Leading Edge 9 9 Page 1 of 5 Core

LLeeaaddiinngg EEddggee A Resource for Leaders of Healthy Churches Volume 9, Number 9 October 2008 Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups By Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas Nelson Searcy is the lead/teaching pastor of The Journey Church in New York City. Prior to starting The Journey, Searcy was the founding director of the Purpose Driven Community with Rick Warren at Saddleback Church. Co-author Kerrick Thomas is The Journey’s executive pastor. But his responsibilities include teaching on Sundays, leading the area of Growth Groups (small groups), and working with many of the age-graded ministries at the church. Together, this dynamic duo has given us a dozen principles—and a Cliff’s Notes description of how they’ve shaped these into an effective ministry of small groups at Journey Church. I should probably mention a couple of caveats at the beginning of this review. For one thing, Activate’s subtitle, “An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups,” is a bit of marketing hyper-sell. Other good books on small groups, such as those by Bill Donahue (Building a Church of Small Groups) and Andy Stanley (Creating Community), for example, share many of Activate’s basic principles. True, the “packaging” is distinct. But that’s as it should be. Principles need to be adapted, I’d argue, to fit differing settings and ministry styles. And that’s my second alert as you approach this helpful book: One size doesn’t fit all. Read it, in other words, for insight into your own situation not for mindless duplication. For my part, the major value of Activate is its depth of insight that only comes from experience. It’s easy to see, humanly speaking, how Journey Church went from a handful of people to over 1100 in worship attendance and over 1200 people in almost 100 small groups in just a few years. I was especially interested in the 12 principles (Searcy and Thomas call them “big ideas”) outlined in Part One of the book, The Activist Mindset. These are divided into four “rethinking” categories—method, structure, strategy, and leadership—like this: Rethinking Small Group Methodology 1. Think Inside Out . Not Outside In. This “big idea” is based on Rick Warren’s Five Circles of Commitment. It argues that small groups need to retarget their focus group. (See the chart on the next page.) Leading Edge 9_9 Page 1 of 5 Core Committed Five Circles of Congregation Commitment Crowd “Think Inside Out” Community “Traditional thinking says that the primary purpose of small groups is to move people from the Congregation . to the Core” (e.g., arrow pointing in—see illustration above). Small groups do play a role in doing that. But according to Searcy and Thomas, small group systems should be designed “first and foremost” for the Crowd (e.g., arrow pointing out— see illustration). Their reasoning is this: “If your focus is primarily on serving your Congregation . your momentum will turn inward and your growth will stop” (p. 12). 2. Think Larger . Not Smaller. A second piece of conventional wisdom is that smaller groups lead to increased intimacy and spiritual growth. Not so, Searcy and Thomas maintain: “Groups with 7 members or fewer are difficult to lead and more likely to fail, which means they have little or no chance of fostering healthy relationships or spiritual growth, while groups of 12-15 people do both effectively” (p. 15). In fact, next to implementing semester- based start and stop times (see idea #4 below), “making this shift to slightly bigger groups, will increase the loyalty and effectiveness of your group leaders tenfold” (p. 19). 3. Think Friendship . Not Intimacy. The authors’ third big idea is this: “Most of the people in your church . want to meet casual friends.” They don’t want to be forced into “contrived familiarity” (p. 24). Especially for men, forcing them into intimate relationships in small groups typically scares and alienates many. “And we can absolutely guarantee this: In a group larger than five, it is impossible for every person to become intimate or even personal, even if you try to force the group to stay together for years” (p. 25). Consequently, the goal of small groups, the authors conclude, should be to provide a safe place where people can make friends—who could then become more intimate friends outside the group. In sum, when it comes to method, The Activate Mindset targets Rick Warren’s “Crowd” (people who are acquainted with your ministry but only loosely attached) and focuses on numerical growth. It sees the primary purpose of small groups as helping people develop friendships not intimacy. It adopts enlarged small groups as the best way to accomplish that goal. Leading Edge 9_9 Page 2 of 5 Rethinking Small Group Structure 4. Think Short-Term . Not Long-Term. Conventional wisdom says that small groups should last “anywhere from 18 months to eternity” (p. 28). By contrast, Searcy and Thomas argue that the ideal length for a small group is 10 to 12 weeks. They’ve also implemented a semester system for their small group offerings: three months on; a month to six weeks off. Their reasoning is that “people grow over short periods of time (stress). Then they need to rest (release). After the period of rest, they can grow again (stress)” (p. 31). In the authors’ opinion, time-bound groups offer a number of important advantages: A clear beginning and end date Easier for people to make short-term commitments Allows time for groups promotion and sign ups Easier for people to get into a group when everyone is starting at the same time More group options—new topics offered each semester Matches the academic calendar year Allows for the growth that comes through a stress-and-release cycle As the authors see it, this is the second of Journey Church’s two most important practices related to small groups (see idea #2 above). 5. Think Promotion Months . Not Ongoing Sign-ups. For many, small group sign-ups are ongoing and people can get involved at any time. The practice of Journey Church is a shorter, focused sign-up period based on the discovery that this increases small-group participation and excitement (p. 35). 6. Think Church “of” Small Groups . Not “with” Small Groups. “When it comes to small groups, there are two primary types of churches: churches with small groups and churches of small groups” (p. 39). Journey Church’s practice is the latter, based on the belief that small groups are “exponentially more effective when they stand alone, rather than having to compete with other programs” (p. 39). Rethinking Small Group Strategy 7. Think Easy . Not Hard. Because we live in an “easy” culture, signing up for small groups needs to be easy too. The Activate principle for small group sign-up is this: “With every step you add to the sign-up process, you are going to lose a percentage of participation” (p. 49). 8. Think Ahead . Not Behind. “Easy for participants” doesn’t translate into a lack of planning for leaders. Just the opposite, in fact. “For groups to be successful, you need to start planning and preparing three to four months in advance” (p. 54). The Activate principle is Leading Edge 9_9 Page 3 of 5 that when it comes to setting up your small groups, always be thinking ahead so that you won’t fall behind. 9. Think Full Staff Participation . Not Staff Specialist. Conventional wisdom says: “Have a small-group specialist on staff who runs the system so that no one else has to worry about it.” The Activate reality, however, is this: “Every person on staff needs to have a part in small groups, especially the lead pastor” (p. 58). Rethinking Small-Group Leadership 10. Think Apprentice . Not Expert. According to conventional wisdom, group leaders should be biblically knowledgeable, longtime Christians, and must undergo extensive training in order to lead a group effectively. Again Searcy and Thomas demur. “Serving as an apprentice/coordinator in a group will prepare potential leaders to lead a life-changing small group on their own, regardless of how long they’ve been Christians of what their level of training and expertise” (p. 64). Thus, rather than demand extensive training, the authors recommend the substituting four alternative practices instead: Let your potential leaders know that your small groups are discussion-based, not lecture based. Rely on good curriculum for theological foundation. Let your group leaders know that it’s OK to say, “I don’t know” if faced with a question they can’t answer. Never ask your leaders to be experts, just facilitators (p. 67). 11. Think Decentralization . Not Staff Control. In traditional thinking, the success of small groups is directly related to staff control. In Journey Church’s experience, the opposite has proved true. What they discovered was that “you can structure for control or you can structure for growth but you cannot structure for both” (p. 70). One example of releasing control and building trust is the freedom Journey allows its group leaders to choose their own theme and/or topic for their groups each semester. As the authors see it, this practice provides the following advantages: The availability of different topics decreases the chances that a group will become inwardly focused. Different types of groups (e.g., sports groups, moms’ groups, writing groups) will make nonbelievers and seekers who are attending your church more willing to sign up. People will grow faster when they are studying something they have an expressed interest in, allowing you to more easily identify future leaders and potential staff Men are more willing to join groups that are based on intriguing topics and built around creatively themed activities (p.

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