Inspired by the Grammy Award winning song recorded by Tim McGraw, and developed by a group of incredible church-wide campaign experts, Live Like You Were Dying offers a great experience for your congregation.

Designed to help your congregation wrestle with how to live life to the fullest, this church-wide campaign has everything you need to pull off a very impactful season in your church.  Featuring sermon transcripts developed by Lance Witt, DVD-driven small group sessions with Gary Smalley, and produced by Doug Slaybaugh (formerly president of Purpose Driven during the development of the 40 Days of Purpose) this is a just-add-water campaign.

I’ve found there are a few key factors to determining whether a given church-wide campaign is a good fit for your congregation.  Production quality, presentation style, full featured, customer service, and topic are 5 distinctives that must be evaluated for fit.

1. Production Quality: Live Like You Were Dying is a professionally produced suite of materials.  DVD, study guide, available marketing materials, extras…all have a high-quality look and feel.
2. Presentation Style: The DVD features Gary Smalley, acclaimed author and speaker.
3. Full Featured: Everything you need is available in the kit.  I refer to it as a “just-add-water” campaign.  You can take a look at the kit contents right here.
4. Customer Service: You’ll appreciate the personal attention you receive from this team.
5. Topic: This church-wide study features a topic and presentation style that are cleanly on the easy end of the easy/hard continuum.  If you’re looking for a study that your members can invite friends and neighbors to attend…this study will be a great fit.

Final Word: I’ve heard great things from several churches who have used Live Like You Were Dying.  The fact that it is based on the Grammy Award winning song will be advantages in many areas.  Additionally, it is an advantage that it features Gary Smalley, a very recognizable name in many circles.  Also, it was developed by a very impressive team including several of the key players in the 40 Days of Purpose team.  You won’t find experience like this very often.  On the flipside, there will be churches that have less familiarity with Smalley and are not fans of country music.  All in all, I highly recommend this church-wide campaign.

When NASA prepares for a shuttle launch, there are certain steps that are a given.  There is a sequence to what they do.  When anything unexpected happens during the launch preparation (mechanical issues, weather change, etc.) it isn’t unusual for NASA to restart the sequence.

In much the same way, when you’re preparing for a small group launch (for example, a church-wide campaign) you need to pay close attention to the sequence.  There are a number of critical steps that determine success.  Each step, each part of the sequence is important.  And a missed step can seriously damage the impact of the launch.  Here are a few that require special attention:

• HOST recruitment
• Series promotion
• HOST orientation
• HOSTs filling their own groups
• Promotion of the next curriculum

In my next few posts I’ll be taking a look at each of these critical parts of the sequence.  To begin, here’s my article on Host Recruitment and the Launch Sequence.

How limited is your thinking? When you stop long enough to examine how your ministry is designed…particularly the assumptions that it is based on…how limited is your thinking? Need an example? Try these statements on for size:

• “New groups must begin with a qualified leader and an apprentice.” I remember hearing Jim Dethmer talk about how new groups were formed at Willow Creek in 1991 and those were his words. I wonder how many small group ministries operate with this underlying assumption?
• “New leaders have to have already gone through the curriculum in an existing group or attend the special all-day training.” This is the essence of the system in order to use The Truth Project curriculum.
• “Only church members can lead a group. To become a member you have to go through our 15 week schedule of core classes.” Whether yours is a one hour class, a four hour class, or a 15 week class…you need to be sure you understand what you gain (and what you lose) by establishing that hoop.
• “Members of new groups make a 18 to 24 month commitment and the group is closed to new members.” This is one of the basic ideas of North Point’s small group system and has always led me to wonder about missed connection opportunities. Asking your newest attendees to join a closed group seems sure to make it harder for the friends of the newest people to connect.
• “Our groups are semester based. Members make a 13 week commitment to their group and may choose a new group at the beginning of the next semester.”

These are just five of many, many underlying assumptions that drive (or hinder) small group ministries. Sometime in the past a set of assumptions were adopted, many times intentionally, other times they’ve just drifted into place. They remain in place…mostly unexamined…and some of them are absolutely preventing exponential ministry. What if that’s true about your small group ministry? Could it be true?

