There are several common misconceptions about DVD-driven small group curriculum.

But first, a little history:

In January of 2001, when Saddleback took the energy and resources that were producing their mid-week service (Side Note: averaging about 1,000 adults in attendance) and shifted that energy and those resources into producing video-driven small group curriculum, two important things happened:

1. It made it possible for ordinary people with HEARTS for unconnected people to OPEN their homes, SERVE a few refreshments, and TURN on the VCR (Note: the origin of the HOST acronym).
2. It made it possible for the most gifted communicators to launch discussions about God’s word in over 800 homes throughout the Saddleback Valley (Side Note: approximately 8,000 people).

Full Disclosure: I vividly remember the very first time our groups were provided a video based study.  My initial reaction?  Wait!  I love teaching!  I would rather teach the thing myself!  Remember that day like it was yesterday.  You know what happened?  I took a step back and thought about how many of the leaders in my small group system could do what I could do.  And there were some…but not many.  Only after gaining a sense of who I was did I reach the point where I became an advocate of DVD-driven curriculum.

And now to the misconceptions about DVD-driven small group curriculum:

Misconception #1: It limits the development and use of the teaching gift. I think the biggest misconception about DVD-driven material is that using it somehow limits the development and use of the teaching gift.  In my opinion, nothing could be further from reality.  The best DVD-driven material provides a discussion opener that presents God’s truth in a creative way and launches an engaging discussion that leads to genuine understanding and personal  application.  The best DVD-driven material averages 12 to 15 minutes in length.  At its best it is an opener.  Since most group meetings last 75 to 90 minutes…there is still plenty of time for the teaching gift to be exercised.

Misconception #2: It stunts group member’s ability to use their own Bible.  Okay…that might be even a little further from reality.  In my experience, the best DVD-driven material opens the door and points the way for group members to want to “examine the scriptures” for themselves.  Does it require a group leader willing to help less knowledgeable members find the chapter and verse?  Yes, but that’s part of the fun!

Misconception #3: DVD-driven studies can’t be used for discipleship.  Really?  I think that might just reflect a limited imagination.  I like Jim Putman’s thinking on the three keys to Jesus’ success as the “greatest disciple-maker in history:

1. Jesus was an intentional leader in every sense.
2. He did His disciple-making in a relational environment.
3. He followed a process that can be learned and repeated (p. 35, real life discipleship).”

DVD-driven material allows the disciple-maker to be very intentional.  Using a tool like the Purpose Driven Life Health Assessment allows the group leader to choose the best material for the needs of the individual group.  DVD-driven material allows the group leader to focus more energy on creating a highly relational environment and leave the creative opener and direction-setting teaching to the most gifted communicator.  Further, DVD-driven material allows the process to be easily learned and repeated.

A little more history:

If Jesus was “the greatest disciple-maker in history,” I think you can argue that the Apostle Paul was only a few steps behind.  What made Paul such an effective discipler?  What do you think has had the greatest impact on the largest number of people?  The live teaching/disciple-making he did while alive or the impact of the teaching in his letters to 1st century churches and individuals?  If Paul were here today, what medium do you think he would use to guide the discipleship efforts of believers everywhere?

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

Hearing about the latest innovations in small group ministry is one of my absolute favorite things.  Another one is sharing those things with you!

One of the fastest growing churches in the country is Central Christian Church in Arizona.  Jeff Gibson is the Life Groups Pastor there.  Here’s his take on how their groups strategy has changed as they’ve moved from two campuses to four:

Why did you change?

Central Christian Church is 52 years old, and since the mid-90′s had a traditional groups structure with a Small Group pastor who led coaches who led groups.  In 2007 we added our second campus, adding two full time staff members, one specific to coaching and leader development and one for connection.  This worked well, as the campuses were only 11 miles apart and you could split time between both.

In the past year, however, we have added two more campuses, proving what we had been told, which was that the fourth campus changes everything.  It became impossible to have a relational abilities that we as a small groups staff had been used to.  We realized that we had to have “feet on the ground” without adding staff.

What changes did you make?

