I’m an experimenter by nature, so I’m always on the lookout for what’s next.  Here are the top three things I’ve learned this year.

First, joining a small group that meets in a stranger’s living room is not easy.  In many instances it’s even harder and requires more  courage or desperation than attending a weekend service for the first time.  It may be true that only the most extroverted people will be willing to use an online finder.

This is why I remain enthused about the connection potential of on-campus events like Saddleback’s small group connection, North Point’s  GroupLink or even a group fair (where group leaders can meet potential members).  See also, Distinctives of the Three Types of Small Group Connecting Events.

It’s also why I am becoming a bigger fan every day of leveraging short-term (5 to 8 weeks) on-campus group-based events to launch off-campus groups.  See also, File This Under Connection Ideas and Breaking: North Point Increases GroupLife Participation by Adding an Easier Next Step.

Second, cause may have supplanted community as the leading impetus for connection and engagement.  James Emery White’s insightful post earlier this year theorized that there has been a seismic shift in outreach.  I believe his theory is being confirmed every day in a variety of ways.

The basic idea of White’s theory is that the driving force behind outreach and evangelism has shifted twice over the last 60 years.

• From the 1950s to the 1980s a direct proclamation style flourished (think Billy Graham and Willow Creek’s creative weekend services).  ”This led to joining a community and then being discipled into participation with the cause.”  Unchurched >>> Christ >>> Community >>> Cause
• From the 90s through the 2000s community moved to the front of the equation.  A desire to belong before believing was the clear pattern.  Once a part of community, trust could develop, Christ was found in community, and the cause could be joined.  Unchurched >>> Community >>> Christ >>> Cause
• The current trend seems to be cause first.  ”Cause has become the leading edge of our connection with a lost world, and specifically the “nones” (and it is increasingly best to replace the term “unchurched” with the “nones”).”  Think Compassion International, water, human trafficking, etc.  Nones >>> Cause >>> Community >>> Christ

How will this shift affect what we do?  Is there a way to create natural next steps that lead from engagement through a cause to connection in community and find Christ there?  See also, Connecting the Dots: Your Strategy and Post-Christianity and Essential Reading: The Church in an Age of Crisis.

Third, building “next steps for everyone and first steps for their friends” is the missing link in the discipleship equation.  Making the first step too difficult (come and die) and thinning the herd on the front end is no worse than making connection easy (come and see) and not providing progressively more challenging, age appropriate next steps of maturity.  Both methods are inadequate if you want to have the greatest impact on the largest number of people.

What works?  A legitimate crowd-to-core strategy that truly provides next steps for everyone (crowd, congregation, committed, and core) and first steps for their friends (community).  See also, Three Keys to Connecting Beyond the Core and Committed, 5 Essential Practices of a 21st Century Small Group System, Recruiting Like Jesus and Even a Lizard Can Respond to Come and See.

What do you think?  Have a question?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

Need a funny video to lighten the mood in a leader training?  I think you’ll like this one!  Testing the limits of awkwardness…

Can’t see the video? You can watch it right here.

Looking for training ideas on prayer?  See also, Skill Training: Top 10 Ways to Learn to Pray Together and The Simplest Way to Help Your Members Pray Out Loud.

Maybe this is just the ramblings of a sleep deprived traveler…but here’s what I’m wondering:

Do you think Jesus’ mission was different than ours?  So many of our current conversations find their biblical basis in Matthew 28:18-20 (the Great Commission).  It does seem to be our assignment or at least one of our assignments.  After all, it’s also very clear that the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40) is more than a suggestion…don’t you think?

What about everything Jesus said about coming to seek and save the lost?  What about His teaching in Luke 15?  Was that not His mission?  Was it His and not ours?

I was telling some friends last week that my passion is connecting unconnected people.  When I see the crowds I have compassion for them because they really are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36).  When I see them as Jesus saw them I am learning to do what Jesus said to do.  See also, Four Leading Indicators of Small Group Ministries That Make Disciples.

Am I excused from making disciples?  No.  Can our mission of making disciples surplant the need to seek and save the lost?  No.  Both are essential.

What do you think?  Have a question?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

In the world of economics, leading indicators are “indicators that usually change before the economy as a whole changes.  They are therefore useful as short-term predictors of the economy.”  Stock market returns, building permits, and average weekly jobless claims are all leading indicators.

Think there might be a set of leading indicators that are short-term predictors of your small group ministry’s ability to make disciples?  Take a look at this Dallas Willard definition of a disciple:

“A disciple is a person who has decided that the most important thing in their life is to learn how to do what Jesus said to do. A disciple is not a person who has things under control, or knows a lot of things. Disciples simply are people who are constantly revising their affairs to carry through on their decision to follow Jesus.” Rethinking Evangelism

Here are what I think are four leading indicators of small group ministries that make disciples:

• Following Jesus is recognized as the most important thing in life.  Modeled by pastors, coaches and leaders…nothing else is even close.  How often do other things take precedence?
• Learning how to do what Jesus said to do is always the emphasis.  Note: how, not what, is the point.  How often does your ministry emphasize what, not how?
• Discipleship is never described as a class to be attended or a course to be completed.  Do you offer classes or courses that emphasize completion or arrival?
• Disciples are always characterized as pressing on and straining toward.  Do pastors and leaders acknowledge that they are works in process?

