Why your church needs small groups

Why your church needs small groups.        

Studies have shown that visitors come to your church for three main reasons:

• A few, 6 - 8 %, just walk in because the church is in their neighborhood and it is connected to their background either denominationally or theologically.
• Some 8 -12% have heard about the Pastor on the radio, television, or through the community.
• But most, 70 -80 %, come because they were invited by a friend or relative.

That’s how they get in the first time. But what is it that makes them want to come back and perhaps become active members? 

Relationships! 

They either have a relationship with someone in the church or they expect to be able to develop relationships with people in the church.

Then, after they are in the church for about six months, they may question their commitment: 

• Am I needed? 
• Can I make friends? 
• Where do I fit in?

Then after they have been there a year they might ask a different set of questions:

• Is my work appreciated? 
• Are my friends in church as good as my friends in the world? 
• Does the church fit my needs?

Small groups provide the means to respond to these concerns and even avoid them entirely. 

The normal person can know about 70 people on a social level.  It is possible to be close friends with up to about 14 - 17 people.  And we can be deeply close with only a few. 

There are three primary levels of personal relationships;

• community,
• social
• and intimate. 

Notice that Jesus had three deeply close disciples, twelve that He knew intimately, seventy that were part of His ministry team, and hundreds of followers. 

Community

Community gives us an identity and the realization there are others like us. It provides opportunities to be with others who share our interests.  Communities are usually established based upon a common background. 

If our church commitment never moves beyond community it is unlikely that relationships with fellow church members will ever grow beyond a casual nod once a week on Sunday morning.

Social

The second level of relationship is social and is generally made up of groups of people who are socially acquainted.  Each person knows everyone else, generally by name.  It is almost impossible for an outsider not to be immediately identified.  

In churches, social relationships are encouraged through Sunday school classes, Men's and Women's fellowships, the choir, committee meetings and social events such as potlucks, bowling or softball.  Any newcomer who is willing has the opportunity to enter into the group and get acquainted.  These groups actually become small congregations and are useful in satisfying the need for assimilating new members into the body. 

For many of us, our life is filled with social obligations.  We spend time running from one event to another from one meeting to the next.  We run to choir practice, to Boy Scouts, to Little League practice, to the neighbor’s party, etc.  

But even with all these activities, people are still lonely.  So they sign up for new activities hoping that will satisfy their loneliness.  Yet the more social events they attend, the lonelier they become.

Intimacy

Years ago the need for intimacy was satisfied by the extended family, those close friends and family members with whom we had developed trust and confidence.  

Today with our transient, fast-paced and troubled society, families are spread across the country, people are too busy to really get to know their neighbors and too fearful in some areas to go outside. 

As a result, the lack of intimate loving relationships has become one of the chief contributors to problems of sexual immorality, mental health and substance abuse as people search the wrong places for meaningful and loving relationships. 

To paraphrase Jesus, "the greatest commandment is to love God completely, and your neighbor as you love yourself. This implies intimate, honest and safe relationships.

We are called into relationship with God and relationship with others. Both relationships must be more than a superficial, social relationship. The relationships need to be loving and above all trusting where we can be honest, objective and fearless.  It is impossible to develop these deep relationships in large groups.  That is why social activities generally fail in drawing people close together.  

Small groups provide the opportunity for people to develop intimate, trusting, and honest relationships, vertical with God and horizontal with others.

They provide the glue that will hold a body together.

Send us your comments. 

CHURCH PLANTING, by St PAUL

St Paul was probably the most successful church planter of all time.  Converted on the Damascus road about 33 AD, his ministry lasted for approximately 30 years.  Theologian, F. F. Bruce[1] attributes this phenomenon principally to, "the energy with which Paul, a Jew by birth and upbringing, spread the Gospel of Christ in the Gentile world....".

