I’ve written about the importance of website presence before.  I’ll probably write about it again.  For today, I only want to focus on one thing.  I can tell from your website what’s really important at your church.  Believe me?  Here’s how I do it:

First, what is really important is mentioned right on the homepage.  It isn’t three clicks away.  It isn’t two clicks away.  It isn’t even one click away.  Don’t let anyone tell you that small groups are a main part of the vision or the strategy if you’ve got to hunt around to find out about them.

Second, I must be able to see from your homepage that small groups aren’t one of several menu options.  If what I’m looking at looks like a buffet with several different entrees and several different side dishes and a collection of salads, breads and deserts…I’m going to have great difficulty believing that a small group is my next step.

Third, if it’s important…it’s above the fold.  I’m not going to have to scroll down to find it.  Anything important is above the fold.

So…if those are the telltale signs…is small group ministry important at your church?  Is it just an option on the buffet?  Is it even on the buffet?

Something to think about.

Here are a few of the other articles I’ve written with a website in mind:

• 5 Transferable Concepts from Saddleback’s Recent Campaign Launch
• Does Your Website Match Your Vision and Strategy
• Customer Friendly Web Design
• The Teeny Tiny Detail at the Bottom of This Saddleback Page

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

How can you tell if your church really wants to be a church OF groups? It’s not that hard to figure out. Here’s what to look for:

1. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to find out everything you want to know about small groups. The website, the bulletin, and the information desk in the lobby are all designed to make it easy to understand why small groups are a priority and how to get involved (see 5 Transferable Website Concepts from Saddleback’s Recent Campaign Launch for more).
2. You don’t have to be Nostradamus to attend a service the week your pastor talks about the importance of being in a group. No matter what week you’re listening, you hear the senior pastor emphasize the importance of being in a group (see Your Senior Pastor as Small Group Champion Leads to a Church OF Groups for more).
3. You don’t have to be King Soloman to figure out which menu item leads to being truly connected. Programs that don’t lead to grouplife aren’t given equal time (see A Plated Meal Leads to a Church OF Groups for more).
4. You don’t have to be Jesus Junior to lead a group. A heart for unconnected people, a willingness to open your home for six weeks, serve a few refreshments and tell a few of your friends…is all you need to take the first step (see HOST: What Does It Mean? for more).
5. You don’t have to be a Berean, a student of Gamaliel, or know that Hezekiah isn’t a book of the Bible to be ready to put your toe in the water and test drive a group. The topic of the church-wide campaign is designed to appeal cross culturally and make sense to friends and neighbors (see How to Choose the Right Church-Wide Campaign for more).

What if you don’t see all five signs? Don’t worry, it can be fixed. Remember the great Andy Stanley line… “your ministry is perfectly designed to produce the results you’re currently experiencing.” If you want different results, you’re going to need to change the design. Want to dive in and look more carefully at your design? You might want to pull your team together and work through my GroupLife Audit 1.0.

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

How would your church come out on a grouplife audit? I wondered about this last week when my church was visited by the Generis team who were conducting a generosity audit. It was a fascinating day. I sat in on several conversations. And it made me wonder about the benefit of developing a grouplife audit.

Actually, I determined right away that the need for a grouplife audit was a no-brainer. What are the important questions…that’s the question.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far. See what you think:

1. How obvious is it that we’re made for community to members and attendees of your church?
2. How frequently will I hear a story about the importance of being connected?
3. When I hear inspirational stories about the heroes of your congregation, how frequently will they be about a small group leader? How often will I hear about the difference a small group made in their neighborhood or on a mission trip? How often will I hear about the way a friend or neighbor was warmly welcomed and included and later came to faith?
4. Is there a community element to your children’s ministry? How intentional and consistent is each child’s connection with a shepherd?
5. Is there a community element to your student ministry? How intentional and consistent is each student’s connection with a shepherd?
6. Do the serving teams in your ministries have a community element?
7. Is your senior pastor in a small group?
8. How frequently does your senior pastor mention being in a group?
9. Can I be on staff or in a leadership role if I’m not in a small group?
10. Are there next steps on your menu of programs that don’t lead to grouplife?
11. How many times a year can I attend a weekend service without hearing about grouplife?
12. If I ask someone at the visitor’s center how to get connected, will I be given the right answer?
13. Will I be asked “what group am I in” (or at least, “am I in a group?”) when I have a prayer, counseling or benevolence need?
14. When I attend your membership class will I hear about the importance of being in a group? Will it be clear that it’s normal to be in a group?
15. When I read the welcome letter from your pastor will it refer to joining a small group as a next step?
16. Can I look at your weekend bulletin and see that being connected is normal?
17. Can I see how to take a first step toward connection in your bulletin?
18. Can I see from your website’s homepage that being in a group is normal?
19. How many clicks does it take to get from your website’s homepage to the small group ministry page?
20. When I’m looking at your website’s small group ministry page, will I see features (types of groups, meeting schedules, and contact info) or benefits (our marriage was saved, my faith has been strengthened, we feel like we’re known and loved)?
21. Can I connect with a group directly (via an online finder or connection method)? Or do I need to go through a middleman (by turning in a form to be processed)?
22. How accurate and up-to-date is your online small group information?
23. If I contact a small group leader via the online small group finder, how long will it take for me to hear back? What percentage of the time will I not hear back?
24. Is there a way to talk to a person about groups? Or can I only send an email or leave a voicemail?
25. When I hear about “how much my small group means to me,” do groups seem to be for everyone? Just for spiritual giants? Just for spiritual newbies?
26. How easy is it to take a first step to get connected?
27. How hard is it for a new person to figure out what their first step ought to be?
28. Once I’ve decided to test drive a small group, how long will I have to wait before I can act on my decision?
29. How hard is it to find enough leaders to connect the number of people looking for a group?
30. What was your growth in percentage connected last year? What was your growth in percentage connected the previous year? What was your average growth in percentage connected over the last 5 years?

