Why Small Groups Don't Work (Part 5)

I have spent the last four days ranting about why small groups don't work (or don't work as well as they should) for most churches in America. Now let me share something that I believe is a game changer.

Last February my friend Brent Dolpho invited Sherry and me to participate in an ECPN event in Faro, Portugal. Normally I am very reluctant to take all expense paid trips to exotic locations in southern Europe, but just this once I made an exception. At the event we heard about something called "missional communities" which began in couple of churches in England and were beginning to take make an impact throughout England and on the continent. (That's what the Brits call Europe, which they do not consider themselves to be a part of. I feel very sophisticated to know that.) 

Ground zero for missional communities is St Thomas Philadelphia in Sheffield, England. In a city of 600,000 people where 2.5% of the population attend church, St Toms is growing at a rate of over 25% a year. And almost none of the growth is transfer growth because there is no one going to church in the first place. St Toms is reaching into the poorest council estates (projects), as well as the college campuses and middle class communities, and seeing amazing stories of life transformation. And it is ALL happening through missional communities.

A missional community begins when someone has a vision for Kingdom work. They may want to reach out to the urban poor, unwed mothers, or their suburban neighborhood. The key is that the vision is outwardly focused and evangelistic. Once they have articulated the vision they then begin to gather around them others who have a similar passion. Ideally the group will grow to 25-35. If they cannot gather a group then they are encouraged to join another missional community with a similar vision.

Once a community is formed they begin to meet together as one large group. Within that large group smaller groups naturally begin to form. (Just like when you have a large family reunion you naturally break into into small groups; the grandkids table, the siblings table, the old geezer table.) As these groups form leaders emerge. The leader of the missional community identifies these emerging leaders and begins to huddle with them for training and discipleship. These huddles often happen during the hour before the rest of the large group arrives.

A typical schedule that often emerges is a once a month meeting with the whole missional community for food, relationship and worship. During this meeting small groups will connect for a time of prayer and sharing. A couple of times a month small groups meet separately. And once a month the whole group is on mission in the community. They may be running a soccer league for the urban poor, doing outreach for single moms or hosting a barbecue for the neighborhood. This is when they are focusing on the vision that brought them together originally. 

I have seen something similar to this evolving with the men's group that I lead. Three times a month we meet like a typical small group and once a month we visit an urban neighborhood that we have adopted. When we found the neighborhood was more than we could handle alone we invited another men's small to join us in caring for the people in the economically challenged and dangerous community. This has transformed our groups. We are now on mission together, our small group meetings have taken on new life and we are seeing life transformation both in our adopted neighborhood and in our own lives. I am looking at next steps in seeing these groups become a true missional community.

Other leaders at Seacoast and at churches across the country are exploring this new paradigm of small groups. My brother Chris at Crosspoint Church in Nashville has just launched several missional  communities and early feedback is phenomenal. Mike Breen, who was the leader at St Toms who pioneered the missional community concept, is teaching churches how this can work for them through 3DMinistries.

The missional community model seems to address many of the challenges I see in the way we traditionally have done small groups in America:

1. Groups begin with an outwardly focused mission. Rather trying to retro-fit mission into small groups, mission is the core. Relationship and discipleship happen as a natural outcome of living life with a missional purpose.
2. Groups are big enough to make a real impact. 30 people on mission carries a much bigger wallop then 12. But the intimacy of the 12 is still intact. "Big enough to dare, small enough to care"
3. Coaching happens in the context of the missional community. Rather than an outsider trying to provide support and training, the "coach" (missional community leader) is in the mix with the small group leaders. They are on mission together.

I have barely scratched the surface of what missional communities could look like in an American context, and I have learned that we can't just lift a model from another culture and try to impose it on our unsuspecting flocks; but I do believe that there are huge implications for this paradigm in the U.S. It brings together the positive aspects of small groups, house churches, mid-size groups, multi-site and mega churches into a missional, transformational context.

So that's my five part small group rant. What are the implications in your context? What are the drawbacks and advantages? Where have I missed the boat?

