What are you doing Wednesday night?

You’ve probably heard the old adage, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll most likely hit it”.

When it comes to small/growth group ministry in churches, not only is there a surprising shortage of aim-taking, but also a fundamental lack of clarity about what that aim actually is. (I wonder if this lack of clarity is in fact why we don’t pause very often to aim?)

So try this quick quiz:

A small group is:

1. a group of people sharing ideas together—so the leader is a discussion facilitator
2. a place for life-on-life and authentic community—so the leader is a relationship and experience enabler
3. a context for learning the Bible better—so the leader is a content-deliverer or teacher.

Whichever answer you chose, I hope you chose it with a sense of dissatisfaction, because none of these answers are really an adequate description of what a small group is.

There is more to growth groups than sharing ideas or lives. And while we want the Bible to be the focus of our time together, there’s certainly more to a growth group than just increasing people’s understanding of the Bible. We want to grow disciples of Jesus. Indeed, we want to grow disciple-making disciples. (In case you can’t tell, we’re pretty keen about this at Matthias Media. Just read The Trellis and the Vine and see!) 

As Colin Marshall puts it his book on leading small groups:

A Growth Group is a place where Christians can grow. It is also a catalyst for the growth of the gospel.¹ 

So the goal of our growth groups could be expressed this way: “to so study the Bible together, pray together, promote the gospel together, and serve and care for one another, that we will slowly take on the likeness and fullness of Christ this side of his return (cf. Eph 4:11-16; Col 1:27-28)”.² So the leader is a shepherd and an example of a disciple-making disciple—not just a teacher of content or a facilitator.

But that broader goal for our growth groups won’t happen without thought, prayer and planning—without setting some clear goals and consciously pursuing them through the activities you do as a group.

Growth group leaders (shepherds!), it’s your task to lead your group in that thinking and planning.

To get you started, here are some ideas, taken from our upcoming Growth Group Notebook. These ideas are loosely grouped around the four stages of gospel growth that we use at Matthias Media, and are not listed in any order of priority.

Outreach

• Connect with your local community by volunteering for something as a group.
• Seek to reach a particular group with the gospel (e.g. your work colleagues, if your group is a workplace Bible study; people at the local gym or café; your local cycling group; Portuguese people in your community). Begin by praying for them whenever you meet, then think about how to reach these people and build relationships with them as a team. (Doing things as a team is less daunting than going it alone!)
• Adopt an outreach ministry (e.g. a missionary, the youth group at your church, a particular ministry organization) and pray for it regularly. Encourage those involved in that ministry by sending them a letter, and maybe even fundraise for them.
• Run a group evangelistic activity. For example, you could doorknock your neighbourhood, or invite friends and neighbours to do the Christianity Explored course with you as a group, perhaps having dinner together beforehand.

Follow-up

• Meet one-to-one with young Christians for a term to help establish them in the faith. (Perhaps your pastor can make recommendations for suitable candidates.)
• Visit church newcomers or invite them over for lunch.

Growth

• Look at a particular book of the Bible and study how it fits into the overarching narrative of God’s story.
• Examine a particular topic (e.g. predestination, suffering, prayer, eschatology) and see what the Bible says about it.
• Memorize a Bible passage.
• Read a particular Christian book together. (If you’re looking for ideas, consult Matthias Media’s resource catalogue!)
• Do a particular Christian course together (e.g. Where to, Lord?, which is about guidance, or The Course of Your Life).
• Plan social time outside the group to build up your relationships with one another. Have dinner together. Play games together (sporting or otherwise). Go on an outing and visit the beach or the local art gallery.
• Celebrate people’s birthdays (and bring cake!).
• Pair up and meet one-to-one outside of group time. (This is best done with someone of the same gender as you.)
• Hold a prayer night and pray not just for the concerns of your group but also for your church, your country, the world, missionaries, and so on.

Training

• Learn a gospel presentation (like Two Ways to Live) and work out how to adapt it for various evangelistic opportunities.
• Learn how to do one-to-one Bible reading with someone else (perhaps using One-to-One Bible Reading) and encourage them in their Christian growth.
• Learn how to follow up a new Christian and establish them in the faith.
• Learn how to prepare, write and lead a Bible study. (This could be done by running a training session and then getting each group member to take turns leading.)
• Do a ministry training course together (e.g. So Many Questions, which will equip you to address common questions about Christianity, or Six Steps to Encouragement, which is about how to speak God’s life-changing word into people’s lives).
• Write and present an evangelistic talk at an evangelistic event run by your group.

Here’s one final suggestion: start small. Pick one activity from each category and aim to do one per term.

1. C Marshall, Growth Groups: A training course in how to lead small groups, Matthias Media, Sydney, 1995, p. 5.↩

2. K Beilharz (ed.), The Growth Group Notebook, Matthias Media, Sydney, 2017. (Due out in February.)↩