Key Principles for Relaunching

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Determine if your small-group ministry needs to be relaunched and how to do it well if it does.

by John Atkinson | posted 6/18/2007

Topics:	Assessment, Leadership, Planning, Relaunching, Strategy, Vision
Filters:	Director, Pastor, Start
Purpose:	Discipleship
References:	Proverbs 29:18
Date Added:	June 18, 2007

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Note: This article has been excerpted from the SmallGroups.com training tool called Re-Launching a Small-Groups Ministry.

John Atkinson is the discipleship pastor and home-teams director for Bay Area Fellowship in Corpus Christi, Texas. He is co-author ofGo Big with Small Groups.

Building Small Groups: Can you give us a brief summary of your experience with re-launching a small-groups ministry?

John Atkinson: When I came on staff at Bay Area Fellowship, there were about 16 groups. But because there wasn't a pastor or ministry leader overseeing the effort, about half of them were completely unhealthy—they were basically mini-churches out on their own. So one of the first things I did was "grow" our home-team ministry from 16 teams to 8, which I know is not a very auspicious start.

We re-launched at that point with a whole new vision. I think one of the biggest problems I see with small-group ministries that fail is that there is no vision. There's no answer to the question, "Why do we have a small-groups ministry?" A lot of small-group ministries are out there because churches think, "Well, we're supposed to have one." But if you don't have a vision for what you're trying to accomplish, you'll never accomplish it.

What are some of the first steps that church leaders need to take when re-launching a small-groups ministry?

Well, the first step is to identify a vision, for all the reasons I just mentioned. The second step is to set goals. What percentage of your congregation would you like attending small groups? Setting numerical goals gives you something to strive for. And I really challenge church leaders not to set achievable goals. Instead, set God-sized goals. Because if you set goals you know how to achieve, you don't need God. Once you have some goals, the next step is to put a plan of action into place to make the vision a reality through the goals you set.

But if I was to look back at all the churches I've worked with over the years, I think the most important step is to make sure the leadership of the church is on-board with what you're trying to do. I see more small-group ministries fail—or even if they're still there, they're not healthy—because the vision of the ministry doesn't match the vision of the church.

Oftentimes as small-group pastors, we have this grand idea about how we're going to grow the small-group ministry and get all these people involved. And we think: I'm going to do it my way. This is how to get it done. Then we sit down and talk with our senior pastor, and it's not the same vision.

So, as leaders in the church—those of us in the second chair and below—we need to make sure that our vision for ministry matches that of the senior pastor, because we're called to serve him. And oftentimes that means we have to humbly change our plan so that it falls in line with the plan of the senior pastor.

In fact, the most important thing you can do when re-launching a small-group ministry is to get with your senior pastor and say: "We want to re-launch this thing. Here's our vision, here's our goals, and here's our plan. And for these to be successful, this is what we'll need from you." Because if the senior pastor isn't talking about small groups on a regular basis, or isn't part of launching the vision for small groups, then the body of the church doesn't know they need to be in one.

Besides a lack of support from the senior pastor, what are some other obstacles that specifically attack an effort to re-launch a small-groups program within a church?

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