We’ve been talking about building an exponential group system.  In my last post we wrestled with the idea that a key early step in the journey to exponential is to have brutal honesty about the present…the way things really are right now.

Once you’ve developed a clear and honest understanding of where things really are right now, it’s time to start thinking about what is possible.  And this really should be a process.  It’s probably not a one session step.  Instead, it’s probably something that you do over several sessions.  And it really should be about dreaming big about all that’s possible in group life at your church.

Here’s how to get started.  First, you ought to pull together a team of people who care about group life…and are open minded.  I think both elements are really important.  They need to care about group life because it might be out of their passion for it they’ll be able to dream about how best to make it available to everyone.  At the same time, they need to be open minded about alternative ways it might develop…because if it was already firing on all cylinders you probably wouldn’t be having this discussion.

Second, you need to set some ground rules about the creative process you’re about to engage in.  I’ve written about IDEO’s brainstorming rules right here.  The key is to have an openness to a lot of possibilities because at this stage you’re really dreaming about the possible future.  I don’t want to predetermine any of your process, but here’s an example of some of what could be on your whiteboard.

• we could begin to expect every group to identify a way to serve together (this leads to…)
• we could develop a team that finds local opportunities for service
• we could develop a team (or a connection with one) that sets up video interviews of groups serving together
• we could work with the pastor and develop a calendar for the year and plug in strategic elements for each season.
• we could begin to develop our on-campus leaders and add group life elements to more traditional classes
• etc.

When you are in the dreaming stage…you need to write everything down, you need to go for lots and lots of ideas, and you need to try and add to what it being dreamed.

Third, it’s okay to read what other people are doing as a step in the process.  In fact, I highly recommend that you read Creating Community, Sticky Church, and Activate while you’re in this process.  Not that you would simply adopt a model, but that you would see more possibilities.

Remember, this should be a multiple step process.  Maybe you have a session or two at the whiteboard, then read a book together (or each read one of the books), then come back together and hit the whiteboard again.

Don’t refine yet.  That’s what we’ll talk about next time.  If you’re not signed up to get the update, you can do that right here.

Yesterday we talked about the core philosophy that drives an exponential group system.  If you missed step one, you can read about having a crowd-to-core philosophy right here.

Today I want to talk about step two in the process: Diagnosis: Brutal Honesty About Your Present.   Sounds harsh.  Brutal even.  But without an honest evaluation of right now, you can’t possibly build an exponential system.  So how do you evaluate your present?  What are you looking for?

Here are the questions I use:

• Group life must be a life-on-life activity.  It can’t be a purely educational experience.  It’s about interaction.  Can it happen on Sunday a.m. in a classroom setting?  It can, but it will take work to create the right environment there.  At the same time, it takes work to create the right environment in a living room.
• Group life must be promoted.  By promoted I mean talked about, highlighted, mentioned, and referred to.  It needs to happen in your pastor’s messages, in announcements, in testimonies, on your website, your e-newsletter, and your bulletin or program.
• Group life must be promoted all the time, not once a season or when it’s recruiting time, and certainly not in a kind of rotating emphasis where equal time is given to every ministry or program.  This is a very important question about where you are right now.  Without year-round promotion, you can’t get to exponential.
• Group life must be seen as an essential ingredient of spiritual growth.  From a practical standpoint, it really needs to be seen as one of a very few essential ingredients.  What are the others?  Gathering for corporate worship and serving in a gift-based, passion-driven ministry.  You’ll have difficulty getting to exponential if there is much there beyond those three.

How are you doing so far?  When you evaluate the way things are right now in your ministry, is group life promoted year-round as an essential ingredient of spiritual growth?

The next diagnosis question is: How obvious is the path to connect with a group in your system?  In other words, once I begin hearing about how essential group life is, will my next step be obvious?  Can I see it prominently promoted on the website?  Can I walk out into the lobby right after service and see what to do?  Is the next step obvious?