I know most of us badly want to have the greatest impact, on the largest number of people, for the longest period of time. We’ve committed to the vision of life in community. We believe wholeheartedly that life-change happens in community. We’d never knowingly do things that would prevent a full-scale assault on the schemes of the evil one. And yet, it is a great challenge to slow down long enough to fully examine the assumptions that drive the way we do what we do.

One of the books that has shaped my thinking in the last two years is Gary Hamel’s The Future of Management. Sounds like business…I know. But much like Jim Collins’ Good to Great, The Future of Management is packed with thinking that help you seriously examine why you do what you do. It is the reason Hamel is speaking at Willow Creek’s Leadership Summit this week.

One of the lines from Hamel’s book that grabbed my attention is that “to escape the straitjacket of conventional thinking, you have to be able to distinguish between beliefs that describe the world as it is, and beliefs that describe the world as it is and must forever remain (p. 131, The Future of Management).”

I believe we would all benefit by slowing down long enough to think about our ministries this way. We need to slow down long enough to carefully identify the things that are true about discipleship and must forever remain…and be unafraid to try new possibilities that will help us “escape the straitjacket of conventional thinking.”

Can you think of other assumptions or practices that may be limiting our thinking in small group land?

Had a fascinating discussion over the weekend with a passionate devotee of the worship + ABF philosophy of ministry.  He was definitely passionate.  He was absolutely committed to the philosophy.  And he was in some amount of denial about why it is so difficult to find churches with contemporary worship, relevant teaching and a great selection of on-campus classes.  They do exist…but are increasingly hard to find.  Why?  It may have to do with what you’ll read below.

Whether you call them ABFs (Adult Bible Fellowships) or Sunday School classes, there are certain perceived advantages (and disadvantages) that are difficult for long-time participants to dispassionately evaluate.  In all fairness, long-time advocates of off-campus small groups have an equally difficult time evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of a group life strategy.  Why?  Sometimes long-term solutions that have been effective are the toughest to evaluate.  At the same time, winning solutions from the past often turn out to be the very things that prevent the best opportunities for future growth.

So, what’s the big deal?  Do we really need to understand and honestly evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of a given program or system?  Absolutely.  Why?  Unexamined assumptions do not lead to a good place.  Rather, unexamined assumptions are what ultimately lead to failure.

In When Growth Stalls, a recent article over at HBR, authors Olson, Van Bever, and Verry share some powerful ideas about the importance of examining your assumptions:

• Assumptions held the longest or the most deeply are the most likely to be its undoing.
• Leaders must bring the underlying assumptions that drive company strategy into line with the changes in the external environment.

Reading those two statements should cause us to pause and think about our own passion for a particular solution.  Think about it.  Whether you’ve been ultra committed to an ABF strategy or to a group life strategy…what if it turned out that it would prove to be your undoing?  Could it?  Have you thoroughly examined your underlying assumptions in order to bring your strategy in line with the external environment?  What does that have to do with today’s dilemma?

I want to suggest that an unexamined strategy (and unexamined assumptions) is a recipe for what could be your undoing.  How do you get to the bottom of the assumptions that drive what you believe and do?  Not as hard as you might think.  Here is the first step:

Start by assembling an assumption hunt team that includes some outsiders. It’s important to acknowledge that “the people who have a stake in the old…are never the ones to embrace the new…it’s always someone on the periphery, who hasn’t got anything to gain by the status quo, who is interested in changing it.”

In the next few posts I’ll be unpacking the assumption hunt idea.  Want more?  Be sure and sign up to get the updates.  You can do that right here.

Have you ever looked at your website from the vantage point of a customer?  I know that may sound strange, but it is very important that you see it this way.  Until you begin to look at your website from the customer vantage point you’ll miss out on some critical connecting opportunities.  Before we get into it, let’s cover two important details:

First, get over the use of the word customer.  I’m simply using that word to describe the people who come to your site looking for information.  Second, since we’re all group life advocates, I’m going to focus my comments on things that are grouplifecentric (how’s that for a word?).

