In addition to a handful of classics, there are some new church-wide studies that you’ll want to take a look at.  Here’s the short list:

40 Days of Love, the newest campaign from Saddleback, is fully loaded with everything you’ll need to take the relationship principles of Jesus church-wide.  Be sure and pick up the Campaign Online Access Pass and take advantage of the reduced pricing and coaching that comes with it!

Heaven, based on the best-selling book, is a 7 week study with companion DVD featuring Randy Alcorn.  Produced by Lifetogether Publishing, this study will open your congregation’s eyes to what the Bible really teaches about Heaven…and it’s really different than what most Christians think.

Although the newest studies from the Liquid series are not true church-wide campaigns (there isn’t a prefab set of sermons and a campaign kit), they offer a very compelling opportunity to build your own alignment.  The 10 takes a look at the Ten Commandments with dramatic flair, following the lives of 5 drivers on I-10.  Money Talks is new as well and takes a look at the relationship between money and God, but with a wry, comedic slant.

Need help building a custom church-wide study that meets the needs of your congregation?  Let’s talk!  Email Me to find out more about how to take a great off-the-shelf study and add in all the elements that produce lasting results.

For additional ideas, take a look at my earlier article on the same topic.

(Need help?  Click here to find out about my Church-Wide Campaign Coaching program)

Regardless of the strategy you use to invite unconnected people to join a small group or to consider hosting a group in their home, learning how to effectively ask people to take a next step is essential.  Done poorly, you’ll get a weak response.  Done well, you’ll get a great response.  Here are the four steps to a great response:

1. Incorporate the ask into your pastor’s sermon.  This is much more effective than an announcement.  Obviously, some sermon topics will lend themselves more naturally to integrating the ask into the message itself.  This is worth a careful discussion.  Looking for a scripture passage that includes the idea of community makes it easier.  For example, Matthew 9:36 let’s us in on Jesus’ heart for unconnected people (sheep without a shepherd).
2. Use an insert in the bulletin to gather responses.  While talking about Jesus’ heart for unconnected people, ask your people to “take out the insert in your bulletin.  It looks like this.”  Hold it up and say, “While you’re taking that out, I want you to listen to the story of Bob and Jane.”
3. Using a 2 to 3 minute live or videotaped testimony about the importance of being in a group or how God used the host of a new group gives your ask a huge advantage.  I’ve written about how to develop video testimony that recruits hosts
4. Provide an easy way to respond immediately.  Asking them to go to the website to sign up or call the church office doesn’t strike while the iron is hot.  The best response opportunity is to take the offering later in the service and put the inserts in the plate as it comes by.  Next best, station ushers at the exits and collect as people leave.  Last, have people turn them in to a table in the lobby (this is much less effective).
5. Now that you have the keys, here’s how I do what I call “The Dance.”  Pay attention to the language and the sequence here: “Doing Life together is so important.  If you’re ready to put your toe in the water and try a life group, I want to invite you join us at the Small Group Connection on January 21st.  In your bulletin this morning is an insert.  It looks like this (hold one up).  While you’re taking out the sign-up form, I want you to welcome Bob and Jane Smith.  The Smith’s joined a group last year about this time and I’ve asked them to share a little bit of their story (2 to 3 minutes, answering the questions I mention in how to develop a life group testimony).”The pastor then says, “Let’s thank Bob and Jane for sharing their story.  We want to invite you to join us at the Connection on January 21st!  If you’ll fill out the sign-up form you can place it in the offering at the end of the service.”  Important Note: If you’re recruiting hosts, simply substitute the following lines: “If you have a heart for unconnected people you could be a host.  In your bulletin this morning is an insert.  It looks like this (hold one up).  While you’re taking out the sign-up form, I want you to welcome Bob and Jane Smith.  The Smith’s hosted a group last year about this time and I’ve asked them to share a little bit of their story (2 to 3 minutes, answering the questions I mention in how to develop a life group testimony).”The pastor then says, “Let’s thank Bob and Jane for sharing their story.  Is that what God is leading you to do?  If you’ll fill out the sign-up form you can place it in the offering at the end of the service.”

Does that make sense?  See how the four key ingredients are integrated right into the message?  If you’re recruiting hosts, it would just take a little tweak.  Same dance.  Like any dance, the graceful integration of several steps leads to a smooth and pleasing outcome.  I hope your dance moves become smoother and more effective.

Have you ever brainstormed potential small group leaders and run into the two-headed monster of leader recruitment?  You may not know it by that name…but you know it when you see it.

