{"id":31782,"date":"2022-09-10T15:43:52","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/practical-solutions-to-3-common-group-ministry-challenges\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:43:52","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:43:52","slug":"practical-solutions-to-3-common-group-ministry-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/practical-solutions-to-3-common-group-ministry-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Practical Solutions to 3 Common Group Ministry Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"
Nick Abrams photo – Unsplash <\/p>\n

By Tess Schoonhoven<\/em><\/p>\n

Overcoming the challenge of cultivating a thriving small group ministry is a task that leaves many church leaders discouraged and without answers.<\/p>\n

But if effective small group ministry is vital to church health, how can leaders understand the challenges and work to combat them for stronger outreach?<\/p>\n

Steve Gladen, executive pastor of small groups at Saddleback Church, spoke with Brian Daniel and Chris Surratt on the common trends and challenges he sees churches struggle through in groups ministry on a recent episode of Lifeway Leadership Network\u2019s Group Answers Podcast.<\/p>\n

Here are three Gladen discussed.<\/p>\n

1. Technology <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Social media has created a whole new world for groups ministry as each platform has the ability to create digital groups that bring people together to connect over similar interests.<\/p>\n

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The church is at a crucial point where the opportunity to connect with people for the gospel over social media is available but the question is, how can leaders embrace those opportunities<\/em>?<\/p>\n

\u201cYour driving force has to be changed lives,\u201d Gladen says. \u201cIf you\u2019re passionate about changed lives you\u2019re going to try to ooze your way into every nook and cranny to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

To engage groups well using technology, Gladen says it is important to understand the current health of the church body.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeet people where they\u2019re at and take them to where you want them,\u201d Gladen says.<\/p>\n

Take them slowly out of their comfort zone.<\/p>\n

This can mean both bringing those who only engage online into a physical space and bringing those who have yet to engage online to a place where they\u2019re open to online group ministry.<\/p>\n

2. Making changes that meet the needs of the community<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Many churches want to see small groups and discipleship groups expand in their community, but they don\u2019t know how to make those changes a reality.<\/p>\n

Gladen says that making changes to group ministry takes a long time because it plays such a large part in the community of the church.<\/p>\n

The larger the impact of the ministry, the longer it will take to change it.<\/p>\n

When switching to a small groups model the focus should always be relational, Gladen says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuild all kinds of relational equity, make sure nobody\u2019s surprised, make sure everybody\u2019s on board, and make sure you have a plan,\u201d Gladen says. \u201cStart with small groups and slowly build equity with teachers and say \u2018hey this is what we\u2019re trying to produce with discipleship and can you help me get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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See also  What Do Churchgoers Want to Change About Their Churches?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Change doesn\u2019t happen quickly.<\/p>\n

3. Getting the congregation invested<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Gladen says that small group ministry requires building the church from crowd to core, meaning leaders should start with bringing in large groups of people\u2014and from there seek to be intentional about setting aside smaller discipleship groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t have the people there, you can\u2019t make a groups culture,\u201d Gladen says.<\/p>\n

People want to feel valued, respected and needed, he added, and in order to build healthy small group ministry, each person needs to know they\u2019re an important piece of the puzzle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people have a responsibility in your church, the natural byproduct they\u2019ll feel is value,\u201d Gladen says.<\/p>\n

He also says it\u2019s key to train small group leaders and challenge them to build the groups culture from where they are, starting organically.<\/p>\n

\u201cWork on those crowd events to bring people in and use the small groups to build people up and train them and send them out for even more planting,\u201d Gladen says.<\/p>\n

Gladen says that one of the biggest obstacles to his personal growth in leading small groups ministry is fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI let fear get the better piece of me in making a decision,\u201d Gladen says. \u201cWhen God lays something on your heart the toughest thing to do is be obedient to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gladen encourages leaders to be bold with their steps to grow their small group ministry.<\/p>\n

\u201cBattle [fear by] taking big bold steps in daring faith,\u201d Gladen says.<\/p>\n

The steps towards a thriving group ministry may be taken by crawling, walking or running, but it is exactly those steps that build faith and ministry.<\/p>\n

TESS SCHOONHOVEN (@TessSchoonhoven)<\/strong> is a former intern with <\/em>Facts & Trends and a recent graduate of California Baptist University.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n
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Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group<\/h2>\n

Chris Surratt<\/p>\n

FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Related posts:<\/h3>\n
10 Goals for Your Small Groups This Year 3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community 2 Habits That Will Destroy Your Small Group <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nick Abrams photo – Unsplash By Tess Schoonhoven Overcoming the challenge of cultivating a thriving small group ministry is a task that leaves many church leaders discouraged and without answers. But if effective small group ministry is vital to church health, how can leaders understand the challenges and work to combat them for stronger outreach? … Continue reading “Practical Solutions to 3 Common Group Ministry Challenges”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}