The biggest change we made was to have the campus pastors become the small groups champion on their campuses, raising up leaders and encouraging connection with the support of small group staff, who became Life Group Central Services.  Life Groups Central Services is responsible for the vision, policy and administration of the ministry.   Each campus also has a core team of three volunteers who support the campus pastor by leading teams that have ownership of events, promote serving opportunities for groups and directly connect people into groups.

What have been some early wins?

The biggest win is that more people are now bought into Life Groups on a ministry level.  The quality of what we are providing has improved because each volunteer who steps up into campus level leadership brings a new perspective and an enthusiasm for seeing people get into groups and to grow spiritually in them.  We also have increased our relational capacity.  Like many churches, we put a lot of effort into our website, using technology to get people into groups and to interact with group leaders.  As a result, we lost some of the face to face interaction that people still want and need.  This change has helped to regain that interaction.  Because at the end of the day, Isn’t that why groups sit in circles?

What’s a “tomorrow problem” that you need to start working on right now?

In January we are pulling out the stops for a Life Group connection month, highlighting our specialty groups each weekend (Men’s, Women’s, Support, Marriage, etc.), culminating in a big connection event for our Neighborhood groups on a Sunday evening at each campus.  We know we will have literally hundreds of people looking to get into a group.   Because we have a belief that new people connect best into new groups (via Larry Osborne), we will be creating dozens of groups that night.  The two ways we are preparing for that is to raise up as many leaders as we can to be ready to lead new groups, but more importantly, we are asking 30 existing group leaders to mentor a new group for four to six weeks following the connection event, raising up a leader from within the group, and training the group on how to be a group.  This way the new leader has a built in coach connection and one more volunteer has increased his leadership and his influence.

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Want to connect with Jeff?  You can catch up with him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.  He also blogs at JeffGibson.me

One of the things each of us needs is an accurate sense of who we are.  This is essential.

First, our appraisal needs to be accurate.  This is where 360 degree evaluations come in.  This is where Marcus Buckingham’s strengths assessment or the one in Stand Out (Buckingham’s new, even more powerful, assessment) come in.  An accurate assessment of our own gifts and abilities.

An accurate sense is essential, as the tendency might be for one’s assessment to tend toward either an inflated sense or deflated.

Inflated could be generated by illusory superiority, sometimes referred to as the Lake Wobegon effect, (named after Garrison Keillor‘s fictional town where “all the children are above average”).

Deflated isn’t the same as legitimate and healthy modesty.  Sometimes it can be the “aw shucks” variety that is really aimed at the “tell me more about how much of a difference maker I am” kind of deflated.  And sometimes it’s just that you don’t actually know who God’s made you to be.

Either way, it is essential that you find out.

Why are we talking about this today?  I have two reasons:

First and foremost, we’ll know what we’re going to be held accountable for.  If each of us are given responsibilities and opportunities “according to our abilities,” it will definitely pay off to know what our abilities are.  Right?  Need more on this one?  See The Right People in the Right Seats and More on the Right People in the Right Seats.

Second, and this is also huge, when we have an accurate sense of who we are, among other things, we’ll know how likely it is that the small group leaders in our organisation can do what we can do.  We need to be on guard against what is often referred to as “gift projection.”  That is, you are a gifted small group leader, able almost without preparation to shift the direction of a discussion and seize the moment…and you act like anyone can do it.

Takeaway

Every one of your small group leaders are wired in their own way.  They are not all the same.  They cannot all do what you can do.  You cannot do what some of them are wired to do.  Be careful that you make it possible for each of them to actually hear “well done.”  Some of your small group leaders will make it happen with the teaching gift.  Others will use sensitive and skillful facilitation.  Some will be so encouraging and filled with mercy that they will draw hurting people who just need a listening ear.  And some will pop in the DVD and fumble through the next 45 minutes hemming and hawing…and somehow the Holy Spirit will take what happens and feed everyone in the room.

Every one of these scenarios is possible…if everyone is allowed to be who God made them to be.  Knowing who you are and who they are is absolutely essential.