Here are a few pieces to the puzzle.  If connecting with a small group is a key part of your strategy:

1. It will be evident on the home page.  That means if I’m looking at your website, I’ll be able to figure out that it’s important right there.  I won’t have to click on Adult Ministries, then Discipleship, before I get to Small Groups.
2. The information will be presented in a language that the customer can understand.  No Christianese.  Everything presented in a way that an outsider can understand without a lexicon.
3. I’ll be able to find out everything I need to know 24/7 from the site itself.  There will be an FAQ.  There will be some personal testimony about the value of a group (could be text or video).  There will also be a way that I can find out about available groups and contact them without going through a middleman.  Ideally, I’ll be able to see the available groups without having to register.  If I have to register to contact the available groups the registration process will be minimal and non-invasive (it won’t ask for things like date of birth).
4. There will be contact information for help if I don’t find what I need or have questions that aren’t answered by the FAQ.

How does your website stack up?  If you find it out of compliance, use your influence to bring your website into strategic alignment with your church’s vision.

In addition to coordinating the themes for the year, the Senior Pastor has the unique opportunity to spike the weekend message with a call to action.  What am I getting at?  Easy.  Every message has the potential of taking on a group life angle.  The insertion of illustrations and stories offers the chance to comment on the importance of the life in community.  The key is that the message itself (or the series) doesn’t need to be about small groups.  Need an example?  Read on.

We had the opportunity to attend Saddleback for about 18 months while between church staff assignments.  The first four weeks we attended was a series on recovery.  Title of the series?  Don’t remember.  Message titles?  Don’t remember.  Scripture?  Don’t remember.  What do I remember?  The four testimonies.  Each week of the series a different person walked to center stage and shared the story of the difference the members of their group made in their recovery.  Grief recovery.  Divorce recovery.  Celebrate recovery.  Every week a different story.  Every week a compelling opportunity for the pastor to invite someone to share their story and then say, “You may be here today and not have the benefit and support that Bob was talking about.  You can find out about getting involved in a group at Small Group Central in the lobby.  Or you can jot us a note on your welcome card.  Either way, you need what Bob was talking about.”

That was the first four Sundays.  About six months into our season at Saddleback my wife said something to me as we were walking out of the auditorium.  She said, “I see now why it is different here.  I see now why they have so many people in small groups.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, as we moved slowly through the crowd leaving the service.

“They are relentless.  They talk about small groups every week.  Often several times during the service.  Doesn’t matter what the message is.  It’s in there somewhere.  And it is every week.”

Want to connect 150% of your weekend attendance in groups?  It won’t happen because you have a great annual emphasis.  It is an every week initiative.  It is not a weekly announcement.  It isn’t just in the bulletin or the pre-service slides.  The Senior Pastor is the primary communicator in most churches.  The moment each week when you’ve got the attention of the largest number of people is almost always the message.  Churches that want to be a church where nobody stands alone will relentlessly use that opportunity to cast that vision.

This is part four of a continuing series.  You can read part one right here.

Have you ever examined your website to see how closely it matches your church’s vision? Did you know that the design of your website is often a better indicator of your church’s below-the-water-line vision and strategy than the handout at the membership class?

Take a look at Saddleback’s homepage. Click here to open it up in another browser window.  There are several key items that you need to see:

1. Notice that the first image you see in the middle of the page says, “Experience Life Together.”  It is part of a rotating image set that reflects their vision and strategy very well, but it is essential that you think about the way those images are ordered.  Do you think it is an accident that the small group image is first?
2. Notice that the Small Groups button is on the home page in the top spot on the right hand column?  Is it there at your church?  Or do you have to start by clicking Ministries and then click Adults and then click Discipleship and finally come across Small Groups?  It’s position is directly connected to its real strategic priority at your church.
3. Notice that the Small Group tab is also linked to the rotating image in the center of the page?
4. Notice that when you click on the image it takes you to a short explanation for the importance of group life.
5. Notice there is a link to email with questions.
6. And when you select your campus it takes you a page that features a welcome video from Small Group Pastor Steve Gladen and several next steps to choose from.  Before you click on anything…notice the order of the links.  Above “Find a Group” is “Start a Group.”  Think that’s accidental?
7. Notice that when you click on “Find a Group” it takes you to a search function that allows you to simply enter the kind of group you’re looking for?

Is the Saddleback site perfect?  No.  There’s room for improvement.  But can you see the connection between their stated vision and strategy and the website?  What about yours?