See these leading indicators in your small group ministry?  Or are you seeing something less significant?

What do you think?  Have a question?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

I’ve read pretty much everything Dallas Willard ever wrote.  The Divine Conspiracy might be one of my most marked up, starred, underlined, dog-eared books.  Renovation of the Heart and The Spirit of the Disciplines are right on its heels.  I’ve bookmarked websites.  I’ve printed reams of articles…and they’re just as marked up as any of the books.

Last week I finally picked up a copy of The Great Omission.  Containing “several previously published articles and addresses on discipleship, spiritual growth and formation,” I can tell you that my copy is now no different than anything else I’ve ever worked my way through of Willard’s.  Lots of notations, underlined passages, and dog-eared pages!

Unlike Willard’s other books, The Great Omission is a collection of articles.  Especially when read straight through, there are sentences and sections that have a familiar ring.  Clearly, the ideas and themes in these articles played significant roles in his speaking and writing.  Rather than feeling that he was repeating himself, I found myself with a deepening sense that I had uncovered a long lost treasure.

I came across too many memorable phrases and quotes to mention here.  I have no doubt that many of them will end up in our small group leader and small group coach’s development materials.  Very rich ideas that will be so helpful to unpack with out team.

In addition to the collection of articles, the book also includes a set of very informative reviews of many of the major works of other writers in his field including Laubach’s Letters of a Modern Mystic and The Interior Castle by Teresa of Avila along with several others.

Is Dallas Willard’s The Great Omission part of your library?  I’m really enjoying this book and finding myself very challenged by a number of key ideas.  If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend it!

Summer is almost here.  And right on its heels comes the fall.  Ready?  Recruited the small group leaders you’ll need to connect all the unconnected people in your congregation?

It really is an annual dilemma, isn’t it?

Can I tell you something?  It’s only a dilemma for the churches that haven’t figured out how to recruit an unlimited number of small group leaders.  When I tripped across these ideas a few years ago, I thought someone was pulling my leg.  Turns out…they worked!  Even better…they worked better than anything I’d ever tried before.

Here are the three best ways I know to recruit small group leaders:

1. The very best way to recruit small group leaders is to do a church-wide campaign on a great topic and ask your senior pastor to recruit people to host a group.  I’ve written extensively on this topic.  It is not hard, but it does require the cooperation of your senior pastor.  Trust me.  If you select the right campaign, it becomes easy to recruit hosts.  See How to Make the HOST Ask: The 2012 Version and 10 Simple Steps to a Great Church-Wide Campaign.
2. Another great way to identify new small group leaders is to hold an event and let the design of the event itself do the heavy lifting.  When I discovered the Small Group Connection event back in 2000, I was very skeptical.  VERY skeptical.  I became a believer after my very first event.  I’ve written a very detailed 5 part article on How to Launch New Small Groups Using a Small Group Connection.  It will really tell you everything you need to know.  The key to this idea is that the event is designed to identify leaders in a way that nothing I’ve ever tried can beat.
3. Can’t see yourself pulling off idea #1 or 2?  Asking your existing groups to consider taking a small group vacation is another great way to identify some fantastic new leaders.   The plan is really very simple.  Choose a great small group study.  Ask your existing small groups to consider not meeting together as a group for the 6 weeks of the study you choose.  Instead, ask group members to pair up with another couple or 2 or 3 others and help launch a new group.  When the study is over…they can go back to their original group if they’d like.  Their commitment is only for the 6 weeks.  Time after time I’ve found that once group members experience what it’s like to be used by God to help connect a few more…they often choose not to go back to their original group.  See also, Take a Small Group Vacation.

What do you think?  Have a question?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

A few months back I wrote a post on ten ideas that have shaped my philosophy of ministry.  In several recent discussions I’ve realized that I have  a collection of assumptions that have a lot to do with the small group strategy we use.

