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Robert Riney, COO of Henry Ford Health System on the need for innovation and change in the hospital industry:
“It’s not radical to ‘go radical.’ It’s logical to go radical. How can you look at the situation in our industry and say the answer is to make incremental change?” (p. 80, Practically Radical)
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.
In case you missed them, here are my most popular posts for October, 2011. As is often the case, not all of the posts were written in October. You’ll find a couple 2010s and even a 2008!
Much like September, a total of 616 out of my almost 750 posts were read at least once. That’s very cool. I had visitors from 81 countries! Thanks for stopping by!
Here are my top 10 posts:
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:
A Few Examples
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:
So how do you answer that question? What business are you in? Have you found your answer?
Here’s The Second Question Every Small Group Pastor Must Answer
Want do you think? Have a question? Want to argue? You can click here to jump into the conversation.
Love this great line from The Innovation Killer by Cynthia Barton Rabe, a former strategist at Intel:
“What we know limits what we can imagine.” Many organizations, she argues, struggle with a ‘paradox of expertise’ in which deep knowledge of what exists in a marketplace or a product category makes it harder to consider what-if strategies that challenge long-held assumptions. “When it comes to innovation,” she writes, “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.”
Decisions about what gets done face every one of us. Wise decisions about what gets done can make or break a ministry season. How do you choose? Who among us has the wisdom of Solomon?
Here’s a line that I heard and memorized years ago:
“Leaders allocate the finite resources of the organization to the critical growth path.” Carl George
To really squeeze everything out of this principle you need to carefully think through several aspects.
Want do you think? See how you’ll use it? Want to argue? You can click here to jump into the conversation.
Today, there are lots of options and there are more all the time. I’ve reviewed many of them and cataloged them here for your convenience. How to choose? I’d highly recommend my article, “How to Choose the Right Church-Wide Campaign.”
The Nearly Complete List of Church-Wide Campaigns
Note: This list is alphabetical. In most cases I’ve linked to my own review of the campaign.
There’s a new DVD-driven study that you’re going to want to take a look at. New from Zondervan, WEIRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working is a great companion to Craig Groeschel’s popular book by the same name.
Inspired by Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 7:13-14 and the central idea that the “broad road leads to destruction” (normal) and the “narrow road” leads to life (weird), the study takes a look at a set of topics that will make sense to Christians and non-Christians alike (making WEIRD a very compelling option for a church-wide campaign).
The DVD sessions are a combination of key portions of Groeschel’s LifeChurch.TV weekend message series and special segments that introduce, enhance or summarize the topic. One of the Church’s most dynamic and creative communicators, Craig Groeschel’s practice of looking right at the camera while preaching (making it easy for participants in one of 15 campuses and a growing number of LifeChurch.TV Network churches around the world who use the teaching video). The DVD is very compelling.
Each of the sessions in the participant guide includes:
The relevance of the topic and the availability of the book by the same name makes WEIRD an intriguing church-wide campaign option. Although not currently available in a prefab campaign format, it would be easy to use as an alignment (combination of weekend message series and small group study). In fact, with the weekend messages archived and available at the LifeChurch.TV website, the only thing missing is the marketing pieces (bulletin inserts, bulletin shells, invitations, etc.).
As a stand-alone study, WEIRD is sure to produce a lot of great discussion and application. At the same time, it deserves consideration as a church-wide campaign with the ability to reach neighbors and friends. Either way, this is a study you’re going to want to add to your recommended list!
If you’ve been following the conversation here for very long you know that I am an advocate for lowering the leader bar. In fact, I’ve found that one of the primary reasons many churches struggle to identify and recruit enough small group leaders to take care of the demand is that they’re looking for Jesus Jr. instead of Peter, Thomas or Matthew (all of whom had issues…if you recall).
Still, every church has to decide what the leader requirements will be. In a sense, every church customizes the leader requirements to fit their culture. There are several basic options:
Full Disclosure: I am a fan of option 3. Making it easy for everyone to reach out to friends, neighbors, family and co-workers just makes sense. It’s not problem-free. There is no problem-free. But I’d rather have the messiness that come with this solution than the problems that come with a too high leader bar.
How Customized Leader Requirements Could Look
If you think about it, one of the first realizations every small group champion ought to have is that you can’t really control who leads a small group. It’s a free country! At least, here in the U.S. it’s a free country. It doesn’t matter whether you fully approve of the leader of any individual group. Once they’ve gathered a few of their friends or neighbors…they’re a group.
At the same time, you can control certain things and you can guide certain outcomes. For example, you get to choose what requirements must be met in order to be included in the group catalog or on the online group finder. The fact that anyone can have a group has no bearing on who can be included. Any number of requirements could be on your list. For example, in order to be included in the online finder you might require leaders to have a background check on file, be a member of the church, attend certain required meetings and participate in church-wide studies.
What about additional levels of control? Although it allows significantly less leverage, it makes sense that to be recognized as “an official group” a leader might need to maintain adequate communication with their coach or the small group pastor.
Can you see how all of these stipulations could be part of the essential requirements for “official groups?” Where you set the bar is up to you and your church’s culture. Lowering the bar shouldn’t have to mean anything beyond who can open their home and inviting a few friends.
Want do you think? Have a question? Want to argue? You can click here to jump into the conversation.