How do you help unconnected people find a group?  Are you a matchmaker?  Do you provide an individualized, custom designed fitting for each person looking?  Or are you more of a self-serve, off-the-rack  location?  The way you help unconnected people find a group combined with the number of groups you have and the number of unconnected people will determine your effectiveness and your sanity.  Here’s what I mean.  Let’s start with the back end of the equation.

In a small church, with a few groups and fewer sign-ups it is simply a matter of a call or two every now and then.  In a medium to large church with a good number of groups but lots of unconnected people, providing a custom fit for everyone inquiring about group life can be a challenge.  In a large church it can be a challenge that leads to lots of sign-ups and few successful matches.  In many cases it leads to a stack of unfulfilled requests and some seriously unmet expectations.  What’s the solution?  In most cases the solution is a web-friendly funnel that handles most requests in an automated way and reserves matchmaking for a few more challenging situations.

There are a number of ways to make the groups in your system “findable” and even “searchable.”  In a smaller operation simply adding a page to your website with a list of your groups (type of group, contact person, phone, day and time of meeting, and area they meet in) might be all you need.  Combine that with a Sunday morning table featuring a list of available groups for interested people to take with them and you’re in business.

In a medium to larger church you may want to add an application like ChurchTeams or GroupsInteractive that allows people interested in a small group to “click here” and see available groups.  Many applications allow searches based on the day of the week, type of group, zip code or city, or study topic.  In addition to the search function, your small group webpage can feature an FAQ, a testimonial quote or two, and instructions for what to do if after searching help is still needed.

One important key is to decide when you’ll take paper signups and what you’ll do in response.  For example, you may use a “welcome card” that includes an opportunity to indicate interest in a small group.  You’ll need to decide whether that will prompt a phone call or a letter with instructions (or both).  You may decide to take signups only for certain events or campaigns and use the small group finder as the primary option the rest of the year.

How you choose to operate should be based on more fundamental decisions.  Clarifying what a win will be for your small group ministry will be an important beginning.  Designing steps that lead to the win is next.  Sticking with the strategy determines effectiveness and sanity!

What do you call what your small groups?  There are a number of very common names:

• Small Groups
• Life Groups
• Growth Groups
• Cell Groups
• Community Groups
• Bible Studies
• _____________

What do you call your groups?  How about taking a moment and give me some feedback?  Use the comment section and jump in!

Some time back I wrote about The Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, an engaging and challenging book about creating incarnational community.  I love it.  If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, you can order it right here.

Couple weeks ago I received a copy of the new Tangible Kingdom Primer, designed as a “spiritual formation tool to prepare your heart for mission” and a “field guide for starting mission together.”  Take a look at the Table of Contents:

• What is Missional?  Even your group leaders have begun to hear this word.  What does it mean?  How does one live missionally?
• What is Incarnational?  Can you be missional and stay home?
• The Gospel: Is it just a “small set of beliefs or doctrines?”  Or is it something that should transform every area of our life?
• What is Community?  What do you need to have it?  Can you have it alone?
• Living Out is “the natural and deliberate process of living among, listening to, and loving people in culture, with the desire to connect them to our Christian community.”
• Inviting In is about “friends not targets.”
• Becoming an Apprentice isn’t about learning about discipleship.  It’s about the practice of becoming a disciple.
• The Intuitive Life is “important because life rarely happens in steps, programs, or logical sequences.”

Let me say, “I like the way this study is formatted!”  An 8 week experience developed to help groups establish some new patterns, this book is truly a primer (a book of elementary principles).

Each week implements a series of practices:

• Day 1: Exploration introduces the topic and helps establish an understanding of the concepts.
• Day 2: Meditation provides a scripture to soak in.
• Day 3: Change asks, “What does this idea mean in your life?”
• Day 4: Action is about putting the idea into practice.
• Day 5: Community is an opportunity to gather with friends who are putting these ideas into practice with you.
• Day 6: Calibration revisits the theme from a new angle.
• Day 7: Communion is intended as a day to be intentionally restful.

I think you’ll find the topics very engaging and the format very provacative.  Whether you have groups in your ministry that are ready for a next step or are dreaming of the day when your church is truly engaged in its community…this is a study you ought to check out.