Want do you think?  Know who you are?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

While every church has its own names for the three main types of small group connecting events (I’ll also tell you about a twist that I’ve found interesting and effective), there are certain key distinctives that set them apart.  I think it’s important to make these distinctions because sometimes people will tell me they’ve already tried a strategy, but when I poke around I realize that they’ve tried a version of it, but not the real version.  That’s very important to understand.

Here are what I’ve found the three types of events to be:

• Small Group Connection: Developed at Saddleback, the essence of the small group connection idea is that unconnected people who want to join a group are invited to attend an event where groups will be formed.  A sorting process is used to group participants by affinity (life-stage, geography, meeting availability, etc.).  The process of the event itself helps identify leaders within each of the groups formed.  The main distinctive is that the connection process identifies leaders (where you previously had not identified them).  You can read more about how to do a small group connection right here.
• GroupLink: Developed at North Point, Group Link is primarily an opportunity for unconnected people to connect with pre-qualified leaders.  While there are some similarities between Group Link and the small group connection, the main distinctive is that pre-qualified leaders are available and play an important part.  You can read a little more about Group Link right here.  You can order Group Link materials from North Point right here.
• Small Group Fair: many churches hold a small group fair inviting many or all of their small groups to host a table or booth advertise or promote their group.  Unconnected people looking for a group are invited to “stop by the tables, talk with the leaders or members and see if they can find a good match.”  Described in the book Dog Training, Fly Fishing and Sharing Christ in the 21st Century, the main distincitive of a small group fair is that existing groups are given an opportunity to market themselves in a fun environment.  It’s important to remember that this method adds members to existing groups.

A twist on the small group connection strategy that I’ve found to work very well is what I call a Book Study.  I run it like a connection.  The main distinctive of this event is that leaders emerge over the course of the first few weeks.  Here’s the gist of the way it works:

• We advertise the study (we’ve done studies like The Measure of a Man and Bad Girls of the Bible).
• On the first day of the study we sort everyone out into tables of 6 to 8 people and then give them a few discussion questions to get them through the first night.  Then we give them their homework assignment (read the chapter).  We also have them jot down the name and phone number of the person on their right and commit to call that person during the week.  And then we say goodnight.
• The next week they show up and we seat them at the same tables as the previous week.  After a very brief opener, we release them to discus the questions at the end of the first chapter.  In almost every case, a natural leader emerges during the second meeting.  At the end of the meeting, we give them their homework assignment for the next week.  We have them jot down the name and number of the person on their left, committing to call midweek.  And we say goodnight.
• Two years in a row we’ve had them meet on-campus for the first 4 to 5 weeks and then off-campus for the last 2 to 3.  The best part?  Many of the groups are still meeting a year later.

Want do you think?  Have one to add?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

King Solomon said “there is nothing new under the sun.”  I’ve been at this a long time and am convinced he had stumbled on a true truth of life.  That said, it follows that there are certain assumptions that come up over and over again and lead to a dead end every time.

Here are 5 that pop up all the time:

1. Adding members to existing groups builds group health.  This assumption refers to the practice of sending reinforcements to groups that have members drop out or can’t seem to keep people coming.  Given the choice, it’s almost always more productive to start new groups, as opposed to propping up existing groups.  Groups that need help finding new members are rarely healthy and almost never the best option for genuine connection on the part of a new member.  When dealing with this issue, I often point out that I am a Darwinist.  I believe in the survival of the fittest.
2. Apprenticing is about multiplication.  Not.  Apprenticing, in most cases, may be about leadership development but is almost never the best avenue of group multiplication.  Offering a single small group connection or launching a church-wide campaign every fall will almost always start more new groups and identify more new leaders than an apprenticing strategy.  Should every leader be working to replicate themselves?  Yes.  Should every leader be working themselves out of a job?  Yes.  Does the apprenticing strategy lead to more groups and more people in groups?  No…or at least, not as quickly as several other more effective strategies.
3. “Depth” leads to life-change.  What most Christians need is not depth or an understanding of deeper teaching.  Most of us just need to do what we already understand.  That is within the grasp of the most basic and simplest teaching in an environment of encouragement and challenge.  The eleven men to whom Jesus entrusted the Great Commandment needed an explanation of some of His most basic teachings.  They didn’t have time to long for deeper or depth.  They were too busy doing basic.
4. Rows and circles produce the same thing.  There may be a place for rows (a metaphor for instruction), but rows do not offer the same experience as circles (a metaphor for discussion and interaction).  Offering the two as interchangeable options leads to something other than the optimal environment for life-change.
5. There is a small group system that will solve all your problems.  There is no question in my mind that the pursuit of problem-free delays more ministry than any thing else.