Comments

[Wendy Thornton]

Interesting to read this , I'm in the UK and I recently completed a years `Mission shaped Ministry course,exploring new ways of being church or `Fresh Expressions of Church.
`A fresh expression is a form of church for our changing culture established primarily for the benefit of people who are not yet members of any church'. The emphasis is very much on being contextual and recognising the importance of `networks' the cultural shifts that have occurred in recent generations include for example changes in family dynamics' i.e separated couples sharing the kids at a weekend, a rise in single occupancy dwellings and changes in the way people relate. Social networks exist around the gym; work; school; internet cafe; and other interest and lifestyle groups. The problem with the way wev'e been doing church is based on the attractional model but church here in the UK is very definatley not in the centre of society any more and we cannot expect the unchurched to come to us, why would they? As St T's has discovered Groups based on relational networks and context seem to scratching people's itch! If as a particular faith community we are clear about what our core values are; as they set the foundations and parameters for the mission of the church then we need to stop treating intelligent adults like children and release and trust them to work it out. In my experience people are fed up of being told what to do in the church! The problem is `control' why do we need to control it? So long as the Sending Church communicate the core values effectivley we should let go and let these small groups evolve organically, After all thats what the early church did till Constantine got his hands on it. A fresh Expression phrase is; `finding out what God is doing and joining in' God is at work in the world already not just in the confines of organisational church perhaps we need to spend more time walking the streets and listening to our communities than centralising church activities? Give my love to Matin and Sarah Chalk by the way, (I'm a leader from Ingleton Methodist Church).
This has been a stimulating conversation Geoff; bless you! Iv'e included the Fresh Expressions link, there are lots of interesting stories about these small contextual groups.
http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/

[PaulMSparrow]

Geoff,
I'm drinking your Kool Aid but I have a few big questions. First, how do you form such a large small group? And how do you keep it together? My men's small group started out with about 25 members as a spin off from the Seacoast men's hike last spring. We thought that was huge! Over time it's gotten smaller and smaller and now has a regular core of about 10-12 guys. Is it time to merge with another group? In this model clearly the answer is yes.
I like what you're advocating. That being said I think the transition might be painful. But, uhhh, which ones aren't, right? I don’t mean to be negative (again, who’s your buddy--your Kool Aid drinking buddy?) but there is a strong mindset that small groups are social gatherings where we sample some tasty vittles, catch a cool study DVD and get a bit of personal growth. Then of course we all pray for Aunt Erma's rheumatiz.
How do you get the church to move from the old model to the new?

[Becky Pfennigwerth]

I love this idea of meeting/partnering with another small group to impact the community! As a small group leader I really want to try this! Thanks for the kool aid!!!!

[Geoff Surratt]

Wendy: I love the concept of fresh expressions of Church. I don't think we ever want to stop exploring what church looks like and how it impacts a generation. I don't however, think that fresh expressions necessarily mean that we no longer look to older expressions (i.e. attractional) as well. New music, new painting, new writing is always built on old foundations. I don't buy into an either/or of attractional vs missional; I think it is both. I see the both /and playing out at HTB in London and other churches in Europe. But that's another series of posts. Thanks so much for contributing to my blog!

Paul: We have lost some members of my men's group as we have focused more and more on mission, but we have added others as well. The key, I think, is to cast a compelling vision for the group. People are much more attracted to vision then they are to great coffee and a Bible study.

Becky: We've got to find another metaphor than kool aid, the cult thing is not a good image :) Look forward to hearing how it goes in your group.

[Doug]

I'm the pastor of a church plant that is working with Mike Breen and 3DM...and Missional Communities are UNBELIEVABLE. For a more detailed understanding, I'd check out the wikipedia article on MC's:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missional_Communities

Geoff, thanks for having the spirit to question how well small groups are working and the boldness to post it! ;-) I met a few of your pastors at a 3DM Tasters in the beginning of January...what a great crew!

[Scott Marshall]

Doug's wikipedia article (he's too modest to say he wrote it) is a must read for the full background. Doug and I are part of the same Learning Community through 3DM. He's planting a church, I'm transitioning a church.

I would say to anyone reading not familiar with the model, the undergirding structure (a discipling culture, shared vocabulary about that discipleship culture and the leadership development necessary to raise up missional community leaders) is just as important--if not more so--than the model.

Thanks for sharing your journey Geoff.