Roland Allen writes;

"In a little more than ten years St. Paul established the Church in four provinces of the Empire, Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia and Asia.  Before AD 47 there were no churches in these provinces; in ad 57 Paul could speak as if his work there was done, and could plan extensive tours into the far west without anxiety lest the churches which he had founded might perish in his absence for want of his guidance and support.”[2]

Certainly, Paul's methods of quickly planting and building lasting churches were effective in his context, but are they of use today in our context?  Certainly, today there is a need for evangelism and strengthening of the church.  As Evangelicals lament the growing secularization of society and the diminishing influence of Christianity, we should look to the ministry of Paul for his vision of the church of Jesus Christ and attempt to apply his methods to the church today.

The book of Acts provides an excellent history and insight into Paul's church planting and evangelistic techniques.  It was at Antioch in Pisidia that Paul's plan for evangelization and church planting took form.  This plan was continued, with some variation and a few exceptions, throughout his journeys.  As a traveling Rabbi, Paul would be asked to speak in the synagogue.  Many heard the message of Jesus and believed.  Others would become irate and a split in the synagogue occurred.  The Apostles would then flee to the next town leaving behind a group of believers, often with one of the missionary band stayed to nurture the new church[3].

1.   The Team Approach

Paul used a team approach to church planting.  Rather than being an individual itinerant preacher, Paul would bring others along to assist.  Commissioned by the church at Antioch, Paul began his first missionary journey with Barnabus and John Mark.  On his second missionary journey he was accompanied from time to time by Silas, Timothy, Luke, and Aquila and Priscilla. 

From the first visit to Antioch - Pisidia, Paul was the senior spokesperson of the missionary band but he relied heavily on those with him.  When Paul was alone at Athens he was not successful in starting a church and he did not begin a church in Corinth until Silas and Timothy had joined him there.

2.   Finding People

The first step in planting a church is to find people.  It was Paul's custom to first try to reach people at the synagogue.  The synagogues consisted of both Jews and God fearing Gentiles.  As he was asked to speak he would share the Good News of the kingdom of God.  At other times, such as at Phillippi, where there was no synagogue and at Corinth where he was not allowed to teach in the synagogue, Paul would look elsewhere. It is this "elsewhere" that is most important to understanding Paul's success.  The father of the church growth movement, Donald MacGavran[4]  points out that at Pentecost three thousand people were saved from all over the empire and each of these people had family back home.  It is his opinion that Paul was able to network by getting names of family members throughout the area of his travels. 

Paul was a great writer and a leader of people, but these characteristics were not responsible for his success in finding people open to the Gospel.

"...neither his dedication nor his communion with God in Christ was the sole secret of his amazing success.  That lay in the combination of his deep understanding of, and fellowship with, the living Christ, with his intuitive and unerring cooperation with God in the extension of these vast stirrings of the people whom God purposed to disciple.[5]

Paul became a part of what God was already doing in peoples lives.  He was able to see what God was doing and participate in it for the conversion of thousands.

3.   Paul's Message

When in a synagogue, Paul would speak about Jesus Christ beginning with the actions of God in Jewish history, the message of the prophets who foretold the Messiah, declaring Jesus the Christ who was crucified and arose from the dead and who is the forgiveness of sin.  Everyone who believes is justified from everything that could not justify them under the law of Moses.   He was not ashamed of the Gospel because it was the power of God for salvation (Rom1:16).  He preached not human wisdom but the Gospel of Jesus Christ (1Cor 1:17-18), ... not wise and persuasive words but with the demonstration of the Spirit's power (1Cor. 2:4-5).

4.   Developing Leaders

The development of leaders is still a mystery for many churches today.  The modern approach is to find a person who is successful in his work and put him in charge of a church committee.  Paul's team approach led to the rapid development of leaders and was an imperative considering the Jew's attempts to kill Paul.  Paul was able to delegate tasks and responsibility as his associates grew.  Paul believed the church to be a group of people with spiritual gifts and graces, given by God. This allowed him to cooperate with God in leadership selection.  Paul merely confirmed what God was already doing in the people before he moved on to the next town.  In some churches, Paul's stay was brief as leadership developed quickly.  This happened in Phillippi where he left Luke after only a brief apprenticeship.  At Berea, Paul left Silas and Timothy for a while until the church could sustain itself.  In Corinth, he stayed for a long time before heading for Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila.  Then he left them in Ephesus to help lead that church.  From the Corinthian correspondence, he might have been better served by leaving Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth.

