CreativePastors Blog & Podcast

Small Groups Curriculum Perspective

In response to our recent Leadership Uncensored newsletter about small groups, we received the following question:

In this article I read the following quote; " While the group sessions do include time for a Bible-based discussion, that's not the primary focus. We provide more intense study and learning opportunities with gifted instructors at our on-campus Power Source classes."  My question is what do you do if you do not have a "power source class" ?  Out senior minister wants our small groups to be relationship & friendship building avenues, but we has discouraged adult Sunday school, and Bible Studies. 

Isn't it dangerous to try and build relationships without a biblical basis?  What would make this any different from any other social organization that seeks to develop social relationships?  I want very much to have a small group ministry, I do believe that it is the way the church will grow.  However, without some type of spiritual development through Bible study how can we hope to develop disciples? 

Thanks for the great question! To start, let me direct you to a sample small group session  from our Ignite Small Group Study. As you can see, these discussions have a strong biblical foundation. In addition, between each group session there are 10 daily devotionals to introduce topics and provide more personal learning.

Obviously, Fellowship Church believes in the importance of in-depth Bible study or we wouldn't offer our PowerSource classes. But from a priority standpoint, there is no substitute for experiencing faith in action. Our small groups format offers a great combination of learning from the Bible and from each other. And as we live out our faith together, we form relationships that are essential for the journey of any Christ-follower.

Big decisions for your Small Groups Ministry

As fall brings increased attendance for most churches, it's a great time to invigorate your ministries by getting new people involved and making strategic changes. Maybe it's time to shake up your Small Groups Ministry, or even get one started. At Fellowship Church, our Small Groups Ministry (HomeTeams) is continually adapting and growing. This month's Leadership Uncensored Newsletter discusses some key decisions we've made along the way.

Small Groups are a must for every growing church. True ministry happens within the context of relationships, and there's no better place to form those relationships than in a small group. We started our Small Groups Ministry in the early days of Fellowship Church and it has been evolving ever since. Admittedly, we don't have everything figured out about how to do small groups, but here are some of the most important lessons we've learned along the way:

1. Leadership requires a laser focus. If you pay attention to one thing in your small groups, make it leadership! Small groups can be an incredible force in the local church, or they can become a breeding ground for gossip and whining. Make sure that every level of leadership in your Small Groups Ministry is sold out to the vision. Invest in your leaders and stay in close contact with them, holding them accountable for what you've entrusted them to do.

2. We meet in homes instead of classrooms. This choice was easy because we just did not have the space to meet on campus. But from this decision, we've discovered meeting in homes is the best way to go. Not only does it save us money in building costs, but we've found that people are much more comfortable and willing to participate in a home atmosphere.

3. The purpose is relational. Our small groups are all about people. It's where they can go to get plugged in to our church family by forming connections and building friendships. While the group sessions do include time for a Bible-based discussion, that's not the primary focus. We provide more intense study and learning opportunities with gifted instructors at our on-campus Power Source classes. This keeps fellowship as the goal and puts less pressure on small group leaders since they don't have to teach—they facilitate.

4. The doors stay open. We never want a "Closed" sign hanging on the entry to a small group at Fellowship Church. As we follow Christ, we're called to invite others along on that journey with us. Small groups are a perfect environment for sharing what a life with Jesus looks like, and an open door makes sure that opportunity is always available.

5. We transfer ministry to small groups. Instead of starting new ministries left and right to meet the needs of the church, we use our small groups as a support engine. Whether it's prayer, help with a family crisis or simply preparing a meal for new parents, our small group members do an outstanding job of caring for each other. This is a great way for your people to step up to the plate—it puts the ministry in their hands, right where God wants it.

6. We control curriculum. We've tried several different approaches to choosing curriculum, but we struggled with finding material that worked for us. We decided to develop our own studies based on past sermon series. Currently, our leaders can choose from 14 different studies on relevant topics, and we continue to develop about 2 new studies every quarter. Having centralized control of the curriculum allows us to maintain unity and consistency throughout our Small Groups Ministry.

If you're looking for more ideas about developing a strong Small Groups Ministry, check out our recently released Small Groups Kit.

Finding Leaders for your Small Groups

Identifying the right leaders to serve in your church is a make-it-or-break-it endeavor, and your Small Groups Ministry is no exception. If passionate, loyal and effective small group leaders are a key ingredient, how do we find them?