Next, how easy is the first step?  Can I take a baby step?  Or do I have to be a world record long jumper like Carl Lewis?  An example of easy is a six week test-drive on a timely and broadly engaging topic.  An example of a difficult first step is Experiencing God or The Truth Project.  Great studies, but at 12 to 14 weeks are too long for a first step.

Last, does the first step lead to a next step?  This is a very important part of getting to exponential.  It’s not that every group must survive or every person who joins continues.  It’s that you’re doing what you must to build in the greatest possibility of survival.

Your next step is to pull together a conversation about how things really are right now in your ministry.  You’ll need the right people around the table.  It will take time.  You’ll have to be honest.  But here’s the thing.  You’re kidding yourself if you think you can get to exponential from just anywhere.  You need to rearrange the way things are today if you want to get somewhere different tomorrow.

What makes a group system exponential?  What makes a church exponential?  I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, but my convictions on the matter string together some important concepts acquired over the years.

But before we get to the keys to building an exponential group system, let’s define it.  In some ways it’s kind of an “I’ll know it when I see it” thing, but basically an exponential system is one that is about multiplication as opposed to addition.  Take a look at two examples:

Example A

• if you have 10 groups and 7 of them agree to take a small group vacation
• and out of those 7 groups you ended up with 18 additional hosts who opened their home for the church-wide campaign
• and you used a campaign topic that was engaging to the crowd (i.e., Live Like You Were Dying)
• and 13 of those 18 new groups determined to keep meeting after the campaign
• you’d double the number of groups from 10 to 20.

Example B

• You have 10 groups
• You talk with each group leader challenging them to birth a new group in time for the church-wide campaign
• and you choose a topic for the campaign that is about building up believers (i.e., Just Walk Across the Room)
• 8 of the 10 group leaders say they’re not ready to birth, 1 of the 2 apprentices announces they’re moving
• You challenge each group to invite a few new folks to their group for the upcoming church-wide campaign
• At the end of the church-wide campaign you’ve added one group and the total number of people in groups has grown by 20.

Example A is about multiplication.  Example B is about addition.  If you want to have an exponential group system, you’ve got to think multiplication.

The first key to building an exponential group system (or church) is to understand what you have right now.  A kind of diagnosis.  If you pull up to the Ferrari repair shop and complain about poor performance, the first thing they’re going to do is lift up the hood and take a look.  When you lift up the hood on your group system, you need to figure out if you have a “crowd to core” philosophy. Or more of a “core to crowd” philosophy.

What is “crowd to core?”  Easy to understand, especially if you’re familiar with Saddleback’s concentric circle concept.  Essentially a crowd to core philosophy is designed to help people in the crowd take an easy step into the congregation, the folks in the congregation take a step into a deeper commitment and the committed step into the core.

Core to crowd is the opposite arrangement.  It is the idea that if I focus on the most committed people, building into them, investing in them, discipling them, they will reach the community.  It is the concept behind services and programs designed to build up the believer with the idea that once they’re equipped they’ll reach out, they’ll disciple others, etc.

Can’t a group system (or church) with a core to crowd philosophy of ministry experience exponential growth?  Isn’t it really just a matter of preference?  An extension of “it takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people?”  Yes and no.  While it may be theoretically possible for a core to crowd philosophy to experience exponential growth, it rarely happens in practice.  More often than not it becomes about growing deeper, losing the potential vibrancy of new life that comes when you reach into the crowd.

You may be thinking, “Skip exponential!  We’d settle for growth.”  Can’t we get that with a core to crowd philosophy.  Yes you can, but unless you’re living in a very stable community where few people ever move away, you probably won’t realize the long-term potential of building into your core.

So what kind of system do you have right now?  Are you operating with a crowd to core philosophy?  Or more of core to crowd?  The problem for many, many churches?  Wanting (and even expecting) exponential results while building a core to crowd system.

The first key?  Make sure you’ve got a crowd to core philosophy and that your strategies match up.  What’s next?  You need a brutal assessment of the present.