Conclusion

The pattern used by Paul for planting new churches in the first century is an effective means today for communicating the Gospel.  We must be careful however to maintain the vision and purpose to which God has called us.  If we seek church growth and church planting as a goal in itself, we run the risk of losing His perspective.  Our purpose is not to create or build a church, but to evangelize people, to bring them to a reconciliation with God and then equip them to do likewise. 

If we merely try to attract people to our church and assume that somehow, sometime Christianity will rub off and they will turn their hearts over to God, we are not following Paul's pattern.  Paul first led people to Christ, then brought them together into the body.  This is why he was able to move on to a new territory trusting the Holy Spirit to guide and direct the leaders of the new church even though they did not have years of theological training.  Those churches then continued the ministry of reconciling people to God. 

Paul's concern was not to build large churches but to convert large numbers of people to a faith in Jesus Christ.  He was very proficient at this because of his faith in God and the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of converts.

---

[1] Bruce, F.F. Paul The Apostle of the Heart Set Free, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,  Grand Rapids, 1977, page 17

[2] Allen, Roland, Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours,  Eerdman's Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, 1962, page 3

[3] Barklay, William, The Mind Of St. Paul, Harper, San Francisco, 1958, pages 231-233

[4] MacGavran, Donald Anderson, The Bridges of God, Friendship Press, New York, revised 1981, page 18

[5] ibid page 26-27

Heal Like Jesus

It was a dark night on a deserted stretch of US Highway 6 that passes through acres and acres of Illinois cornfields. Around a hard turn, we suddenly came upon a serious wreck. A single car had rolled over and was lying on its side halfway into the dry corn stalks awaiting harvest. I was ten, but the scene and the accompanying scream remains stuck in my mind to this day. A woman was crying loudly, "Help my baby!"

My father slowed our old International panel truck as we went past, but he did not stop - another car had already pulled over. Now accelerating my father shouted over the roar of the truck engine, “Let's get to a phone and call for help.”

Why does this incident stand out so clear after all these years? What was the right thing to do? Should we have stopped to help? The ten-year-old wanted to stop but was scared. Wasn't it important to call for an ambulance? What was the right thing to do? Those questions have continued to plague me for my entire life. My father was always a compassionate and caring man, willing to help anyone. Maybe he was trying to protect me from the trauma of the scene.

We are faced with this kind of choice daily. We come in contact with a homeless person, someone acting erratically, a friend in depression, someone crippled or dying and we do not know how to react. We often may turn away and avoid even eye contact, look with pity, or cross over to the other side of the street. Seldom do we walk over and interact with them on a personal level.

Our reactions often come from fear, not knowing what to do or what to say. Deep down we want to help, but don't believe we can. Being helpful is what makes us human. So, rather than face up to our impotence, we turn our back, cross over to the other side and try to forget what we just saw. It does not work. I have never been able to forget that overturned car in the cornfield and hear that shrill scream for help.

We know what Jesus would do. The Bible narratives describe Jesus touching lepers, laying hands on dead people, and eating with sinners and tax collectors.

Our personal reactions are reflected in how we do church. Today much of the church reacts like the religious people in Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan. A man was robbed, beaten and left to die in the ditch. A priest and a Levite passed by ignoring the man. But a Samaritan - equivalent today maybe to a secular humanist - took care of the man and saw to his needs.

I need to point out that the church has been very good at providing aid in major disasters - as we have just witnessed in Hurricane Florence, providing resources, and rebuilding. We personally went through Katrina, and long after FEMA, the Red Cross, and the State government left, churches continued to rebuild homes and businesses.

The church works well in providing community support, but my issue with much of the church is in their unwillingness to reach down and touch individuals lying in the ditch or in the cornfield. There are some that will pray for an instant healing or deliverance but chooses not commit the time that might be required for healing. It is cleaner and easier to pass the person off to a secular professional for help - even when the roots of the issues are spiritual. It may be because of their fear of not knowing what to do, or fear of doing the wrong thing. Our litigious society has added to the problem - even trained medical personnel have become fearful of making a mistake. So, rather than make a mistake, they do nothing.

