Sole Proprietor? Or a Builder of a Great Team?

More and more I'm finding myself talking about the importance of a great team in building a thriving small group ministry. Another way I'm saying it is that thriving small group ministries are never built by sole proprietors.

Thriving Small Group Ministries Are Never Built by Sole Proprietors

The truth is whether you are averaging 100 adults in your worship service or 1000 adults (or even 10,000 adults), you cannot build a thriving small group ministry alone. Thriving small group ministries are never built by sole proprietors. See also, 10 Principles for Building a Thriving Small Group Ministry.

This is true for two principal reasons:

First, developing a healthy span of care demands that you build an effective coaching structure.

Once you have more than about ten groups, even a high capacity sole proprietor will struggle to provide appropriate care for group leaders. Only by learning how to identify, recruit and develop (i.e., care for) a team of coaches will a sole proprietor be able to begin building a thriving small group ministry. See also, 6 Essential Characteristics of an Effective Small Group Coach.

Second, every church has high capacity people who are passionate about community and not shaped to be a coach.

Learning to shape serving opportunities for this group of people will allow the small group pastor to focus more and more attention on the things that cannot be delegated. See also, Rethinking the Role of the Small Group Pastor.

Which are you? Sole Proprietor? Or a Builder of a Great Team?

So...are you a sole proprietor? Are you building a great team? Do you want to build a great team but maybe not sure where to start? If that's you, why not let me help you? Sometimes the fresh eyes of a trusted outsider makes all the difference. You can find out how to schedule a coaching call right here.

Image by Casas-Rodriguez Post Card Collection