I’m asked about G12 a few times a year…not near as much as free market, semester based, or sermon based…but often enough to have had many conversations over the past few years.  Here’s what I know about the G12 small group philosophy:

First, at it’s essence G12 works like this: the key leader forms a group with 12 members.  The leader invests in the members, holds them accountable, encourages them, shepherds them, etc.  Each of these members is then expected to form their own group of 12 where they’ll serve as the leader…doing to their members what has been modeled to them.  And then, those members are expected to form their own group of 12.  Pretty simple concept.

Second, there are other key ingredients in the model.  Encounters, or weekend retreats, are used to help jump-start leader development.  Groups are almost always separated into men’s groups, women’s groups and children’s groups.  You can find other aspects in this article over on Wikipedia.

Third, unlike most of the other small group systems I’ve referred to, G12 is really more of a church growth concept.  Where most small group systems are strategies to help members grow in Christ and be encouraged through community, G12 is the engine that drives the churches who use it.

Two Cautionary Keys:

There are two keys for me as I have observed churches in the United States and Canada attempt to implement the G12 idea.  First, I’ve found that the pace of life in developed countries (I’m probably misusing the term, but you get my meaning) is too fast to actually pull off the idea that I’m in one group as a member and another as a leader…and they meet simultaneously.  Generally speaking, the majority of adults have too much going on to actually make that happen.  If anyone can really do that they are in the distinct minority.  Anytime you base a system on what a minority will do…it is not likely to succeed.

Second, when you google G12 you’ll notice that the first page or so are negative articles about the system.  Just to highlight one, Joel Comiskey’s Concerns About the G12 Movement is much more developed than what I’ve written here.

Thoughts?  Questions?  Use the comments to let me know what you’re thinking.

Looking for information about other small group systems?  You’ll find more right here.

In terms of small groups philosophy of ministry, the open or closed group question is very big.  Both sides have some good arguments.  Like every other argument there is no problem-free solution.  Although I believe there are times when it is both appropriate and beneficial to “close” a group, for the most part I am solidly in the open group camp.  Here are my top 10 reasons:

10.  Eliminates the need to “card people at the door!”

9.  One less idiosyncrasy to explain to interested newbies.

8.  Adding a new person to a group often causes new details to be added to old stories.

7.  Gives an opportunity for includers to include, reach out, and help new members to feel part of the group.

6.  Creates opportunities for new friendships.

5.  It counters the “me-first” attitude of the culture when I’m willing to share what I have.

4.  A growing group opens new doors for putting the needs of others above your own.

3.  Without new blood, relationships can become stagnant.

2.  If grouplife really is essential to me, I will be most persuasive when I invite you to my group.

1.  The closest friends of the newest people in your congregation will never be easier to invite than in the first 3 to 6 months.

Admittedly, if you’re any kind of debater you can come up with counter arguments for many of my top 1o.  Let me be clear though.  I believe that reason number one trumps any potential good that can come from a closed group system.  Relationships that members of closed groups had with outsiders will almost certainly have faded once they’ve completed 12 to 18 months.  In the sense that there’s an upside and a downside to everything…that is a huge downside and solidly puts me in the open group camp.

Looking for a small group ministry system?  You might want to check out Creating Community: Five Keys to Building a Small Group Culture for some insight into the way that North Point Community Church has structured and built their system.  Written by Andy Stanley and Bill Willits, Creating Community provides a good look at some of the underlying principles that form the foundation.  And let me just say…it is a great book.  It’s great because it is a very practical and fairly detailed illustration of the principles found in the 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, easily one of my favorite books in the last 10 years.

There are three distinctives that must be pointed out in any discussion of North Point’s strategy: (1) the GroupLink strategy of forming groups,  (2) the closed-group philosophy, and (3) the use of staff to care for group leaders (as opposed to identifying, recruiting and relying on volunteer “coaches”).  Although any examination of their structure and strategy will unearth Meta Church and Willow Creek roots, these three distinctives are something that are important and shouldn’t be minimized.

