Plan Your 2018 GroupLife Strategy with These Concepts in Mind

Do you want to connect people no one else is connecting? You know, not just the men and women that are looking for a group but the ones that never seem to respond to ordinary and routine groups campaigns. Not just the same old people that sign up and then don’t show up…but the people who desperately need community but are the last to figure it out.

Want to develop group leaders who truly shepherd their members? Know how to make better disciples? Are inspired to do more than open their home, arrange for a few snacks, and play a video?

Need to identify, recruit and develop a team of coaches who will care for and help group leaders learn to shepherd their members? To make better disciples?

Maybe you need to figure out how to build a rhythm into the year that enables a more productive year. One that has a why behind the what and the how of your groups ministry.

Here is the essence of what I’ve learned about building a thriving small group ministry.

First, if you want to connect people no one else is connecting, you’ve got to do things that no one else is doing

First, if you want to connect people no one else is connecting, you’ve got to do things that no one else is doing (a version of Craig Groeschel’s quote). Simply put, if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.

If you want to connect people no one else is connecting, you've got to do things that no one else is doing. Click To Tweet

Want to catch different fish? Try different bait or a new lure. Move to another part of the stream, lake or ocean. Get up earlier or stay out later.

This has everything to do with planning your annual grouplife calendar with a keen awareness of the needs, wants, and motivations of unconnected people.

Second, if you’ve lowered the leader bar in order to increase the number of potential leaders recruited…

Second, if you’ve lowered the leader bar in order to increase the number of potential leaders recruited, you’ll need to raise the bar in terms of the care you provide leaders and the on-the-job training and encouragement you provide.

If you've lowered the leader bar in order to increase the number of potential leaders recruited, you'll need to raise the bar in terms of the care you provide leaders Click To Tweet

Simply put, these two realities are inextricably joined at the hip. They have an inverse relationship. If you do one, you must do the other.

This has everything to do with putting a leader development strategy in motion at the same time you’re trying to connect beyond the usual suspects.

Third, once you have more than 5 to 10 groups you can no longer adequately care for and develop group leaders

Third, once you have more than 5 to 10 groups you can no longer adequately care for and develop group leaders. At least, not in a way that will truly shepherd them and help them learn to make better disciples of their members.

What Jethro told Moses is just as true today as it was on the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. As Carl George wisely pointed out years ago, “everyone needs to be cared for by somebody, but nobody can care for more than (about) 10.”

Everyone needs to be cared for by somebody, but nobody can care for more than (about) 10. Carl George Click To Tweet

Need to know how to do the above?

For starters…let me encourage you to sign up for my FREE upcoming webinar: GroupLife Strategy Call ’18. I’m offering it twice, but it’s filling up fast.

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