Groups are a big part of local church ministry. Whether they come in the form of discipleship groups, accountability groups, Sunday School, or home groups, it’s clear that evangelicals believe groups matter.
At T4G this year, I hosted a discussion panel on Group Ministry in the Local Church. I was joined by Eric Geiger, author of Transformational Groups, Robby Gallaty, author of Growing Up, and Daniel Montgomery, author of Faithmapping.
Below is the video of the event, along a list of the questions we tackled (and the time stamps for each):
- Why do we divide up into small groups in the first place? (0:10)
- How can you maximize the group structure you’ve inherited in your church? (2:37)
- How can we make sure our groups are fostering a holistic view of discipleship (way-of-life, not just teaching)? (6:21)
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of different group structures and locations? (10:23)
- How can we build reproducible elements and multiplication into the DNA of group ministry? (15:28)
- How can pastors be enthusiastic in helping people understand the role of groups in the life of the church? (20:43)
- How do you keep the ideal of community from killing true community? (26:00)
- New research shows that group leaders wish their pastors would give more direction to what is being studied. Why then are pastors hesitant to provide strong direction for groups? (27:53)
- How do you raise up and train new leadership for groups? (32:48)
- If attendance in groups shouldn’t be the measure for success, what should the scorecard be? (36:23)
