When I begin a coaching relationship with a pastor, I invite him to share his thoughts on the following questions. Just answering them seems to be incredibly helpful without any further assistance from me if the pastor is self-motivated, so I thought I'd offer them to you if you're interested, with a short explanation as to why I ask these questions...
1. What do you see as your church members' greatest weakness at the present time?
The churches that see their small group ministry "take off" and grow like wildfire are focused first and foremost on church member spiritual development and advancement, not just on group leader training/deployment or adding enough groups to keep up with visitor demand.
2. What is your church members' greatest strength at the present time?
Pastors often only see the inherent problems and don't see all the wonderful things about their members. Plus, if a pastor can harness the power of the strengths to raise the weakness shared in the first strength, he will be employing an important growth principle shared by Christian Swarz of Natural Church Development.
3. In what specific ways does your church emphasize prayer
If a church membership isn't a praying community, launching more or new groups and expecting them to be healthy is not going to be easy.
4. Are these efforts in the area of prayer working well and are they readily accepted by the membership?
Pastors do all kinds of things to get people praying more, but the proof is in the pudding... I am far less concerned with the programs and more concerned with the results when coaching pastors to move forward.
5. What percentage of the weekend attendance is a member or leader of a group?
I need to know just how saturated group life is within the larger congregation. A number between 90 and 110% of the total weekend attendance is one indicator that group life is embedded into the DNA of a local church.
6. What percentage of the weekend attendance is a member of the church?
This is a new follow-up question I ask because I recently was told that a church had 95% membership participation in groups, yet only 48% of the weekend attendees in the services were members of the church. This revealed a very big issue the pastor didn't really understand at first.
7. What percentage of the small group members have successfully completed your discipleship pathway?
This is an assumptive question, one designed to make a pastor stop in his tracks and really think about what is being asked. Most churches do not have a discipleship pathway to spiritual maturity in place for the members of their groups, and if they do have one, the group members are not moving through it as a "normal" part of church and group life. So by asking this question this way, we get right down to brass tacks and discuss the meat of this issue.
These questions, along with others in TOUCH's basic church health assessment (you can take it online for free by clicking here), give me (and the pastor I'm coaching) a much clearer understanding of why groups are working or not working well in his environment.
Showing posts with label church growth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church growth. Show all posts
You can't manufacture growth and fellowship
I've joined a discipleship forum for a large denomination, even though I'm not in that denomination. They've graciously approved my membership and I'm enjoying what I am learning and contributing there. This morning, a pastor wrote this about his newfound experiences with holistic small groups in his latest church plant:
"I'm finding that as people build relationships, the small groups just seem to erupt on their own and are much more organic than planned. I'm looking for a way to sustain them, not control them, and allow them to develop mentors for other small groups. Maybe these groups will fare better with minimal centralized control with more relaxed leadership around the edges. I don't know, but I do know that I've stopped trying to manufacture growth and fellowship. It sounds sloppy (and it is) but it's closer to a cell-type structure than anything I've seen in a local church in a long time."
This really summarizes much of what I've been saying for a couple of years now. You can't manufacture growth and fellowship by launching a bunch of groups with untrained members and hastily trained leaders.
Untrained members?
Yes, you read that right. The first and greatest error made in small group ministry implementation is not selecting and then training future members of the first groups. The more missional the members, the easier it will be to lead them and the lower the bar must be for the group's leadership, including the coach and the staff pastor who undergirds their efforts to love God, love one another, and love the lost to Christ.
Right now I'm reworking a resource my father created twenty years ago called Life Basic Training. He created it for churches who desired to transition to groups. It's a "bootcamp" of sorts for incoming small group members, helping them examine their current values to see where they might conflict with God's values so they can be discarded.
Pastors who used it were surprised that everyone who started it did not complete it and then join a group. The material forced them to reconcile their beliefs and practices with God's Word and they were unwilling to die to their comfort, or personal agendas, or worldly practices to take up the cross and live as Christ commands.
The same pastors were also surprised at how well the groups did with people who had completed the pre-group process. Those groups could easily be described in the same was as the quote above. Low maintenance. Low control. High touch, and with a desire to leave and start a new group so more people could experience what they found in their small group.
Why more churches do not have a pre-group process in place for incoming members (from the ungrouped part of the congregation or from other churches when the person transfers in) is beyond me. Having no bar whatsoever (vs. setting it low or high) creates far more damage to the church, the groups, and the members than one can imagine.
I wrote about this whole issue in my book, but if you want to learn more about it feel free to contact my offices and we can talk about your church's situation and how to include a pre-group process to explain what healthy group membership requires and the benefits derived from it. I can be contacted at 713-884-8893.
Keep winning for Christ!
