Position

Overview

In every church, there generally seems to be at least four positions in its small group ministry: Members, Small Group Leaders, Small Group Champions, and Pastors/Church Staff.

Member
This position is obvious, but it doesn't mean that a Member doesn't have resonsibilities. A Member may be the social coordinator for the group or the person responsible for organizing the ministry of the small group, such as a food drive or neighborhood party to invite seekers. We like to say that a small group should move a person from seeker to sheperd. That's not to say that all members will end up coaching other small group leaders. But it does mean that as the five biblical purposes are realized in a person's life, they will grow to new responsibilities.

Small Group Leader
This position is what bottlenecks most small group ministries: How do you identify, train, and launch new leaders? Yet without small group leaders, there is no ministry. This person does for the small group members what the Coach does for the Small Group Leaders—shepherd his or her members to fulfill the 5 biblical purposes of life. This person also must have the gift of leadership that expresses itself in a sincere heart to serve others.

Small Group Champion
A Small Group Champion is the shepherd of small group leaders—in short, a leader of leaders. A Small Group Champion may be a part-time lay person who devotes 10 or more hours a week to the church to shepherd other leaders. Or a Small Group Champion, in a large church, may be a staff member. A Small Group Champion cares for the spiritual welfare of the "brain trust" of the small group ministry—the small group leader—and helps him or her to be successful in leading a small group. One more thing: a Small Group Champion must have the spiritual gift of leadership or the entire small group system will shut down.

Pastors/Church Staff
In a smaller church, the pastor may be the staff member that champions the vision for the small group ministry as well as leads other aspects of the ministry, at least initially. In larger churches, it may be a part-time small group director or small groups pastor. Whatever the title, it's the responsibility that matters, and the pastoral staff position is one that carries the vision, the passion, and, ultimately, the mantle for making the small group ministry work. At Lifetogether, we've found that even in large churches with dozens of staff members, if the senior pastor does not buy into the vision of small groups—the ministry will not reach its full potential.

Sunday School Teacher
This position may carry with it the vision for the Adult Sunday school program. Or it may simply be a teacher who is looking to supplement his or her teaching ministry with a small-group component. Most teachers know that 50 minutes of content doesn't add up to life change. Breaking up into small groups provides time for relationships to develop and for application to take hold in a more profound way.

Youth Pastor/Leader
More and more, youth/student pastors see the value of building community among their students. This position provides visionary leadership to the philosophy of how the Gospel changes lives. No doubt large events can gather large numbers of students, but deep change happens, most often, one on one, through spiritual mentoring and through the support that can be provided only through small groups of students.