What If You Had One Month to Live?
Video is such a powerful medium. Take a look at this video! Wow! What a story in 3:12:
Read MoreBecoming Aware of Your Decision-Making Tendencies
What are the prefab tendencies that you use to make decisions? In other words, what are the built-in tactics that pre-determine what you decide to do? Not sure? Here are a few that you may want to sort through: Idealistic vs. Pragmatic: This is a huge filter that all of us use when we’re making…
Read MoreWhat Is The Most Effective Method of Launching Small Groups?
What is the most effective method of launching small groups in our church? While this is an important question, it’s not one that has a boilerplate answer. It really depends on your church and your situation. There are a few basic strategies and each has it’s advantages and disadvantages. Here are the most commonly used:…
Read MoreWhat about birthing groups?
Q: “Shouldn’t we train our groups to birth? Shouldn’t we guide them to develop an apprentice and then help them birth a new group? Isn’t that kind of multiplication worth promoting?” A: The key is that birthing can happen…but is not a high probability. If you’re talking percentages, it’s a low probability. Think about your…
Read MoreWith
There’s so much happening right now! Really great to see what’s possible, what God’s using, what sort of things are working. Tripped across this message series concept being used at Community Christian in Naperville. Complete with a game and prizes. Isn’t that cool? Can’t you see how easy it will be to invite people?
Read MoreDo Healthy Small Groups Grow and Birth?
One of the five small group values that Willow promoted in the early 90s was that “groups must expand and multiply so that eventually every believer can be connected to others.” Short version? Healthy groups grow and birth. Makes sense, doesn’t it? After all…if something is healthy there will be growth and it will give…
Read MoreWelcome to the blog!
Welcome to the blog! Hope you feel welcome…and can find plenty to chew on! Feel free to wander back to the kitchen…or the archives and pick up a few ideas. I try to keep a constant flow of material designed to get down to the nitty gritty of how small group ministry really works. What…
Read MoreThinking Strategically…about the Fall Season
Short story? Most of us think more clearly about how things begin than how they end (or move to the next stage). The test for this statement? Think about learning to ride a bike. Did you stop to think about what you’d do if you needed to stop? Did you think about what you’d do…
Read MoreEssential Ingredients of Life Change
“The optimal environment for life change is a small group.” No doubt you’ve heard that line over the years and even used it yourself to explain the importance of a thriving small group ministry. But is life change automatic? And if it’s not automatic, what has to happen to produce it? What are the essential…
Read MoreWhat to Do About Childcare?
One of the most frequently asked small group ministry questions is, “What can we do about childcare?” It’s an important question because it is a very real stumbling block for many people. At the same time, the question reveals an assumption that important to deal with. The assumption is that if small groups are really…
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