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"I'm finding that as people build relationships, the small groups just seem to erupt on their own and are much more organic than planned. I'm looking for a way to sustain them, not control them, and allow them to develop mentors for other small groups. Maybe these groups will fare better with minimal centralized control with more relaxed leadership around the edges. I don't know, but I do know that I've stopped trying to manufacture growth and fellowship. It sounds sloppy (and it is) but it's closer to a cell-type structure than anything I've seen in a local church in a long time."
This really summarizes much of what I've been saying for a couple of years now. You can't manufacture growth and fellowship by launching a bunch of groups with untrained members and hastily trained leaders.
Untrained members?
Yes, you read that right. The first and greatest error made in small group ministry implementation is not selecting and then training future members of the first groups. The more missional the members, the easier it will be to lead them and the lower the bar must be for the group's leadership, including the coach and the staff pastor who undergirds their efforts to love God, love one another, and love the lost to Christ.
Right now I'm reworking a resource my father created twenty years ago called Life Basic Training. He created it for churches who desired to transition to groups. It's a "bootcamp" of sorts for incoming small group members, helping them examine their current values to see where they might conflict with God's values so they can be discarded.
Pastors who used it were surprised that everyone who started it did not complete it and then join a group. The material forced them to reconcile their beliefs and practices with God's Word and they were unwilling to die to their comfort, or personal agendas, or worldly practices to take up the cross and live as Christ commands.
The same pastors were also surprised at how well the groups did with people who had completed the pre-group process. Those groups could easily be described in the same was as the quote above. Low maintenance. Low control. High touch, and with a desire to leave and start a new group so more people could experience what they found in their small group.
Why more churches do not have a pre-group process in place for incoming members (from the ungrouped part of the congregation or from other churches when the person transfers in) is beyond me. Having no bar whatsoever (vs. setting it low or high) creates far more damage to the church, the groups, and the members than one can imagine.
I wrote about this whole issue in my book, but if you want to learn more about it feel free to contact my offices and we can talk about your church's situation and how to include a pre-group process to explain what healthy group membership requires and the benefits derived from it. I can be contacted at 713-884-8893.
Keep winning for Christ!
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Discover the truths behind the fantastic numbers
Years ago, I received a Pentecostal denomination's newspaper with a front page headline that read, "10,000 decisions made at this year's Camp Meeting!" When I read the article below it, I learned that most made a decision to read their Bible each day, increase their prayer time by ten minutes, share the Gospel weekly, or stop smoking or drinking alcohol. Actual conversions? just 67 souls. Was the headline true? Yes. But what the headline left out led me to believe revival broke out when it did not. If I had only read the headline, I would have made a very inaccurate assumption.
"We've got 120% of our weekend attendance in our small groups!"
From sea to shining sea, I'm hearing reports made by lead and staff pastors of large and mega churches testifying that they have far more people in small groups than their Sunday services. I don't doubt the accuracy of their report. It's just wrong for these pastors to assume the extra 20% are comprised of lost and unchurched persons and then share this misleading information like a Pentecostal Camp Meeting headline.
I know more than one pastor who ministers in the geographic shadow of a big church. Each year, they lose members they've reached for Christ to the big church. Their small group campaigns, facilities, and children's programs are quite alluring. Plus, the pastor of the big church is famous or at the very least, well known. Who wouldn't want to ditch the once-cool water slide in a guy's back yard for Disney World if you had the opportunity?
Are there unsaved and unchurched people in that number? You bet! And that's a great thing. But if a big church creates a vortex with its small group campaigns that inadvertently sucks in members from other churches, they should re-train their small group members (and leaders) to ask about church involvement before they invite.
[Case in point: Did you know that there was a sizable spike in church closures in the Metro Houston area the same year that Joel Osteen moved Lakewood's campus from a ratty corner of the county to a downtown arena? Coincidence? I think not!]
"We just launched 200 new groups!"
Here's another figure I'm hearing from the big boys doing small groups around the country. Did they really add 200 groups last quarter? Absolutely! But why aren't they telling us about how many groups closed the previous quarter and more importantly, why those groups closed? Could it be that operating a vacuum and a DVD player isn't the only qualifications required for healthy small group leadership?
For some churches, opening and closing groups regularly is simply an automated part of their programmic process. There's nothing sacred about their near-instant, watered-down version of biblical community. It's just a mechanism for church growth and visitor retention.
Do your own research or simply ignore the hype
Before you allow yourself to be impressed with what you read or hear about a mega church's small group ministry, ask the hard questions and ask those questions to non-staff members to get a better read on the church's small group ministry's overall health and it's source of growth. If at all possible, I take the time to visit a couple of groups, interview a range of small group leaders and coaches, and learn about the church's small group culture from the inside. Then, I form my own educated opinions about the church's health and what's going on in their small group ministry.