The early church did not have this problem. They just did what they had seen Jesus do - they healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead. Sometimes they were successful sometimes not, but the kept trying.

With the coming of the "Age of Enlightenment," the church began to over-analyze and began to suffer from paralysis of analysis. Rather than do what Jesus did, it was safer to cross over to the other side of the road, call for the ambulance, or close their eyes to the needy. What the church needs now more than ever is to reclaim the ministry of healing, "SOZO."

SOZO

We are not restricting healing to only physical healing. The Greek word often translated as "healing" is SOZO, which may also be translated as “save,”  "heal," "recover," "whole," "wholly" and "wholesome."  SOZO is the word used when referring to an eschatological salvation. It basically means: "Saved out from under the devil's power and restored into the wholeness of God's order and well-being by the power of God's Spirit.” A literal interpretation is “becoming whole.”

One of the reasons our health care has become so costly is that the church no longer takes the time to minister to the whole person. They have abdicated that part of Jesus' ministry and turned it over to a secular government.

What should we do?

People still need to see trained professionals and follow their directions, but the church has a responsibility to be more active in ministry, beyond getting people to heaven when they die.

There is an apocryphal story concerning St. Francis on a visit to the Pope. He was shown through the storerooms at the Vatican containing great wealth. His guide remarked, "No longer can we say, 'silver and gold have we none.'" (referring to Acts 3:6) Francis responded, "It is too bad you cannot still say, 'In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.'"

1. It is time that all churches provide training and resources to establish prayer ministries for healing the whole person, mind, body, soul, spirit, and relationships.
   
   The Good News that Jesus brought was the Kingdom of God is near. John The Baptist wanted to know if Jesus was the One they were waiting for, he sent his followers to ask Jesus. Jesus told them, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor." [Luke 7:22 (NIV)]
2. Look around! There are people in your church and your neighborhood that need healing now. Set up intentional programs to help them. There is no one that will be a better evangelist and minister of healing than someone that has had a life-transforming event in their life. That is the way your ministry will grow.
3. God will send you people who need ministry, as you develop the capability to minister to their needs.

I am interested to hear what you have to say about this post. Please provide comments below.

Bill Johnson

You Can Put Square Pegs in Square Holes

Grace was insistent, "Since you now have an 'Empty Nest' you have to fill it."

Our son Kevin had recently left to attend school in another state, and our daughter, Rhonda, was married and starting a family of her own. My wife and I looked forward to a quiet house with just the two of us, while Grace, a friend from church wanted us to take in a refugee from Ethiopia. Grace had a passionate compassion for refugees and their families. Since the end of the Viet Nam war, she had sponsored and settled many tens of refugees. Unfortunately, our passions for serving God took us in other directions. we were teachers, encouragers, and leaders.

We sincerely believe that the Lord has placed within each of us a desire to serve Him in specific ways. He has also provided the spiritual gifts for us to be successful in what we are called.

To paraphrase the apostle Paul in Romans Chapter 12: Although there are many members in the body, they do not all have the same function. Each has been given differing gifts appropriate to the call that God has on them. It is important to realize that it is the Lord that builds the church and He has placed within each body all of the gifts and callings that are required for that particular body to perform its God-given mission. Even the smallest of churches has the gifts it needs to do God's will at a particular time.

Paul continues to list seven gifts that are common in most bodies - prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, and a shower of mercy.

Grace was a shower of mercy.

For many years as a pastor and church planter, one important task was to develop a functional team that would follow the Lord's direction and fulfill His call. An effective method we used was to recruit and employ members to function in their particular area of call and gifting. Teachers teaching, leaders leading, servants serving, encouragers encouraging, those with the gift of prophecy, speaking forth, givers, giving, and showers of mercy touching lives.

Begging for volunteers, and putting warm bodies in a position, just because they are available does not work. Assigning someone a leadership position, because of their secular success is not always helpful.

Early on we made those same mistakes. It wasn't until we found a method to identify a person's motivational gifting that we began to find success in our recruiting and deploying. It not only worked at the church, but we were better able to understand our family dynamics. We required our immediate family to discover their individual gifts.

