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Burning Question:

One of our goals for the new year is to start a small group ministry. What's the first step in going about this?

Recently I had the privilege of hosting a lunch for the president of my seminary. After a stimulating exchange about what God was doing around the country through the small group movement he went back to the campus and called all his staff together. He proceeded to inform them about a wave of spiritual renewal that was headed to the shores of the local church. He went on to say how their institution was not only miles from the beach but none of them even owned a surfboard.

The key to launching a small group ministry is "vision casting." Almost every church wants to grow in numbers and reach out to their community. Vision casting explains the dream of Jesus Christ, "that every sheep would have a shepherd," meaning that every believer would be connected to one another so that the body of Christ could fulfill its purpose.

It's also giving you church body easy tools through which they can accomplish this purpose. A small group ministry and a church campaign can do all of this at once and has some amazing fringe benefits like growth in church attendance and giving as well as building an effective engine through which the senior pastor and staff can communicate to their church body. These fringe benefits help the reluctant pastors and staff and leadership to see the value and purpose of being a church of small groups not a church with small groups.

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