If you don't have time or the energy to do this kind of on-site research, dismiss the fantastic numbers you hear about. You've not been supplied with enough information to validate it or take it at face value.
If you were to do the research, you might just find that they're not doing any better than you are doing in a much smaller church . . . and you might even be doing better if your groups are reaching lost people for Christ and discipling them instead of inviting them over to watch a DVD!
If this blog entry was a breath of fresh air for you, there's a lot more where that came from!
.
.
.
"We've got 120% of our weekend attendance in our small groups!"
From sea to shining sea, I'm hearing reports made by lead and staff pastors of large and mega churches testifying that they have far more people in small groups than their Sunday services. I don't doubt the accuracy of their report. It's just wrong for these pastors to assume the extra 20% are comprised of lost and unchurched persons and then share this misleading information like a Pentecostal Camp Meeting headline.
I know more than one pastor who ministers in the geographic shadow of a big church. Each year, they lose members they've reached for Christ to the big church. Their small group campaigns, facilities, and children's programs are quite alluring. Plus, the pastor of the big church is famous or at the very least, well known. Who wouldn't want to ditch the once-cool water slide in a guy's back yard for Disney World if you had the opportunity?
Are there unsaved and unchurched people in that number? You bet! And that's a great thing. But if a big church creates a vortex with its small group campaigns that inadvertently sucks in members from other churches, they should re-train their small group members (and leaders) to ask about church involvement before they invite.
[Case in point: Did you know that there was a sizable spike in church closures in the Metro Houston area the same year that Joel Osteen moved Lakewood's campus from a ratty corner of the county to a downtown arena? Coincidence? I think not!]
"We just launched 200 new groups!"
Here's another figure I'm hearing from the big boys doing small groups around the country. Did they really add 200 groups last quarter? Absolutely! But why aren't they telling us about how many groups closed the previous quarter and more importantly, why those groups closed? Could it be that operating a vacuum and a DVD player isn't the only qualifications required for healthy small group leadership?
For some churches, opening and closing groups regularly is simply an automated part of their programmic process. There's nothing sacred about their near-instant, watered-down version of biblical community. It's just a mechanism for church growth and visitor retention.
Do your own research or simply ignore the hype
Before you allow yourself to be impressed with what you read or hear about a mega church's small group ministry, ask the hard questions and ask those questions to non-staff members to get a better read on the church's small group ministry's overall health and it's source of growth. If at all possible, I take the time to visit a couple of groups, interview a range of small group leaders and coaches, and learn about the church's small group culture from the inside. Then, I form my own educated opinions about the church's health and what's going on in their small group ministry.
If you don't have time or the energy to do this kind of on-site research, dismiss the fantastic numbers you hear about. You've not been supplied with enough information to validate it or take it at face value.
If you were to do the research, you might just find that they're not doing any better than you are doing in a much smaller church . . . and you might even be doing better if your groups are reaching lost people for Christ and discipling them instead of inviting them over to watch a DVD!
If this blog entry was a breath of fresh air for you, there's a lot more where that came from!
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Your Church's Growth
Now here's a question that anyone can answer by observation alone. How is your church growing? Are people coming to the weekend services and then visiting a small group and "sticking" because of the relationships they form there?
Or, is your church growing by small group members reaching out to friends, family and co-workers and into the small groups first?
This seems to be what separates the churches with a small group ministry from the true small group-driven churches out there.
Or, is your church growing by small group members reaching out to friends, family and co-workers and into the small groups first?
This seems to be what separates the churches with a small group ministry from the true small group-driven churches out there.
Spontaneous leadership
This week, I've gone back a few chapters to re-write the 2nd chapter in my book, which addresses the attitude, motivation, and lifestyle of the senior pastor or lead pastor in a church comprised of small groups. While reading through the first book Peter wrote, I came across this powerful verse, taken from The Message translation:
I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it’s like to be a leader, in on Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here's my concern: that you care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way. (I Peter 5:1-3)
I love how this is worded. It seems to quickly annihilate strategic thinking for the sake of church growth to focus on a very relational style of leadership. There's a lot to unlearn, huh?
I challenge you to print out this blog entry and slip it in your Bible. When you open your Bible for the next week or so, ask yourself, "Am I leading spontaneously and tenderly showing others the way?"
I have a special concern for you church leaders. I know what it’s like to be a leader, in on Christ’s sufferings as well as the coming glory. Here's my concern: that you care for God’s flock with all the diligence of a shepherd. Not because you have to, but because you want to please God. Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously. Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way. (I Peter 5:1-3)
I love how this is worded. It seems to quickly annihilate strategic thinking for the sake of church growth to focus on a very relational style of leadership. There's a lot to unlearn, huh?
I challenge you to print out this blog entry and slip it in your Bible. When you open your Bible for the next week or so, ask yourself, "Am I leading spontaneously and tenderly showing others the way?"
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