MarkHowellLive.com

I have a friend who recently announced that it was time for changes in their small group ministry.  They went on to say, everything except the semester system and free market model are “up in the air.” Continuing, “I think it’s healthy to re-examine everything you do regularly, but it didn’t take us long to acknowledge [...]

What technologies are you using in your small group ministry?  Website page?  Blog?   Facebook?  Twitter?  Data management system (like Churchteams or GroupsInteractive)?
Or are you doing the things according the the KJV?  You know…the old fashioned way.  Printed catalogs?  Phone trees?  Sign up forms?
The times are achangin’ [...]

If you want to become a church of groups…what part does your senior pastor play? More to the point, does your pastor need to lead a group in order for group life to become a deeply held value in your church?
Although I’ve written a 4 part series on The Role of the Senior Pastor, I [...]

When you think of group life, of small group ministry, what are your axiomatic beliefs?  Remember that an axiom is an established rule or principle or self-evident truth.  We all have them stored away in our brains.  The key is that not all of them are true…and not all of them are [...]

When you think about your discipleship strategy or your connection strategy…how is it working?  Have you ever slowed down long enough to really examine your results?  To see if what you are trying to do is really happening?
On the wall in my office you’ll find a quote that is constantly on my mind as I [...]

Thursday, September 3rd, 12:00 to 12:45 pm CDT
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Trying to figure out why your small group ministry isn’t really delivering the results you’re looking for?  Resigned to the fact that in your church it just doesn’t work?  I want to suggest that there are probably some underlying assumptions that are keeping you from [...]

What is the most powerful way to impact your entire congregation?  Many believe that a church-wide campaign, what Rick Warren refers to as a spiritual growth emphasis,  is the most important spiritual innovation in the last 50 years…maybe the last century.  Why?  Read on.
Although there are very basic church-wide campaigns that simply offer a way [...]

We had a great call today with my good friend Kent Odor, this week’s guest on the Small Group Fraternity. Definitely in the small group pioneer category, Kent has a long small group history and has had many great experiences along the way.  In today’s call there were a number of important insights.  Just wanted [...]

If the greatest fear that people have is public speaking…it only makes sense that many people will be hesitant to pray out loud.  Here are some ideas that I’ve found very helpful:

Distribute index cards and pens and ask each person to write out a simple one sentence prayer request.  Swap cards and read them aloud.
Ask [...]

Q: “What is the best way to close a group meeting in prayer?”
A: Great question!  There are several parts to my answer.  First, the entire meeting structure ought to vary according to the needs of the group’s members.  After all, new groups will be much less willing to share genuine needs.  Long-term groups may spend [...]