One of the first things we did in a new church was to teach a series on motivational gifts from Romans 12, then allow everyone to take a gift assessment test that Rita and I had developed. People then were allowed to opt out of a task if it did not fit their gift mix but would be asked to fill positions in their specialties. Not surprisingly we had stronger ministries and fewer people burning out.

Not long ago we published a short book that includes lessons on gifts, descriptions of the characteristics of each gift and a gift assessment test. If this is something that you might be interested in, it is available free on our website Aslan Ministries The book is available in most electronic formats.

What has been your experience of using spiritual gifts to organize your church?

Be Your own Church Consultant!

Are consultants really necessary? 

Are they worth the cost and disruption? 

The CEO of a small tech company in Chicago had a vision of becoming a large presence in its market. He was a financial expert with a great track record, but had little experience in marketing and engineering. So he hired a consultant with the proper credentials. 

At the time, I was a young, newly promoted, division manager responsible for new product development and compliance evaluation. With the arrogance of the young, I said to myself, “We don’t need a consultant, I can tell them what is wrong here.”

In time the consultant moved in and took a desk in the office across from me. He spent the next three weeks with a notebook under his arm, asking everybody questions. Eventually, he got to me and went through the litany of questions. Months later, his report came in and I was anxious to discover what he had discovered. I was amused and somewhat angry when I realized his recommendations were almost completely in line with what I had told him. (I began to consider a career in consulting.)

Was hiring the consultant a waste of time? Some - including myself - thought so. But now I am not sure. The advantages of hiring a consultant are:

• He knows the right questions to ask.
• Information that costs something is normally accepted over free advice.
• Independence assures there is no agenda.

If you want to be your own consultant you can just follow the steps listed below.

1. Identify where you are today?
2. Determine where you want to go.
3. Develop a plan to get from here to there.

The apostle Paul was the first church consultant. 

The apostle Paul was probably the most successful church planter of all time.  Converted on the Damascus road in about 33 AD, his ministry lasted for approximately 30 years.  During that time Christianity, which began as a movement within the Jewish community in Israel, became predominantly a Gentile cult, at least in the eyes of the authorities of the Roman Empire. Before AD 47 there were no churches in  Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia and Asia.  By AD 57 Paul could speak as if his work there was done. He certainly had the credentials to be a consultant. 

His letters to the churches read like a consultants report.

• They include paragraphs that specify what the church is doing right.
• They include those things that need improvement.
• They include recommended actions.
• They provide encouragement.

In his letters Paul often thanks God for those things that the church is doing well, while offering prayers about those things where they fall short. Lets look at a few:

Ephesians 1:15-18

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 

1. Note that Paul is thanking God for their faith and their love for the each other.
2. But, he is praying that the eyes of their heart may be opened so that they might know Hope. 

Obviously they were losing hope.

Col.1:3-5;9

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, 

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 

1. Paul Thanks them for their faith, love and hope.
2. But in verse 9, he prays that their knowledge of God's will would grow.

1Thes.1:2-3

 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, 

1. Paul gives thanks for their work of faith, labor of love and Steadfastness of hope.  
2. But in 2 Thes., he gives thanks for their faith and love but, does not mention their hope.  Why?  Because there was a teaching that Paul was countering that the rapture had come and they had been left behind.

If you as the leader are willing to ask your people two questions, you will be able to measure the state of the church. 

1. What would the apostle Paul thank God for in our church?
2. What would the apostle Paul pray to the Father for our church?

Asking these questions will reveal much. 

Several years ago we became the pastor of a church that was divided by controversy. After six months, we called a meeting of all the leaders. We broke them into three small groups sitting around tables and asked these two questions. 

The response to question 2 was “More Love.” 

We then asked each table to put together a list of things that could be done to have more love in the body. We did not have to make any official rules or take any actions to increase love. Just highlighting the feelings that the church body lacked love had its effect. 

A year later we asked the same two questions. 

This time Love was the answer to question number one. In one year there had been a significant change. 

Consultants can make us aware of our weaknesses. When we know what they are, we are able to transform our weaknesses to our strengths, with or without a consultant.