GroupLink: This is the North Point name for a strategy that is used several times a year to launch new small groups.  In many ways GroupLink is similar to a Small Group Connection, popularized by Saddleback.  As I’ve highlighted in other strategies, they choose very strategic moments throughout the year to promote and execute this strategy.  Like everything at North Point it is done very creatively and with excellence (even to the extent of bringing in seating arrangements for the event).  Essentially, GroupLink is an event that unconnected adults attend and once at the event are moved through a process that results in a very high percentage of connection.

You’ll find a lot of information about GroupLink on the North Point site right here.  You’ll also find a starter kit available on their website right here.

An important key to their strategy is having a adequate number of pre-approved leaders at the event.  This is one of the challenges of the system and what makes it so different than the Saddleback version (built on the idea that the group can choose a leader from amongst themselves).  You can find out more about the Connection idea right here.  Although there is a built-in way to accommodate the starting of groups without a pre-approved leader, it is a notch off the intended pattern.

Closed Groups: Another very important distinctive of the North Point strategy is that groups are launched as 12 to 18 month groups that are closed to new participants.  Group members sign a covenant committing to the process.  At the end of the commitment it is the expectation that the group will end and group members will return to a GroupLink, many as leaders, ready to help launch new groups.

Staff Provides Coaching:  Rather than continuing to work with the challenge of using volunteer coaches, North Point’s strategy uses staff “community leaders” who are responsible for approximately 75 small group leaders.  It is their primary responsibility and there are serious expectations about the number of times they’ll connect and what they’ll do when they connect.

As I’ve written about throughout this series, the North Point system has advantages and disadvantages.  There is no problem-free solution to anything.  Wise leaders simply choose the set of problems they would rather have.

Advantages:

• Promoting several GroupLinks a year gives real focus to the importance of being a member of a small group.
• Pre-approved leaders gives some certainty that new group members will be well cared for.
• An event focused strategy requires the necessary commitment level from prospective members (as opposed to just signing up and not following through).
• Closed groups allow new group members to grow close over time, develop a lasting bond, and follow through on a commitment.
• Paid coaches makes it possible to get a lot accomplished.  Expectations can be inspected and a high level of care delivered to group leaders.

Disadvantages:

• It is hard for churches to identify and develop an adequate number of pre-approved leaders.  This disadvantage shouldn’t be minimized.  If your church has trouble identifying an adequate number of leaders now, GroupLink will not solve this issue.
• Closed groups cut off the friends and connections of the newest people to the crowd.  If I’m a new attendee and I join a closed group it will be 12 to 18 months before I can encourage my friend to join my group.
• Few churches are in a position to allocate adequate budget to hire staff with the primary responsibility of caring for group leaders.  Most churches will simply add this responsibility to an existing job description.

As with any strategy, there is more to it, but these are the three distinctives along with advantages and disadvantages.  You can learn about other small group systems and strategies right here.

The Connecting Church by Randy Frazee is based on a core idea that there is more room for life when you simplify or streamline your small group relationships to center on the people who live near you.  In fact, Frazee’s followup to The Connecting Church, Making Room For Life, is even more centered on that idea.

It sounds very good.  In fact, it sounds great.  When taken to its natural conclusion, it is the idea that by forming by small group out of people in my neighborhood, I have more time to really build those relationships.  Contrast this idea with the normal practice:

• relationships I’m trying to develop in the neighborhood (because I’m trying to be a good neighbor)
• relationships with the people in my small group
• relationships with people in my Sunday School class (hypothetical…I don’t have these but you might)
• relationships from the softball team, PTA, bunko group, choir, ministry team, etc.

Most of us are trying to develop group life relationships in addition to all the other relationships we already have.  It makes for a complicated life and one that predicts that none of our relationships really become the kind that are the redemptive, life-generating, refreshing kind that we really need.

The essence of Randy Frazee’s idea is that by doing everything (overstatement) with those I live near, I have a better opportunity to develop the kinds of relationships that I need.  Makes sense doesn’t it?  It did to Willow Creek, too, and was the basis for an interesting, but failed, experiment.  The emphasis they called “neighborhood groups” came directly out of Frazee’s ideas.

Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

• I streamline my relationships by forming my small group in the neighborhood.
• If I’m part of an on-campus class, it could also be geographically organized (i.e., my class consists of people who are from my area of town and may even consist of all the groups from my area of town).