At Fellowship, we've found that our best leaders usually identify themselves by their actions. Our current small group leaders are constantly on the lookout for people who are:

• Actively seeking and inviting others to visit small groups
• Consistently attending and participating in small group studies and events
• Responding favorably to delegated tasks: leading lessons, assisting with phone calls, scheduling, hosting, etc.
• Hanging around after meetings and events, listening to and absorbing what upper-level leaders are saying

Part of it is just getting people excited about Small Groups, so vision cast like crazy! And make sure that once you've got leaders in place, you do everything you can to make it a meaningful, enjoyable experience. Your current leaders won't encourage others to become leaders if they are miserable! Build strong relationships and invest in them regularly through ongoing communication, training, and support.

Additional information on finding and supporting leaders, along with many other topics, is included in our newly released Small Groups Kit. You can find a detailed outline of the Kit contents here .

Marketing "Big Days"

We received a question recently from Ben Abu Saada, Worship Director of Grace Church in Overland Park, Kansas, who asks:

I was hoping to find an answer or a summary on the strategy Fellowship uses to market the “Big Days” throughout the community.  Does Fellowship have a strategy available for folks to look at?

Great question, Ben! We've found a number of tools to be successful in getting the word out to our community. But first a word about "big days." Ed will often say that we have 52 big events a year - we treat every weekend like there is as much at stake as with any one-time event. Of course, there are undeniably strategic times when we want to make sure people know what's going on (Easter, Christmas, Back to School, etc.).

Although we continue to use traditional techniques like direct mail, banners, newspaper wraps, etc., we're convinced that word-of-mouth is the best marketing tool we have. We make it as easy as possible for our members to invite friends, neighbors and co-workers by:

• Delivering a "Wow" experience every weekend. This is by far the most important part of any church marketing strategy.
• Including tear-out invitation cards occasionally in our bulletins. They are about the size of a business card, and feature bold graphics (often the look of the upcoming series) along with service times and a map.
• Offering easy-to-use e-invites on our Fellowship Church website that users can send to friends and neighbors.
• Promoting upcoming series with short preview video clips during the weekend service.

We'll keep sharing what FC is doing to reach our community and we'd love to hear what you're up to as well!

Suite Deal Winners!

We had a great time earlier this week awarding the two Sweet Media Suites from our July giveaway. And the winners are...Curt Seaburg, co-lead pastor of Victory Church in Lancaster, PA and Tammy Austin, of Crosspointe Church in Oklahoma City, OK.  Both will be receiving the newest version of Media Shout 3.0 along with the following CreativePastors Media Kits:

Who’s Kidding Who? Media Kit
Countdown Clock
Just Lust Media Kit
Apostles' Creed Video
The Table Media Kit
Ignite Media Kit

Congratulations Curt and Tammy!

Church Media Chat

This Thursday night, check out the Church Tech Chat for a behind-the-scenes perspective on Fellowship Church Video. The chat will be hosted by Anthony Coppedge, Church Media Consultant, at his site, and the featured guest will be David Womack, Creative Media Producer at Fellowship Church. David will be giving a how-to on the amazing video intro animation he did for our recent Fellowship Connection series, and accepting general questions as well. The chat is free, but subscribers are guaranteed spots in the chat session and will have their questions answered first.

Think Big. Grow Small.

Over the last year, our users have requested one resource more than any other—a how-to on small groups. Ask and you shall receive. Our Small Groups Kit is now available on CreativePastors! We just released it yesterday and we're really excited about getting this information out to you.

When churches are blessed with growth, they face the challenge of maintaining intimacy. How do we experience and participate in church the way God intended if we feel lost in the crowd? At Fellowship Church, our Small Groups Ministry has allowed us to remain a tight-knit community while the church body grows larger. We call them Home Teams and more than 4.000 people at FC are involved.

We created our Small Groups Kit to answer the whys and hows of Small Groups. Though we're the first to admit that we don't have all the answers, we have learned many valuable lessons and we want to share them with you. This Kit is packed with practical tools and transferable ideas—and during August you can save $50 on this brand new resource! So stop by CreativePastors and come away with some great ideas for your Small Groups Ministry!