Confessions of an International Small Group Point Person
This is a message from one pastor leading the small group ministry in a church outside of North America. “There are many things that we have in common with our brothers and sisters in small group ministry in other countries. Yet, here are some pronounced differences between what we see in North American ministry and […]
7 Ways to Care for your Ministry that Require Zero Talent
Each Small Group Semester brings a different set off challenges and goals I look to strive for. I will aways set a new numerical goal for groups, next steps emphasis and I always look for a few areas that need improvement within my role. It seemed that almost every semester I circled “better care” for […]
Spiritual Rhythms
One of my favorite classes in my under-grad was Ministry Observation, which I took my freshman year. I know, it doesn’t sound super exciting or life changing by any means, but man…I loved this class! We would, as a class, visit various different churches in Southern California; write critiques and analysis papers about our experience […]
Creating Group Clarity
Imagine these people are attending a new small group, they do not really know each other or have any significant background about one another. Paul -his group experience has been one where the leader did everything Karen and Joe – have never been in a small group Sue – in her last group, leadership was […]
3 Steps You Can Take TODAY to Build a Healthier Groups Ministry
We just had the Purpose Driven Church Conference at Saddleback. There were thousands of pastors that came to learn and grow. I was talking with one whose question was really good. How can we possibly make sure groups don’t go crazy? I mean, we have so many scattered all over the place. We don’t […]
Power Of The Invitation
I serve at a church that is a little less than two years old, and we have a 79% connection rate in groups. We also have less than 100 people attending on the weekend. I wanted to write this article geared more towards that smaller church leader. Whenever I talk with a new group leader […]
The 1 Thing Your Leadership Development Pathway is Missing
When we talk “leadership development pathway,” I’ll bet you think about all of the cognitive steps leaders need to take to develop. You start to map out the markers all along the way, from trainings to gatherings to curriculum. But there’s one primary aspect of development you just might have overlooked. You can’t grow […]
4 Ways to Encourage your Small Group Leaders
Being a small group leader can be one of the most amazing but challenging experiences all at the same time. Small group leaders do ministry in the trenches and have the amazing privilege to have a front row seat to watch life change and God work in only the way He can. Small group leaders […]
Keep Your Eye On The Prize
When Huddle leaders around the world were asked for their most profound small groups learning last year, one pastor in Europe got straight to the point: “It is not numbers and growth but health and balance of purposes that makes the difference in the life of small group ministry. It was the greatest discovery I found […]
Three Realities for Lead Pastors and Small Groups
It is a pleasant fiction to think that a small group ministry can soar in a church by delegating all of the responsibility to an Associate Pastor. A similar line of reasoning would contend that the Lead Pastor doesn’t need to worship because they have hired a worship leader to do that. Of course, nobody […]