Want do you think?  Have one to add?  Want to argue?  You can click here to jump into the conversation.

I’ve mentioned previously that there are three key opportunities every year to launch new groups.  If you’re reading this on November 30th, you’re about 60 days away from the second best opportunity.  And there are several things you can do right now to optimize the impact of a late January launch.

First, pull out your calendar and take a look at the first six weeks of 2012.  You need to pencil in several action items:

• Whether you’re planning a small group connection, a GroupLink event or a small group fair, January 22nd, 29th, or February 12th are probably the optimum dates to choose from.  These dates are early enough to capture the attention of unconnected people who want to “turn over a new leaf” and start 2012 on the right foot.  Note that in the United States January 15th will be impacted by a three day weekend (Martin Luther King day) and February 5th will be impacted by the Super Bowl.
• Plan to promote your event several weeks in a row.  Once you’ve selected the date of your small group event, just back up 2 or 3 weeks and begin promoting.  In most churches promotion is arranged in advance (i.e., now is the time to meet with your senior pastor, the staff member that gives the okay for bulletin inserts, and your web-master).  You can promote the event with announcements, bulletin inserts, and on your website.  The most important way to promote it is a timely moment in your senior pastor’s sermon.  If you need help understanding how to integrate an ask into your pastor’s sermon you can take a look at How to Make the HOST Ask.
• Schedule a meeting with your coaches in early January to talk about their role in the upcoming event and make decisions about how the new groups will be coached.

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

This is a two-part concept.  First, so that we’re all on the same page, let’s start with a definition:

on-ramp: noun [on-ramp, -awn] an entrance lane for traffic from a street to a turnpike or freeway

We all know what an on-ramp is when we’re driving, right?  But when we’re talking about grouplife…it’s still just that basic concept of ways to go from the anonymity of the auditorium to the familiarity of the coffee table; to move from unconnected to connected.

On-ramps.  Every church needs ‘em.

Now, let’s establish easy, obvious, and strategic:

One of the most important insights in the 7 Practices of Effective Ministry is the importance of thinking steps, not programs.  In other words, rather than focusing on programs as solutions (home grown or off-the-shelf), we ought to be paying attention to designing steps that lead from where people are to where we want them to be.

Think steps, not programs.  A very simple concept.  A very powerful practice.

Within the practice of thinking steps, not programs, is the concept of making each of the steps easy, obvious, and strategic.  Essentially, each step should be obvious (not hard to discover), easy (shouldn’t require a running start), and strategic (ought to lead in the right direction every time).  You can read a more detailed explanation right here.

Can you see how the practice applies to grouplife?  Getting connected to a group ought to be easy, obvious, and strategic.

Easy: That is, it shouldn’t take a lot of work to connect.  Think about the process of connecting at your church.  Start by thinking about the simple transaction of finding a group to join.  Is it easy?  Can a prospective member walk up to a booth after service and find a group?  Or do they have to turn in a form and wait for a response?  What about your website?  Is it easy to find out how to join?  Is it easy to find answers about what a small group is?

Obvious: In addition to being easy, how to join a group should also be obvious.  In other words, it shouldn’t be a guessing game.  Think about your lobby.  Think about your website.  Think about your bulletin.  If anything requires a detailed explanation…it’s too hard.

Strategic: If you want to connect a lot of people, every thing you do needs to move people in the right direction.  Steps that take people out of the way (think ongoing teaching venues where the participants “sit in rows”) are what Andy Stanley calls “sideways energy.”  A strategic step might be an on-campus small group connection that leads to an off-campus small group.