• There is no problem-free solution.  Wise leaders simply choose the set of problems they’d rather have.  See also, The Pursuit of Problem-Free.
• Unconnected people are one tough thing away from not being at our church.  Every delay at connecting them puts many of them in jeopardy.  See also, What’s Your Urgency Level for Connecting People?
• The optimal environment for life-change is a small group.  Circles, not rows.  See also, Essential Ingredients for Life-Change.
• Joining a group in a stranger’s living room is the second scariest move (preceded only by coming to church for the first time).  This makes a safe and familiar on-campus first step out of the auditorium a key to connecting people.  See also, How to Calm an Unconnected Person’s Second Greatest Fear.
• The people with the most connections inside the church have the fewest connections outside the church.  This is an understanding that makes HOST a great idea.  See also, Exponential Outreach.
• Every group of ten has a relative shepherd (and most adults can quickly identify the person they’d be willing to follow).  In a Malcolm Gladwell sense, everyone can see very quickly who the leader should be.  See also, How to Connect People No One Else is Connecting.
• The leader of a group only needs to be a step or two ahead of group members.  Even Jesus didn’t look for Jesus Jr.  See also, Top 5 Signs Your Church Really Wants to Be a Church OF Groups.
• Whatever we want the members of a group to experience, the leader has to experience first.  This makes coaching or mentoring an essential ingredient for any small group strategy.  See also, The End in Mind for an Effective Coaching Structure.

What do you think?  Have a question?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

There are at least two questions.  What are your groups designed to produce? is one of them.  I think the answer right now for many would be, disciples who make disciples.  In the 80s, Willow’s mission was to make fully devoted followers (still is).  And I’m pretty sure in any conversation they’d say now and would have said then that a fully devoted follower would, by definition, be reproducing.

So that’s one question.  What are your groups designed to produce?

The other essential questions is probably, what are your groups designed to do?

What are your groups designed to do?  Connect people?  Help close your church’s back door?  Make disciples?  Make disciples who make disciples?  Help group members engage in incarnational ministry by meeting at a third place twice a month?  Impact your community with externally focused ministry?

What are your groups designed to do?

I had quite a conversation with myself yesterday morning as I jogged the three mile circuit in the desert behind our house here in Las Vegas (brought water, so it was slightly better than Monday).  Here’s what kept coming back to my mind as I ran:

I still want our groups to do three things.  Love one another, grow in Christ, and further the work of the Kingdom.  Not original with me (I got this from Willow in the early 90s).  I want our groups to help members belong to a family, become like Jesus, and impact their world.

Will our groups do that naturally?  Will they drift into that mode?  At best, rarely.  Probably almost never.  Instead, we’ll have to provide easy ways to connect unconnected people, we’ll have to identify group leaders who are a step or two ahead, and we’ll have to keep refining a skillfully designed pathway.  See also, Diagnosing Your Discipleship Strategy and Design Is Almost Everything.

What are your groups designed to do?

If you’ve been along for very much of the journey here, you know that I think almost everything comes back to design.  Probably why I love Andy Stanley’s line so much: “Your ministry is perfectly designed to produce the results you’re currently experiencing.”

Don’t like what your groups are producing?  Don’t like what your groups are doing?  Take a careful look at the design.

What do you think?  Have a question?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

“If you don’t like change you’ll like irrelevance even less.” General Eric Shinseki, former Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

Great line, isn’t it?  Although it is a line that comes to my mind quite often, I’ve learned not to use it on the people who bring it to mind.  There is great wisdom in having restraint and being slow to speak.

Picked up a copy of a new book from Jim Putman last week.  DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples.  Trust me…this is one you’re going to want to carefully work your way through.  There are some very important ideas in this book.

Putman, founding pastor of Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho, is also the author of Real Life Discipleship and the Real Life Discipleship Training Manual (with Avery Willis, Brandon Guindon, and Bill Krause).  Known for one of the strongest disciple making models in America, DiscipleShift (with Bobby Harrington and Robert Coleman) is a great addition to the collection.

I picked up a number of great ideas, actionable concepts, that will help us make disciples who make disciples.  And this is the kind of book that’s going to get worn out.  My copy is pretty marked up after just one pass.  It’s also one of those books that call for a re-read to catch everything that’s in here.

I found several aspects very helpful.  First, Putman has assembled a model that begs to be implemented.  It’s easy to see why so many have attended the Real Life Immersion event (a two day training experience).  The clear, well organized concepts presented in DiscipleShift make a lot of sense and are illustrated very well.

Second, I really like Putman’s Five Stages of Discipleship.  With some overlap to the concepts developed in Willow Creek’s Reveal study, this is a very portable concept.  In fact, I can see it playing an important role in churches trying to implement an intentional and relational discipleship strategy.

Third, DisipleShift is packed with stories.  You are constantly reminded that this is not theory, but supported by solid implementation.  In addition to stories from Real Life, there are a number of other churches represented who’ve purposefully moved in the direction of a relational discipleship model.

Finally, the short segments that feature Robert Coleman’s contribution are a great addition.  Great wisdom captured in a collection of powerful examples.

I’ve been carrying this book around for about 10 days.  Can’t tell you how often I’ve found myself thinking about adding this concept or that practice to the model we’re using.  This is great, great stuff.  If you’re looking for a way to integrate honest-to-goodness disciple-making into your ministry…you’re going to want to thoroughly digest DiscipleShift.