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SO YOU WANT TO START A SMALL GROUP MINISTRY
By: ©Rev. Dr. José Abraham De Jesús-Rivera
PART II
These are the steps to take to start a small group ministry in your church:
1. Study the needs of your congregation.
What does your church need? What are people hungry for? There are various resources you can use to study the needs of your congregation. I can recommend an old resource produced by the Division of Education and Publication of UCBHM called Planning the Church’s Educational Mission in a Local Setting: Planning Guide. In it you will find an approach to discover not only the needs of your congregation, but what people hunger for. I recommend not to take this lightly. It is important to hear what people have to say and what the felt needs are. Your church can be small, medium or large and that will determine the approach you can take in setting the various small groups or the small group ministry in the congregation. The only way to do that is by knowing consciously what is needed.
2. Define the purpose of a small group ministry.
Why does your church want to use small groups? That is a question you must ask in order to have a clear purpose for adopting a small group ministry in your church. You may need to remember that probably not all needs can be met in small groups. People may express needs that might be better served in a one to one approach. Other needs may be met by making changes in the worship environment. It is important that you are clear about the needs you want to meet by using a small group ministry. This will allow you to create expectations that are real and accomplishable.
Depending on your response, you can choose to build your groups around a specific focus or around several based on the needs of the church and the size of your congregation.
3. Define the steps and time frame in achieving the purpose.
If your church in going to embark on using small groups, you should be clear about the different steps needed to achieve your purpose. How are the small groups going to be set? How many small group leaders will you need to train? What is the contingency plan in case something happens with any particular leader? How long will it take to provide the training and to set up the small groups? What type of promotion are you planning to recruit people to participate? If the group is too large, what are the plans to create a second group around the same theme or focus? How long is each group going to meet?
By making clear the steps and the time frame needed to implement the small group ministry you will be able to set realistic expectations in the congregation. Most importantly, we must remember that it takes time to train leaders to lead the sessions.
4. Seek and form an implementation team for the small group ministry.
You will need the support of the leaders of your congregation for this ministry to prosper. It is recommended that you get together a group of people who support the importance of this ministry for the congregation. Ask for the assistance of your church council, consistory or governing board and request their endorsement at the preliminary stages of the program. This can make a difference when budgeting and implementing the small groups. Encourage the members of the council, board or consistory to attend training sessions—they could be a natural resource and support for the ministry.
5. Budget the necessary financial resources to carry out the ministry.
There are two areas that will need financial resources: training and materials to be used by the small groups. People will need books and/or other published resources for study. It may be possible to create some resources locally, however, financial resources will be needed to provide copies for the whole group. This manual will provide you with a listing of resources designed for small groups or that can be easily adaptable for small group use.
6. Project your present and future leadership needs.
When seeking leadership for small groups, remember to anticipate the present and future needs. Even if you are starting with only few small groups, be sure to train enough leaders. They may be needed to substitute in case of an emergency or vacancy. Think ahead of future group formation. Always train enough leaders to sustain those future needs.
7. Provide training for the small group leadership.
Resources are available to train leaders of small groups and are listed in the next session of resources for small groups. Most resources are generic in nature, and may be adapted and contextualized to your particular small group’s purpose, church size, location and needs.
I can not overemphasized the need for training. Even if the persons are leaders in the congregation or have some teaching experience the training will provide some tools they need to deal with group dynamics. Do not assume they have this training.
8. Introduce and launch the small group ministry.
As with any new program in the church, it is necessary to have a good information campaign among the members, and visitors of the church. The publicity of this as a new ministry within the congregation will make the small group ministry a success or a failure.
People need to know the details:
Why this program?
When will it start?
Where will it be held?
Who are the leaders?
What is expected to happen?
Give as much information as possible. It will help people get interested and participate. If possible get a small group of people to design the information pieces. Do not rely on the short announcement done before worship. Try to communicate to people and promote it in the best possible way.
Ask people to register in advance for the particular groups. By doing that you will be able to determine if more than one group is necessary. It will also help you decide what type of facilities are needed, and when to schedule meetings.
9. Remember to keep the groups small and for a short time.
A small group ministry is based on TWO major goals; to keep the groups small (between seven to twelve persons) and to keep the small groups for a short time. It is difficult to say how long a small group will like to meet, but it never should be longer than a year.
If it is possible do not keep them for longer than six months. Some groups may recommit to meet for an additional six months. Being intentional is a good way to keep positive energy within the group.
Just remember that the purpose is not to institutionalize one particular small group. Although, there are arguments about long time groups, the purpose of a small group ministry today is to respond to particular needs and move on.
©Rev. Dr. José Abraham De Jesús-Rivera
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