In Matthew 18:20, Jesus made a promise: “For where two or three gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (NKJV). When you take that promise to heart, trusting small group leaders with people in your church becomes much easier. But what does that trust look like in action?

It starts with simple things. Let go of some of the decisions regarding when and where your small groups meet and what they study. Instead of mandating these details from the top, trust your leaders to establish the groups they want to establish, within an approved framework.

For example, say you have a group leader who wants to lead a men’s group that will study the book of James and play basketball together on Tuesdays at 7:00 a.m. From your perspective, you may be able to come up with a list of reasons why that group won’t work. But the reality is that if the group leader is interested in leading an early-morning, James-studying basketball group, there may be fifteen other men in the church who would connect with that concept and jump on board. And these may be men who would be hesitant to join a more traditional group. Plus that’s likely a type of group you would never have thought to offer if you forced all small group possibilities to be filtered through the hands of paid staff.

You and I can pretend that we know best all the time, or we can learn to trust the leadership–and the creative ideas–of our lay leaders.

– Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas, with Jennifer Dykes Henson

The above excerpt is from pgs. 104-105 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

© Nelson Searcy. All Rights Reserved.

About Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is an experienced church growth strategist, pastor, church planter and coach, consulting with churches around the world. As founder of Church Leader Insights and the Renegade Pastors Network, he has personally trained more than 3,500 church leaders in over 45 denominations through live events, seminars and monthly coaching. Nelson is also the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.” He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 18+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life, Ministry and The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and At the Cross with the People Who Were There. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, Alexander.