Small Group Vital Signs

Looking for some serious small group ministry help? Might want to take a look at Small Group Vital Signs.  New from Michael Mack, this is a must read if you’re a small group pastor or director and might be ammunition you want your small group leaders to have in their arsenal.

Before I even get into the content, let me just fill you in on a very important detail.  There are books by grouplife theorists and theologians.  And then there are books written by small group practitioners.  Mike Mack is a serious practitioner…and Small Group Vital Signs is packed with the stuff that will help build a healthy small group ministry.  Extending the group health theme, Mack identifies “seven indicators of health that make groups flourish” and then works hard to include diagnostic questions and “remedies for what ails many small groups.”

The introduction provides a key insight into the real strength of the book.  In the midst of a serious quest for answers about how to move his own small group ministry to the next level, Mack determined to focus on group health instead of numbers.  His team “developed and used an online assessment tool to survey our group leaders on their perception of their groups’ health.”  Their findings helped them understand how deficient their groups were in the seven vital areas and a sense of direction that led to the coaching and practices that establish group health.

An overview of the seven vital signs might be helpful:

• A healthy group is a Christ-centered community.
• A healthy group has a healthy, overflowing leader.
• A healthy group shares leadership with a core team.
• A healthy group has proactive leadership.
• A healthy group lives in authentic community.
• A healthy group ministers to others.
• A healthy group is a discipling environment.

Need help developing any of those traits?  In my mind, the best thing about Small Group Vital Signs is that it doesn’t stop with the diagnostic tools, but it also includes many of the practices that help develop the traits.  Also included in the book (and available online) is the small group health evaluation that provided the initial insight.

This is a very valuable tool.  If you’re a small group pastor or director, you need this one in your toolkit.  I was challenged by the thinking and I’m sure you will be too!