Disadvantages:

• Geography is no longer the best predictor of affinity.  I can easily have very little in common with the people who live on my street.
• Few churches are really in a position to exclusively move this way because most members are already more connected with church people than with neighbors…regardless of geography.

The Connecting Church strategy is a little tricky.  It’s one that is quite alluring and it’s based on some very good principles and practices.  And yet, in many ways it is a very idealistic notion.  Under the heading that there are no problem-free solutions, this one has some great upside and may present a vision to be moved towards.  At the same time, most churches aren’t starting with a blank slate.  And at the end of the day, the hand that you’ve been dealt (the way things are right now) must be taken into consideration before moving in a new direction.

For a look at other small group ministry systems and strategies, take a look at How To Choose a Small Group System or Strategy.

When comparing small group ministry strategies and systems there are some fundamental questions to consider.

• What are the requirements to be a leader?
• What does a new member commit to?
• How will you care for the leaders?
• How does a new group begin?
• What materials can be used?

One of the most effective small group ministry strategies is centered on the idea that an annual church wide campaign is the easiest ways to launch new groups.  At its root it is a pretty simple strategy:

1. Choose the right topic for an alignment (weekend message series and small group curriculum)
2. Launch it at the right moment (there are three best times)
3. Provide a curriculum that is easy to use
4. Ask members and attendees to consider hosting a group and inviting their friends and neighbors
5. Provide a follow-up curriculum that is on an appealing topic and easy to use

5 key elements.  Admittedly, there’s a lot more to it, but those are the keys.  And clearly there are some important distinctions that you’d best not overlook.  For example, there are certain topics that are easy to invite friends and neighbors to and others that will just not work.  There are times on the annual calendar that are naturally better than others.  But when you get the keys right…this is a great way to organize a small group ministry because it answers many of the most important questions.

Still, it is not problem-free.  Wise leaders simply choose the set of problems they’d rather have.  Here’s a quick overview of some of the key disadvantages and advantages:

Disadvantages:

• It takes a lot of energy to pull off a church-wide campaign.  Regardless of church size, this is a high energy endeavor.
• It requires the focus of the whole church.  A church-wide campaign is not something you do while two or three other initiatives are being launched.
• You will have people sign up to host a group that may not meet your standards.
• Not all groups will make it.  Not all of them will even start, let alone finish the six-week study or continue to the follow-up curriculum.
• Choosing the right topic can be challenging.
• You may have to set aside normal practices to accomplish a church-wide campaign (i.e., “we’re in a year-long study of the Book of Acts).

Advantages:

• Focusing all your attention once a year on one thing brings energy, clarity and focus to your congregation.
• The right topic and curriculum can bring new vitality to outreach effectiveness.
• Recruiting hosts skillfully will identify a new wave of potential leaders.
• Encouraging ordinary members to take a step will open their eyes to new ways God wants to use them.
• Aligning weekend messages with a small group curriculum launches one conversation for 6 weeks bringing renewed focus to the congregation.

There are probably other advantages and disadvantages.  This is not a stand-alone strategy.  Many churches use it in combination with ideas borrowed from other strategies and systems.  But it has some distinct elements that can provide a renewed sense of purpose once a year.

Here are three additional articles on the church-wide campaign-driven idea:

• The Exponential Power of a Church-Wide Campaign
• How to Sequence a Small Group Launch
• Lessons from Saddleback: How to Launch Your Church-Wide Campaign

For an overview of the major small group strategies, check out my article, “How To Choose a Small Group System or Strategy.”

What is the best way to do small group ministry?  Is it better to use a free-market approach?  Does a sermon-based group strategy make sense in a seeker-sensitive church?  Can we kind of do a mash-up of several strategies and come up with one that really works for our community and our congregation?

These are all great questions!  They get asked all the time.  And these are just the tip of the iceberg!

So…what’s the answer?  Is there a best way? I think there is a best way…for your church.  Can you take parts of one system and combine it with another and end up with something good?  I think that’s how you end up with a system that works well in your environment.