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

Looking for creative small group resources?  You might want to take a look at Stolen, a new study from Chris and Kerry Shook.  Taking its cue from John 10:10, Stolen takes a look at how the Enemy uses our circumstances to rob us of treasures like passion, joy, peace, strength, and dreams. Recognized as one of today’s most creative communicators, Woodlands Church Pastor Kerry Shook and his wife, Chris, will lead you into a discovery of the ways you can reclaim the treasures God intended for you.

A six session study, the DVD segments have a creative twist that sets up the discussion.  Each session begins with an ominous dramatic vignette; an eerie blend of the black and white feel of Death of a Salesman with a twist of the 1962 version of Cape Fear.  Trust me…this is story-driven visual media.  Your members will be captivated by the story that unfolds and perfectly prepared to learn about the abundant life that God has prepared for us.  The sessions average 16 to 17 minutes and will easily hold the attention of your members.

The member book provides a well developed study of how to reclaim six of the treasures the thief wants to steal (inheritance, strength, peace, dreams, joy and passion).  With a note-taking section, eye-opening scripture study, included devotionals that will help your members take the truths even deeper, and a basic leader’s guide, Stolen is a study that will open your member’s eyes to the promise of the abundant life.

If you’re looking for an engaging study that will take your groups deep into God’s truth with creativity and passion…Stolen ought to be on your list.  I found myself captivated by the storyline and intrigued by the approach…and I think you will too.  Very well done.  I highly recommend it.

If you’re tracking the Next Christians conversation, you need to take four minutes and watch this video that first appeared on the Out of Ur blog.  Very interesting.  If you remember, one of the significant findings in the study that produced unChristian by David Kinnaman and Gaby Lyons was that many young Americans found Christians to be judgmental, hypocritical, anti-homosexual and too political.  Kinnaman’s You Lost Me expanded the understanding to reveal that even young Christians were leaving the church for a variety of reasons.

The Next Christians paints a more hopeful scenario as Gabe Lyons paints a picture of opportunity for influence in post-Christian America.  Watching this video reminded me that life at crowd’s edge will be full of opportunities for groups that learn to operate there.  Serving neighbors.  Building friendships.  Becoming extended families that have open door policies.

Hope you’re already on the way there.

How do we think about working in a different kind of culture than we’ve seen in the last 50 years in America?

Can’t see the video?  You can watch it right here.

How keenly is your organization aware of what’s really going on externally?  Think your front-line people know what’s going on?  Think your key people know?  Do you know?

According to John Kotter, “The disconnect between what insiders see, feel and think, on the one hand, and external opportunities and hazards, on the other, can be astonishing at times–even in organizations that are producing very good short-term results (p. 67, A Sense of Urgency).”

That reality, what Kotter calls “the inside-outside disconnect,” is pretty frightening.  Or at least it should be.  It comes into play primarily after some success; after some amount of winning takes place.  A sense of accomplishment and even a healthy pride develops.  And then the inside loses connection with the outside.

Is that a big problem?  Only if you want to have impact on the outside!  If you want to impact the outside and the inside-outside disconnect develops you will have to work hard to overcome it.  Why will you have to work hard?  Why doesn’t it come naturally?  The less connected the inside is with the outside the faster complacency grows.  If a sense of urgency is step one in any change process, and complacency is the enemy of a sense of urgency…well, you can see where this is going.

How’s your organization doing in this area?  Concerned?  Good…that’s the first step.  Next step?  Help your organization reduce the inside-outside disconnect.  Why?  “An inside-outside disconnect always reduces an organization’s sense of urgency (p. 67, A Sense of Urgency).”

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

Ever heard this one? “We want to be a church of groups. We’ve launched a decent number of off-campus groups, but we also have a number of on-campus Bible studies (Sunday School, ABFs, etc.). Our solution has been to call everything a group…even though what they’re actually experiencing is not the same. How do we help the on-campus ministries see the need to do anything different than they’ve always done?”

