As the old military saying goes, “No battle plan ever survives first contact with the enemy.”
In the same way, the plans and goals you laid out so carefully for your small groups will invariably need to be re-evaluated and tweaked. Don’t be caught off guard. Schedule a mid-month evaluation meeting to check your progress. Pull your team together and look at how well you are reaching your goals. Are the number of groups on track? Are the types of groups you wanted shaping up? Remember, evaluation is the key to excellence.
At The Journey, we have a small group strategy meeting every week, where we examine our current reality versus our goals. You don’t have to do this every week (though it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea), but be sure that you plan at least one assessment meeting no later than halfway through the month. Use the meeting to ask yourself and your team the following questions:
- Are we on schedule to have enough groups?
- Are we going to have too many groups?
- What adjustments or changes do we need to make to our strategy in order to be successful?
- Do we still need to find leaders?
- Do we need to combine some existing leaders to make their groups stronger?
A note on number 5: Whether you plan on doing it from the beginning or see the need during your evaluation, be creative in pairing co-leaders to form new groups. For example, you might pair a person who has led several times in the past with a new leader who is inexperienced but eager to serve. Pair good friends who might be nervous about leading for the first time but would feel much more comfortable when given the opportunity to lead with someone they trust. Putting co-leaders together isn’t a science. A little finesse is required.
[bctt tweet=”Putting co-leaders together isn’t a science. A little finesse is required.” username=”nelsonsearcy”]But when you get the hang of creatively pairing potential leaders, you are able to form exciting, thriving groups that may have otherwise been impossible.
– Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas, with Jennifer Dykes Henson
The above excerpt is from pgs. 185-187 of Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups.
Drawing from the startling success of small groups at The Journey Church, Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas debunk the myths, set the record straight, and show how church leaders can implement a healthy small group ministry that gets the maximum number of people involved and solves many of the important problems facing churches of all sizes. These practical strategies will produce life-changing results.
P.S. – Click here to grab your copy from Amazon today!
Your partner in ministry,
Nelson
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