The Naked Truth About Small Group Ministry

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One of the books you need in your library is The Naked Truth About Small Group Ministry by Randall Neighbour.  You don’t need to agree with everything.  I don’t.  But this is one of those books that you need to read because it will bring balance and perspective to whichever small group philosophy you choose.

In the Naked Truth, Neighbour takes a look at 7 of the key challenges in small group ministry and provides a healthy dose of truth about:

  • the American Church
  • Lead Pastors
  • Small Group Strategies
  • Relational Discipleship
  • Small Group Leadership
  • Intergenerational Small Groups
  • Small Group Driven Churches

That healthy dose of truth is the best part about the book and Randall Neighbour’s ministry.  He pulls no punches.  He doesn’t waffle.  He takes a position…and writes from that perspective.  His position, his perspective, is that of the holistic small group* movement (think cell church model).

If you’ve been a reader for very long here, you know that I am an advocate of a lowered bar for leadership and that is definitely not in the toolkit of a holistic small group strategy.  But here’s the thing…you’ll learn a lot from Neighbour and The Naked Truth and that’s important.  Although there is no problem free strategy or philosophy, it is really helpful to understand all of the possibilities and choose the set of problems or challenges you’d rather have.  This book will give you some important perspective about the upside of a holistic small group strategy.  With that perspective you’ll be able to better compare options.

I definitely recommend adding The Naked Truth About Small Group Ministry to your reading list.  The perspective you bring to it will have you nodding your head in agreement or throwing it across the room.  Added to your overall knowledge of the challenges and benefits of small group ministry, the book can only bring a more comprehensive and balanced understanding.

*”A healthy small group is comprised of 3-12 persons who have chosen to live together in biblical community for the purposes of Christ-centered worship, edification, relational evangelism, and discipleship (p. 16, Naked Truth).”

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