Have you ever said, "I'm not sure how I missed that!" Or maybe, "That caught all of us by surprise!" If you've said anything like that, you're in good company.

Life has a way of encouraging preoccupation with that which is urgent, often at the expense of those things that are truly important. And sometimes that unnoticed blip on the screen turns out to be very significant.

To an air traffic controller a bogey is an unidentified aircraft; a suspicious blip on a radar screen. They don't know what it is or whether it is friend or foe.

For my purposes, I'm defining a bogey as something more than suspicious and probably something quite deadly. See what you think.

Here are 4 bogeys* that might not be on your radar...yet:

1. Belonging trumps believing and becoming.

All three are important, but belonging is a much higher motivation for most people. That said, it is more effective to make it easy to connect to a small group and build discipleship (becoming like Jesus) into the group experience than the other way around. If you've missed this bogey, you may have implemented a strategy that repeatedly hopes against all odds to leverage a lower motivation (becoming) as the first step.

It is more effective to make it easy to connect to a small group and build discipleship (becoming like Jesus) into the group experience than the other way around. Click To Tweet

For first steps to be effective, they must be easy, obvious and strategic. First steps can be clearly marked (obvious) and strategic (only leading where you want people to go), but unless they are easy (come and see vs come and die), they will only rarely be taken.

See also, Would You Rather: Connect Unconnected People or Make More Disciples? and Create Connecting Steps that Are Easy, Obvious and Strategic.

2. Until the why is clearly communicated, what is unfamiliar and how is irrelevant to unconnected people.

You may have designed genius communication methods that clearly explain how to get connected. You may have worked diligently to develop steps that are easy, obvious and strategic. But until you've made it easy to understand why doing life in community is so important, you will struggle to break through the most basic of barriers. Only after you've clearly and compellingly communicated the why will unconnected people see the essential qualities of what you are asking them to do. And only then will how to do it become relevant. Far too many of us are starting the conversation with how to get connected, overlooking the need to articulate what a small group is and never getting around to crafting a compelling why.

Until you've made it easy to understand why doing life in community is so important, you will struggle to break through the most basic of barriers. Click To Tweet

See also, How Great Leaders Inspire Action.

3. Discipling and developing small group leaders is an essential activity, not a nice extra.

This is why an effective small group coaching structure is not something you build later. You must acknowledge that “whatever you want to happen at the member level, will have to happen to the leader first.” That makes discipling and developing small group leaders an essential activity.

You must acknowledge that whatever you want to happen at the member level, will have to happen to the leader first. That makes discipling and developing small group leaders an essential activity. Click To Tweet

See also, Skill Training: Equip Your Coaches to Develop and Disciple Leaders.

4. Guiding the selection of study material is responsible, not intrusive.

Responsible parents make certain choices for their children. Parents may go above and beyond to prepare meals that are nutritious and appealing, but knowing the importance of a nutritious diet, they don't delegate meal planning to their children. In the same way, guiding the selection of study material is the activity of responsible small group point people. If you are providing little or no guidance you should not expect to produce mature disciples.

Guiding the selection of study material is responsible, not intrusive. Click To Tweet

See also, Small Group Ministry Myth #2: Effective at Connecting and Ineffective at Discipling and Small Group Ministry Myth #3: Leaders and Members Know Best What to Study.

Image by Official U.S. Navy Page