. Your church will have a different schedule, and that’s okay. Do what culturally fits for your church.
7. What’s your Pathway?
When you start groups, your small-group leaders need to know what you want them to do. Not only do you need to know the “end in mind” for your ministry, you need the same for your group leaders. Just like Jesus took His disciples from “come and see” through a three-year relational process to “come and die,” so we at Saddleback have a relational process for our “hosts” to become “leaders.” Now, we pray that none of them need to die, but we do want to take them from where they are to a deeper commitment in Christ. Whatever system you design, know where you want to take your leaders. Peek at our pathway here.
8. What’s your infrastructure?
It’s easy to start small groups; it’s hard to sustain them. Since 1998, our small-group team has seen our small groups grow from 280 groups to over 3,500 groups. That doesn’t happen without infrastructure. Just like a city needs roadways to develop as a town turns into a city, so your small-group ministry needs its roadways.
One critical part of your infrastructure is what we call Community Leaders (CLs), who are the leaders of small-group leaders. They are the relational arm of your ministry. They provide the care and direction to your small groups. They help with focus so groups don’t drift.
Another part of our infrastructure is what we call “Gatherings.” Gatherings are the vision arm of your ministry. A gathering is bringing your leaders together periodically for alignment and vision. It can be done over dinner or coffee. At Saddleback, we do two Gatherings a year—one in the beginning of the year (to get us out of the holiday funk) and one in August (to gear us up for the fall).
9. Don’t stand alone!
The enemy loves to lead in isolation and fear. Fear stops us from taking risks for the Kingdom. Isolation cuts off our supply lines so we can’t fight the good fight. In 2006, God led me to start the Purpose Driven Small Group Network so that no one would stand alone. I know what it’s like to do the day in and day out work of running a small-groups ministry. I know what it’s like to be the only one in your church thinking community is the greatest thing since Easter. I am blessed with an incredible staff. My prayer is that this Network will be your staff, standing with you to help you fight the good fight. If you don’t think you need others around you—think again!
10. Prepare your heart.
One of the greatest things I learned in seminary is called the Messiah Complex. It’s where you take on the roll of the Messiah and bear everyone’s burdens on your cross. There’s only one problem: you can’t do it. You will burn out.
Symptoms of the Messiah Complex are a lack of quiet time and/or Sabbath forgetfulness. Just as God can take your financial tithe and make 90 percent go farther than your best 100 percent, He can do the same with a Sabbath. He can make 6 days go farther than your best 7 days. The principle God is working on has nothing to do with finances or time, it’s all about obedience. If you don’t prepare your heart now, the work for God will destroy the work of God in your life.