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

The biggest obstacle for most stuck small group ministries?  I think it’s what Cynthia Barton Rabe refers to as “the paradox of expertise.”  Rabe, a former strategist at Intel, points out that:

“What we know limits what we can imagine.  When it comes to innovation, the same hard-won experience, best practice, and processes that are the cornerstones of an organization’s success may be more like millstones that threaten to sink it.”  (Practically Radical, p. 72)

Think about it.  If you’re stuck at a certain level, how frequently do you find yourself or a member of your team pointing out the reasons you need to keep doing “the things that are working?”  How often do you find yourself thinking, “We have these parts figured out (leader development, coaching, placing members, etc.).  We know just about everything there is to know about “x.”

Sound familiar?  Could it be that it is actually the best practices and processes that are keeping you from discovering the mold-breaking innovation that will completely change what’s possible?  Are some of grouplife’s axiomatic beliefs actually preventing your ministry from doing what it could do?

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

Once you’ve decided what business you’re in (yesterday’s question), you need to figure out what you are going to call success.  Some people think about this question as “clarifying the win.”

This is very, very important.  Oh…it’s tempting to shoot the arrows first and then draw in the target, just like in this well-known Brother Juniper cartoon.  We’ve all done a version of that.  Like when you distribute large numbers of host packets, less than half ever have their first meeting, and you celebrate the 45% that actually start.  Or maybe, every group has an apprentice but even though there’s rarely a birth, you celebrate the occasional new group.  Or how about this one: you’re focusing on making disciples…but the work usually stops at the first generation.  Disciples rarely become disciple makers.  You celebrate when they do.

Trust me, the idea is to decide in advance what you will call success.

Why must you determine what you’ll call success before you begin?  When you choose in advance you:

• Plan your strategy with the end in mind
• Have a built in milestone or finish line
• Are brutally honest about outcomes

A Few Examples

• Our apprenticing practice is a success when 50% of our existing groups birth every 12 months.
• Our host recruitment strategy is a success when 3 out of 4 host groups report having a great experience.
• Our disciple-making strategy is a success when over 50% of the men and women in our program have identified and begun meeting with their own candidate by the time they are within 60 days of the finish line.

For more on the practice of clarifying the win for your ministry, see The 7 Practices of Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley and Reggie Joiner.

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

What do you think the first question is?  Any ideas?

I think the first the question is, “What business am I in?” And I know for some that is an almost shocking idea.  After all, are we really in a business?  If that’s you…you might want to think of it as, “What am I trying to do?”

Either way, you must think carefully about this first question and answer it with absolute clarity.  Clarity is important if you expect to ever know whether you’re succeeding…or not.

Now, you need to know that there are several viable answers to the question.  You might conclude that you are in the business of making disciples.  Sounds reasonable.  Right?

Or you might decide that you are in the business of identifying and developing disciple-makers.  After all, if you want to make disciples, you’ll need to figure out a way to find an increasing number of the sort of men and women who live and breathe to replicate themselves.  Again, sounds reasonable.  Right?

Or you might land on the conclusion that you are in the business of connecting way beyond the usual suspects.  Maybe even helping people at crowd’s edge–the least connected to the church with the strongest connections to the community–discover ways to include their friends, family, neighbors and co-workers; helping them take their first steps to connecting.

Three Issues You Must Be Aware Of:

Is there a right answer?  I can’t speak for you.  But I can tell you there are three issues you must be aware of:

1. Indecision about the business you’re in, especially the pursuit of problem-free, delays real impact.  Carefully and intentionally determining the business you are in brings clarity and measurable impact.
2. Try to be in the business of “all of the above” and you’ll end up doing nothing.  Focus is the key to impact.  Much like the difference between a laser and a table lamp.  Both bring light.
3. Waffle from one business to the next and then back (or onto a third) and you’ll end up confusing your team.  After all, much like a sport, every distinct business has its own rules, its own way of keeping score.

So how do you answer that question?  What business are you in?  Have you found your answer?

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