A “Plated Meal” Leads to a “Church of Groups”
We’ve all been to a buffet or a cafeteria. Long display cases of entrees, side dishes, salads, breads and desserts. Some buffets are an amazing collection of incredible food. Others are a wide variety of bland, predictable food. Most of us have also been to a banquet or event where there was a plated meal.…
Read MoreDon’t Forget the Most Essential Step This Fall
Ready to pull the trigger? You’ve worked hard on the calendar for the fall. You’ve lined up coaches and ordered curriculum and set up a Small Group Connection or a Church-Wide Campaign. You’ve got the lobby redecorated and ordered the direct mail piece and the signs to promote what you’re about to do. Don’t forget…
Read MoreTop 10 Fantasies of Churches WITH Small Groups
What prevents many churches from realizing their desire to become churches OF small groups*? Most of the time their desire is unable to overcome the fantasyland in which they live. For example, they may really, really want groups to be important, even to be essential, but they simply cannot bear the thought of disappointing the…
Read MoreIntroducing: Dave Treat and thinking small
One of the names you need to add to your grouplife watchlist is Dave Treat. You may have met Dave because of his work at the Willow Creek Association as Director of Innovation for Adult Ministries (a big part of his job was helping to put on the Small Group conference and Advanced Training). If…
Read MoreGot Questions?
With over 400 articles focused on the needs of small group point people (strategy, coaching, leader recruitment and training, etc.), there’s already a lot here at MarkHowellLive.com. You can search my archives using the Google search box. You can also take a look at my categories or even look at what I’ve written during certain…
Read More5 Simple Steps with Big GroupLife Payoffs!
What you do in the next 2 or 3 weeks can change what happens at your church this fall. Although it’s technically not too late to pull the trigger and launch a church-wide campaign, that’s not a simple matter. Here are 5 simple steps you can take that will have big payoffs this fall and…
Read MoreGreat Question: How Do I Train Leaders To Add New Members?
Great question from Tim today: How do we equip existing groups/group leaders to successfully assimilate new members? Let me start by saying, that is both a great question and a very frequent question. At the same time…I think it’s actually the wrong question or the wrong way to look at the issue. Why is it…
Read MoreNew from Kerry and Chris Shook: Love at Last Sight
One of the easiest invitations in the last several years was to be part of a group that would discuss Kerry and Chris Shook’s One Month to Live. Based on the simple question, “what would you do differently if you knew you only had one month to live,” churches everywhere jumped on board to do…
Read MoreWhen Should You Invite Everyone to Join a Church-Wide Campaign Group?
I get a lot of questions about small group ministry. Some I just answer in an email (pointing people to a blog post). Other times the question becomes a blog post. This is one of those times. I got a question this week from Bill about how to connect people to a group who don’t…
Read MoreNew Church-Wide Campaign from Bill Hybels: The Power of a Whisper
The latest church-wide campaign is a 4 week DVD-driven experience called The Power of a Whisper. Featuring Bill Hybels and published by Zondervan, this one’s going to get a lot of use in churches that are intent on developing fully devoted Christ followers…who really are following God’s lead. The Power of a Whisper Curriculum Kit…
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