Can I share a simple tool you can use to paint the picture?  I’ve often found that a simple drawing can be the beginning of a new understanding.  You can see my simple drawing above.  Here’s what it means:

For starters, we all know that there’s real value in the corporate worship service.  Inspiring music.  Dynamic teaching.  Being together in the presence of God.  All good.  And an essential part of how people experience God.

At the same time, it is clear to most people that life-change happens most often where there is life-on-life interaction.  As important as the corporate worship service is, they tend to be one-way communication.  There’s no interaction…and that’s a key ingredient for life-change to happen.  It’s difficult to feel known in a worship service.  The one-anothers are hard to practice…in a worship service (See Life-Change at the Member Level and Sunday Worship = Defibrillator for more).

With me so far?  This is the point where the drawing comes in.

True Community: A healthy small group, identified in the simple drawing as “true community,” ought to be a place where the one-anothers are practiced.  Group members should experience what it is to belong.  To feel cared for.  To be prayed for.  To be known.  To be challenged and held accountable and loved and forgiven.  True community.

Smaller version of the weekend service: Many of the classic on-campus groups (ABFs, adult Sunday School, etc.) are best described as smaller versions of the weekend service.  Admittedly…not all of them, but many.  They might sing a few songs.  They often use a master teacher approach where the teacher teaches and the members listen.  They have a prayer to begin and a prayer at the end.  Sometimes, they even take an offering.  If there is any interaction it is during a fellowship time (read: coffee and donuts) before and after the official program.  Much like a worship service, only smaller.

I use the drawing to help identify where a group is along the continuum between “smaller version of the weekend service” and “true community.”  A great exercise is to have the discussion with each of your on-campus groups and then begin to help them integrate elements of true community into their format.  Problem-free?  No.  But it starts a conversation and movement.

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

I love a great question.  In fact, I’m kind of a collector of great questions.  In a way, great questions are like baseball cards.  It’s not enough to collect them.  You really want to show them off.  Here’s one of my favorites.  I got this question from Roger Martin and his great book, The Design of Business:

“What would have to be true for that approach to work?”

I use this question when I’m meeting with folks that are really sold on an idea but don’t seem to have done the critical thinking they need to do about its viability.

Here’s an example of how it works:

Imagine that I’m in a meeting with a team that is committed to the Free Market strategy.  Further, they’ve seen a couple good semesters where they’ve launched a good number of groups…but the last three semesters they’ve realized that they’re stuck at 28 groups.  They’re treading water because as soon as they’ve added a new leader or two, an existing leader or two have dropped out.

They’re scratching their heads, wondering how to break free from the rut they’re in.

With me?  Maybe you’ve been there yourself.  This is where Roger Martin’s great question works so well.

“You’re committed to the Free Market strategy.  What would have to be true for that approach to work?”

When you ask this question, it’s important to really drill down on the answers that are generated and keep asking for more information.

For instance, they might say, “We’d need to find some new ways of discovering additional leaders.”  An example of drilling down would be to ask, “Why do you think you’re having such a hard time finding enough new leaders?”  They might say, “The right people are already busy (true) and it’s hard to get busy people to step up and volunteer their time.”  And you might say, “So what would have to be true about your approach for it to work?”

Believe me, this is a goldmine question.  It does take time to drill all the way down to the underlying issues.  But when you do…the team will begin to own the real solution.

Looking for a good overview of Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God?  I had a chance this weekend to take a look at Subversive Kingdom: Lessons in Rebellion from the Parables of Jesus and you might want to add this study to your recommended list.  Released in 2011, the DVD features teaching by Dr. Ed Stetzer, President of Research at Lifeway.

Subversive Kingdom is a six session DVD-Driven study that examines a series of kingdom parables in Matthew 13 and is designed to explain “what the kingdom of God is and how to embrace and advance it in the lives of believers and churches.”

Anchored by the DVD teaching, the study incorporates a member book that includes a session discussion guide, scripture memory verses, and daily personal devotions.  Although there is no leader’s guide, the discussion questions are presented in a way that will help most groups engage in a meaningful dialogue and a simple cheat-sheet form of leader’s guide wouldn’t be difficult to develop for churches with newer or less knowledgeable leaders.

Subversive Kingdom will be a good choice for groups looking for a little more challenging experience.  Along with the deeper, Kingdom of God topic, the personal devotions will require a daily commitment of 30 minutes to complete.

This is a nicely balanced study.  Although the teaching is fairly straightforward without bells and whistles, Stetzer is an engaging communicator that will easily hold the attention of group members for the 12 to 15 minutes sessions.  There is enough meat in the study guide questions to prompt a thought-provoking discussion.

Subversive Kingdom is a study your going to want to take a look at.  I’ll be recommending it to some of my small group leaders.  I bet you will, too.

I try not to take these things personally: