This is Kerrick Thomas (Executive Pastor at The Journey and co-author of Activate). I recently received these questions and Nelson asked me to share my responses with all of you.

Q: We’re in the process of creating and launching a new small groups system at our church and I’ve found the Activate system to have great potential for us. Our church is 150+ years old and we’ve hit a critical point in our history where we need some significant change if we want to be relevant for people in this current/future culture.

We have had small groups in our church for some 20 years (some that have been together almost that long) and we have no formal, regular system for creating new groups; they have just formed when a person said they’d like to start one.

With that in mind, here are my questions:

1) How do we transition from being a church “with” small groups to a church “of” small groups?

We have many “ministries” (as you can imagine with a church that’s been around this long) and I strongly agree with the idea in Activate that these ministries are actually competing with each other and therefore diluting our church’s impact.

I know we need to start making some tough calls, but is there a general strategy for transitioning from a church “with” to a church “of”?

2) How do we handle all the groups that have been together for years?

Any insight you could provide here would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

A: First of all – know of my prayers for you this morning as you guys make this big transition in your church. It’s not easy I know – but I pray that it will bear much fruit.

1) To transition to a church “of” small groups I recommend patience. Many of the ministries you have right now will probably transition quite smoothly into a semester-based small groups system.

For instance, you can run women’s and men’s ministries as well as community service through groups by offering those types of small groups specifically. If there are ministries that don’t fit in – you might have to gradually phase them out by not advertising or pushing new people toward them.

I have a book recommendation for you. It isn’t perfect for what you are doing – but it’s called “Transitioning” and talks about steps you take people through as you transition them from one system to another.

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0310242681/thejouchu-20

2) As far as moving from the old system to the new semester-based system with your old groups – remember, the key is “leader multiplication” not “group multiplication.” So, I would pull all of your group leaders together and share the new vision in a compelling way. Then I’d follow-up with each individually and ask them to lead a new semester-based small group for the upcoming semester.

Then I would find 2-3 people in each of the existing groups and just go directly to them to ask them to lead a group. Don’t try to split up the groups. Just tell them you are starting a new groups system and describe all of the benefits and tell them you want them to be the first leaders. The current groups will be wrapping up but everyone in them can sign up for a new group.

You might even have the one on one meetings before the big meeting and get as much buy in as possible. Maybe even get a few key leaders committed ahead of time to lead a new group.

If a few groups insist on staying together – and the group isn’t poisonous (if the group is poisonous and is hurting the church you have to shut it down) that’s okay. Let them meet – but just stop moving people toward them and let them exist isolated.

In the meantime, go ahead and identify individuals within those groups who you would like to lead and go and ask them individually if they would leave the group and lead a semester-based group. I really don’t think those groups will last too long when you get the semester-based groups up and running well.

The last thing to think about is that we might be starting a Small Groups Coaching Network in the fall. We have one going on right now with about 20 small group leaders from around the country that will be wrapping up in September. Keep your eyes open – if we kick off another one this fall we’d love for you to join us.

Also – keep your eyes on this blog – we often have helpful posts related to small groups.

http://www.churchleaderinsights.com/blog/category/small-groups/

Hope this helps!

God bless…

Kerrick

P.S.  Looking to learn everything about the Activate small groups system? Check out The Small Groups Intensive.

© 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.