Developing and Sustaining Small Groups
Why small groups?
Churches are increasingly finding that midweek small groups are becoming an indispensable part of church life.
Small groups can be places of nurture and discipleship where people grow in their understanding of the faith, in putting it into practice, and exploring vocations. Jesus gathered with 12 disciples; the early church met in homes, and at various times in church history small groups have been profoundly important, as in the Methodist class movement. Growing churches almost without exception find these to be one of the keys to continued and sustained growth.
But, forming strong relationships and identities, they need to be developed and handled well to benefit their members and the church.
How to develop small groups
In reality, it can be hard to get existing church members into a fellowship group pattern, especially those who do not see the need. It is better to start with the willing, especially new members, and then let others hear and see how good they are and ‘want’ to join one.
If you find it hard to get a small group started from scratch, try developing existing activities.
Lead Lent groups and Advent groups with the opportunity to continue meeting longer-term and seeing where small groups develop.
Many who attend nurture Courses and Confirmation classes these want to continue learning and sharing close fellowship. You may find emerging leaders in the group who are happy to offer hospitality and fellowship.
Offer short periods of bible study, prayer or reflection to existing groups such as choirs, cleaning teams etc. Sometimes the addition of a bible thought and prayer can be the start of a transformative journey for a group like this!
Small Groups
Small groups should meet frequently and with a regular pattern. You will need to discern what is realistic in your context. Weekly meetings provide for bonding and fellowship and a memorable pattern of meetings. Groups which meet less frequently tend to take longer to bond together and members more easily drift away. However, there is a danger of stagnation in a weekly meeting and churches develop their group structures in varying ways to combat this.
Leadership of a small group is a considerable responsibility. The vicar should offer quarterly meetings with small group leaders to encourage them and to stay ahead of any emerging concerns! Leaders need to be offered time to reflect on challenges, develop good practice and share in the vision of the church.
When selecting leaders, use a clear set of criteria to ensure you are objective, and that you are appointing people able to steward others. Choose someone who is faithful and reliable, able to handle people, but not necessarily with outstanding gifts. Other gifts will grow within the group if there is the right coordinator.
Some things to consider
Your church may want to consider the language it uses for groups. Does small group, discipleship group, or fellowship group best describe what you are offering? Likewise, do you want the small group to be run by a leader, a host, a co-ordinator or is there another title that sets the clearest expectation?
If your church has people who are totally new to faith, it may be too big a leap to go from their nurture course into a fellowship group. At the end of an initial ‘Christian basics’ course members may need further teaching. After a year they can then feed into existing groups or start a new group.
Some churches seek to provide a pattern of small groups for everyone in the church. Others are happy to run just one or two small groups, which may become welcome places for newer members.
As people develop a sense of commitment to faith, Lichfield Diocese provides courses to develop people’s vocations. Chad Foundations is often the first step. It can be encouraging for group members to see their friends in contact with other Christians across the diocese.
Context of small group meetings
A key question in many churches is whether the groups devise their own teaching / subject syllabus or whether this is driven centrally by the church leaders. Some vicars allow groups to devise their own content but occasionally asked them to follow a centralised pattern of teaching. Allow for the diversity if you can.
Meeting regularly needn’t mean constant preparation or new patterns of learning. Groups can use the previous Sunday’s sermon as the basis of the content of the study/discussion with a stress on applying the teaching to daily life as well as understanding it more. Churches who adopt this method often ask the preacher to summarise his/her teaching and provide questions for the groups to discuss around 'Welcome, Worship, Word, Witness'.
A similar model involves asking the following four questions together as they look at the previous (or coming) week’s readings:
- Light. What light does this passage shine on God, the world, the church, or me?
- Questions. What questions do I have?
- Change. What should I do or change as a result of reading this passage?
- Speech Bubble. What could I say to someone from this passage? Who will I say it to?
There are many, many small group resources available. Pilgrim is one readily accessible set of resources supported by the Church of England. Contact colleagues in the deanery if you want help finding trusted resources, or start a conversation on the diocesan Facebook page.
Further resources
Grove Books offer short, affordable pamphlets to help with many practical aspects of ministry including several looking at small groups – use a search engine to find the one that is likely to help you!