The first thing you notice is that the best candidates are already in a group.  Right?  You’re not alone in this realization.  In fact, it’s very common for churches attempting to re-energize their small group ministry to find that many of their existing groups are full of potential leaders!  What’s the second thing you notice?  The best potential leaders rarely want to leave their group!  They’re happy.  They’re connected.  They don’t want to give up what they’ve got.

That’s a really tough monster to overcome!  What can you do?  Well…you can try and force them to leave their group.  My experience is that it never really comes off very well.  You can guilt them into helping.  That doesn’t work very well either.  So what can you do?  I’ve found that you can get different results by calling it something different and giving it a temporary feel.  Here’s what I mean:

When you ask someone to leave their group and start a new one…you’re describing it in a way that has a fairly permanent feel.  What if instead of asking them to “leave” you asked them to consider “taking a six-week vacation” from their group?  Feel the difference?  Leaving sounds permanent.  Vacation sounds temporary.

Can it really be that easy?  There’s a little more to it, but not much.  Here are the things you need to do on the front end:

• Have a plan for when the six weeks is over.  This is a big one.  You need to assure your temporary leaders that you’ll help them identify a leader for the new group (usually from within the members of the new group).
• Choose a study that will be easy to use (DVD-driven), doesn’t require a “teacher,” and then train your temporary leaders to ask their new members to take turns facilitating the study.
• Capture the God-stories of groups started this way.  This will help the next time.
• Make a big deal of the people who volunteer to take a six-week vacation from their group.  Philippians 2:4, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

Want to fight the two-headed monster and win?  Try something different!  Ask your groups to take a vacation!

One size rarely fits all.  Oh, you might be able to force your foot into the shoe or fit your body into the t-shirt…but one size rarely fits all.  And it’s the same with small group launching strategies.  What works well in the fall might not work as well in January.  What works off of a special day like Mother’s Day may be a real bomb off of Father’s Day.  That’s why you need to develop a year-round strategy if you want to launch groups year-round.  Here are some key principles:

1. Plan your approach with the whole year in mind.  Viewing the year as a whole will help you balance your approach to keep it fresh.  As much as you’ve become a fan of the HOST idea, you will quickly nauseate your congregation if you use that strategy every time.  Ok, nauseate is pretty strong.  But you will definitely get a diminished return if you use it too often.  What’s the antidote?  Use a variety of strategies to launch groups.
2. Keep in mind that the impact potential of every season is directly affected by what precedes it and what follows it.  This is often missed but is very important to understand.  For example, what makes fall the best time to use the HOST strategy is that summer precedes it.  Easy to use August to recruit HOSTs, September to promote the church-wide series and then launch late in the month.  What about January?  When will you recruit HOSTs?  Not in December.
3. Keep in mind that the two best times to launch waves of new groups are late September/early October and late January/early February.  What about Easter?  Easter can work, but it usually so late in the spring that it doesn’t give new groups enough time to firmly establish new connective tissue before summer.
4. Keep in mind that each season of the year has its own distinctive qualities.  For example, fall will bring new attendees who are new to the area.  They’re often looking for a church like the one they left behind.  Other times the summer has convinced them that THIS is the year they need to get their kids into a church.  They’re unconnected.  Ripe for an opportunity to get involved in a church-wide study.  On the other hand, the first of the year brings people who’ve just resolved to get involved in a church.  A very different motivation.  They’re not new to the area.  Just to the idea of attending.  That motivation provides an opportunity to use a small group connection with a study that appeals to people looking for a fresh start. Each season presents an opportunity to design an approach that definite distinctive qualities.
5. You will not catch every kind of fish with the same bait.  If you want to catch ‘em all, you’ll have to use a variety of baits.  Some will respond to a church-wide campaign.  Others a well-timed connection event.  Still more to a topical approach that targets a need and then offers a bridge to a next step.

Ready to get started?  The first step is to look at the year as a whole and plan with the specific needs and opportunities of each season in mind.  Right now is the time to plan for the first of the year.  January and February offer a chance to provide easy and obvious next steps for New Year’s resolutions.  Why not put a team together and begin to plan your small group strategy for 2009?

“We’ve launched 25 new groups.  How can we help them continue to meet?”

With the development of the HOST strategy it is not hard to launch a wave of new small groups.  Very easy to do.  But like I always say, “There’s an upside and a downside to everything.”  What’s the upside?  They’re easy to start.  The downside is that they come with a life expectancy of about six weeks.