How do you figure out the best solution for your church?  I think you have to start with a good foundation built on the answers to several questions:

1. The first question is what will success look like for your small group ministry?  This is a critical first step question.  Another way to ask it is, “What will a win be?”  Here’s what’s at stake.  If you aren’t clear on what you’re trying to do, you run the risk of building a system that can’t do the right things.  For example, if success is connecting 150% of your weekend adult attendance, you’ll need a different system than if success is developing families that flourish in a fallen world (I just made that one up…not even sure what it means).
2. Next, ask yourself if the win you’ve just identified is attainable given current assumptions about things like membership requirements for leaders, attention span of senior leadership, and your congregation’s willingness to prioritize group life?  The key to this step is that declaring what a win will be must be based on reality and not wishful thinking.  Getting to there can be a God-sized stretch, but there’s no point in dreaming if the dream is dependent on unattainable changes in core philosophy of ministry.
3. The third question is who will be your customer?  Think about it this way.  Do you only care about connecting and developing members of your church?  Or do you have a more outreach oriented persuasion?  Time spent determining the answer to this question will help you think about things like curriculum options, leader expectations, as well as leader selection and training.

Once you’ve worked through these questions you’ll be ready to think about what system makes the most sense in your setting.  Remember, there is no system or strategy that is truly problem-free.  Wise leaders simply choose the set of problems they’d rather have.  That said, here are the most common small group strategies.

• Meta Church
• Sermon-Based
• Semester Based
• Free Market
• Connecting Church
• North Point
• Cell Church
• G-12
• Church-Wide Campaign-Driven

I’ll be taking a look at each of these strategies over the next few weeks.  Don’t want to miss an upcoming post?  You may want to sign up to the get my update.

Semester-based groups is a strategy that has growing popularity due to books like Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas.  Essentially, semester-based is a strategy designed to take advantage of three well-timed opportunities to help people connect with a group.

Semester-based is also a strategy that is used in combination with other concepts (like sermon-based or free-market) to provide a more complete small group delivery system.

Like every strategy, semester-based groups has some real advantages.  There are also some disadvantages that need to be acknowledged.  As I’ve written in the past, there is no problem-free solution.  Wise leaders simply choose the set of problems they’d rather have.  Here are the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy:

Advantages:

• It provides a built in opportunity to promote group life three times a year.  Generally those three times are just after school starts in the fall, January when people are naturally primed to want to turn over a new leaf, and about Easter (depending on when the holiday falls).  For churches used to only talking about groups once a year, this alone will take the church in a whole new direction.
• Because each semester is 10 to 13 weeks long, it provides a relatively easy commitment for people who are being encouraged to try a group.
• Because the commitment is only for the semester, it allows an easy way out of a less-than-ideal match with the others in the group.

Disadvantages:

• The key disadvantage is the easy off-ramp provided.  While providing multiple on-ramps every year is a great idea, I’ve found that I don’t need to work so hard to give people an out after only 10 to 13 weeks.
• A 10 to 13 week commitment seems short (especially in comparison to a year), but I’ve found the idea of a 6 week commitment much more appealing.  Lyman Coleman pointed out that 6 weeks is short enough to get my commitment and long enough to begin to establish connection.
• The upside of three big time promotional periods a year comes with the downside of the work involved in producing catalogs, recruiting leaders, defining new offerings, etc.
• The semester idea requires a promotional phase for each semester.  Like anything else, if you want people to respond, you’ll need to narrow the focus on those weeks and allow the upcoming beginning of the new semester to be the priority.  You can’t get traction if it is simply added to the list of the other events and activities being promoted.

There probably are other advantages and disadvantages to the semester-based strategy.  These are just a few that are quickly identified.  I suggest that you pull together a team and have a no-holds-barred discussion.  To prepare for the discussion, I suggest reading Activate, Sticky Church and Dog Training, Fly Fishing and Sharing Christ in the 21st Century.  Combined, you’ll pick up some very transferable ideas that will help you implement the strategy if you decide to adopt the semester-based concept.