Six weeks?  That’s all?  Isn’t there anything that can be done?  I’m glad you asked!  And the answer is “Yes!”  Here are the five keys to sustaining new groups:

1. Give them a coach on the front end, before they even begin, who will connect on a weekly basis, walk alongside them and help them get started.  This is important.  We’ve talked about this before. New hosts are usually very receptive to this idea in the beginning than they ever will be again.  Caution: It is important to recruit coaches based on who’s right for the job, not who’s available.  The best candidates are almost always already serving.  Freeing them up to move to the right seat on the bus separates fruitfulness from “in-name-only.”  Don’t give in to the temptation to fill an org chart with available bodies.  If you want to sustain groups, you’ll need the right people.
2. Give your new groups material that is easy to use.  There is a growing number of great studies to choose from.  I’ve written about some of them right here. Caution: The study you choose will determine how easy it is for hosts to invite friends.  I’ve written about what I call the Easy/Hard Continuum.  If you want your hosts to fill their own group you’ll need to find a topic that is very invitation friendly.
3. Encourage your new groups to take turns facilitating.  Session one ought to end with a brief look at the calendar and the invitation for group members to share responsibility for the group by taking a turn bringing refreshments, coordinating the prayer list, or even facilitating a session!  Recruiting one member in advance to take a turn is often all you need to prime the pump.  Groups that rotate facilitators are much more likely to continue meeting.  Caution: Do this in a way that is not forced.  “Everybody needs to take a turn” is not the idea.
4. Encourage your new hosts to find at least one other member who is willing to open their home for a meeting.  Groups that can meet even when the host is out of town are much more likely to continue.  Caution: It should be nearby.  Moving week four’s meeting to a home 15 miles away is not a good idea.
5. Give your new groups a study to do next that is similar in kind and do it by week 4 or 5.  There are two important parts to this key.  First, what you give them to do next must be similar to the study they start with.  DVD driven?  Give them a DVD study to do next.  6 weeks?  Give them another 6 week study to do next.  Easy to prepare?  You get the idea.  Keeping them in a similar format ensures that your new hosts will not be intimidated.  Second, telling them what’s next by week 4 or 5 catches them while they’re beginning to develop a rhythm of getting together.  Caution: Allowing each group to come up with their own follow up study almost always leads to the selection of a study that is too hard or too long.

Short story?  Most of us think more clearly about how things begin than how they end (or move to the next stage).  The test for this statement?  Think about learning to ride a bike.  Did you stop to think about what you’d do if you needed to stop?  Did you think about what you’d do when you got to the end of your street?  For most of us this is a pretty distant example…but still relevant.

This is also true in small group ministries. Think about it.  When you chose the study you’re using with your groups this September, did you take the time to build a timeline for the fall?  Have you already chosen the next series you’ll promote?  Do you know how you’ll help your groups make it through the holidays?  I’ve found that most of us don’t think that way…and it will make a difference if you do.

I’ve found that there are some important assumptions that will help more groups continue.  A little strategy never hurt either.  First a few assumptions (and each of these could be an individual article!):

• A six week study is short enough to allow most people to brave putting a toe in the water.  If you challenge them to test-drive a small group and limit their commitment to six weeks, you’ll end up with a larger response.
• A six week study is long enough to begin to see connective tissue develop between people.  In other words, if they’ll give you six weeks they’ll begin to form a familiarity with each other and even begin to look forward to the meetings.
• Six weeks is not long enough to form a lasting bond.  However, if you can encourage your newest groups to choose a study to do next you’ll sustain a much higher percentage.
• The time to begin talking about what’s next is about week 3 or 4 of the first six week study.  Waiting until the end of the six weeks allows two roadblocks to develop: 1. Many groups will end before you have the chance to help them continue. 2. Most groups will have an assertive member that will suggest an inappropriate study or one that is beyond the capability of the leader.  Talking about what’s next in about week 3 or 4 will go a long way toward eliminating these two roadblocks.
• Group leaders recruited on the strength of “put in the DVD” need a study to do next that is similar to what they’ve just done.  Going from limited preparation necessary (30 minutes to an hour) to one that is two hours of preparation is a huge leap in expectation.
• Time apart does not make the hearts of new small group members grow fonder.  Until a group is 6 to 9 months old, more than two to three weeks off is very risky.

Now for a little strategy:

1. Take out a calendar and a piece of blank paper.  Pencil in the following key dates: a. Christmas Eve, b. the proposed starting date for your Pastor’s January message series, c. Starting date for your September small group study, d. End date for your September study.  There may be other dates that are significant, but I’ve found these to be essential for our discussion.
2. Choose a “next” study for your groups that is similar in kind.  If you’ve launched with DVD, choose another study that has a similar format and a similar amount of leader preparation.  Choose the next study in time to begin promoting it by about week 3 or 4 of the launching study.  It can be promoted easily from the platform by saying “Many of you have been wondering if there is a study to follow _____________.  Here’s what we’re recommending that you do next.”
3. Understand that bridging the holidays is an essential step for sustaining groups.  It’s too much work to get things going only to allow new groups to meet six times and then break for the holidays too early.  That means that timing your second study to meet at least until the end of November (and maybe have an activity in early December) is a key to helping groups continue.  I try to meet 3 or 4 times before breaking for Christmas.  Then, use the first 2 or 3 weeks of January to complete the study.  Especially where group members have paid for a study guide, knowing they’ve not completed it will encourage them to reconnect early in the new year.

Does this make sense?  Take the initiative to act right away.  In order to take advantage of the first of the year opportunities, you’ll need to begin now.

What do you provide your hosts when they sign up?  When our hosts assemble at the orientation they’ll receive a gift bag that includes a half pound bag of Starbucks coffee, a small bag of Hershey’s Kisses, a 7 Day Prayer Guide, The ABCs of a Great Start for Your Group, and nametags for their first couple meetings.

Couple notes: Starbucks gave us the coffee at a 10% discount and threw in the bags and gift paper.  We bought the Hershey’s Kisses in bulk and bagged our own with little squares of cellophane.  Very cool.  And saved a few bucks.

Jump back Rob Bell!  We’re filming a new DVD-driven study called Live Forgiven at the coolest location…a totally crumbling cotton mill in McKinney, Texas.  Can’t wait to see this curriculum hit!

Looking for a new church-wide campaign?  Who isn’t?!! One of the results of campaigns like the 40 Days of Purpose is that many churches have woken up to the potential of supplying their small groups with material that accompanies their message series.  Often referred to as an alignment, getting everyone in your congregation involved in the same thing provides a breakthrough opportunity for churches seeking to have impact.  Although an increasing number of churches are producing their own small group material, there are some real advantages to using off-the-shelf campaigns:

• You’ll benefit from higher production values than you could develop in-house
• Your energies can be directed to implementing the campaign
• Available campaigns often feature plug-and-play marketing materials (mailers, banners, bulletin shells, invitations, etc.)
• There is often a higher level of creativity in the design and presentation

Because of the tremendous potential of a campaign, there are more available now and more on the way!  Some of the most interesting new campaigns are:

• Love at Last Sight
• The Power of a Whisper
• Outlive Your Life
• Why? (a church-wide 40-day campaign focused on evangelism and apologetics)
• Made (reveals insights about spiritual gifts, serving, and making a difference)
• Live Like You Were Dying (a 30-Day campaign based on the Grammy award winning song)
• One Month to Live (a 30-Day Campaign based on a new book by the same name)
• Nothing’s Too Hard For God (built around 8 needs that people struggle with today)

(Need help?  Click here to find out about my Church-Wide Campaign Coaching program)

Is your church ready for another all-church campaign?  Maybe you saw the power of the 40 Days of Purpose or Community and you’d like to recapture that momentum.  Or maybe you’ve only heard about the advantage of a church-wide campaign and you’d like your own congregation to experience that kind of unity.  Maybe the closest thing you’ve experienced has been a well-designed capital campaign that energized your people and got them on the same page.

Off-the-Shelf Campaigns

No matter the motivation, if you’re ready to plan and launch a church-wide campaign there are a couple ways you can go about it.  You could take a look at an off-the-shelf campaign.  We’ve written about a few of them right here.

Develop Your Own Campaign

Or maybe you’ve begun to think about developing your own; a home-grown effort.  There are a number of  ways to accomplish this goal.

• Find an off-the-shelf small group print curriculum that matches your weekend series theme and then produce your own DVD featuring your pastor to go along with it.  Doesn’t have to be a perfect match.  Close is often good enough.  The DVD can be a very simple, fireside-chat format.  You can even film your own testimony clips to go along with your teaching.
• Find an off-the-shelf small group curriculum (print and DVD) and build your own message series around the theme.  Many churches have used Lifetogether’s award winning studies in this way.  They feature some of the best known teachers in a format that is very friendly and easy to use.
• Use some in-house writers and video talent to put your own curriculum together.  Many churches have the talent already, just waiting to be included.
• Take advantage of the experience of a group like SmallGroupResources.net.  Our team of seasoned professionals understand the art and the science of developing a DVD-driven curriculum.  You can find out more right here.