People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
Small Groups
First article in a series by James W. Moss, Sr.The beginning of new small groups is an indispensable key to the growth of a church.
There is a great deal of confusion regarding a definition of small groups. What is a small group? Many people assume that means only a home group. I believe there are five kinds of small groups. Any group you start could be slotted into one of the five that I will list. A healthy church should have all five kinds of small groups. Different people fit into different kinds of small groups. There is no one kind of group that fits everybody.
Five kinds of small groups
Sunday school classes are a kind of small group. They still have an important place. I have attended many very fine adult Sunday school classes in the past couple of years. These were small groups where the persons were valued and where significant teaching was occurring.
Care groups meet in someone’s home. The leader provides care for the attenders. They usually involve ten to twelve adults. The agenda involves study, prayer, and fellowship. Sometimes there is a group for the children of the adults meeting at the same time in another part of the home.
Support groups gather people with common interests. They may be for addiction control, weight loss, or life situation interests. There could be groups for parents of pre-school children, parents of adolescents, empty-nesters, widows, etc. We could quickly brainstorm a list of fifty different support groups that could be formed. For instance, men’s, women’s, and youth groups are support groups.
Task groups exist to do something. Choirs and worship teams are task groups. There may be other such groups. One church has a group of people to do home repair for people who can’t afford to hire contractors. Another has a group that gathers old cars, fixes them, and gives them to people who can’t afford to buy one. Church plants have set-up teams to prepare for worship on Sunday morning.
Athletic teams have a tremendous bonding power. I have known of softball, volleyball, bowling, and flag football teams.
[I am reluctant to add a sixth kind of small group, but I must. A worship service that averages less than 35 will become a small group. That is why it is important to push to have worship attendance rise above that number.]
I have attended seminars about small groups that teach the concept of open small groups. I believe the term open small group is an oxymoron. The only time a group is open is in its formative stages. Once a group is solidly formed, it becomes closed. That is unavoidable. The only exception is when groups don’t last six months. Some churches try to avoid this problem by having small groups that never last more than six months. Extroverts love it. Introverts die and will disappear.
People Spots exist in small groups
People Spots reside in small groups. There are no people spots in worship unless worship is less than 35. A people spot is the place of belonging for a person. By definition a people spot involves
 | A physical space or a chair to sit upon, |
| A relational space or the opportunity to know a few people well, and |
| A space to meet some needs. |
Do you know someone who has a chair in their home that is their chair? They sit in it, eat in it, sleep in it, watch television in it, and read in it. It has been their chair for so long it is now form fit. Never sit in someone’s chair, even if it is offered to you. That is the best illustration of a people spot in a church that I can think of.
Very active people in a church may have three to six people spots. But one of them will be their primary people spot. It is the one that is holding them in the church. It is the one they will die for. At the very least, it is the one they will leave the church over if it is tampered with.
Sally attended a church where worship was less than 35. So she had a people spot in worship. She sang in the choir, was a member of the Ladies Aid Society, and the Women’s Bible Class. The church grew to 200. She lost her people spot in worship. Sally recognized she didn’t have a good enough voice to sing in the choir of a church of 200, so she quit singing in the choir. The Ladies Aid Society died. One Sunday, the Sunday school superintendent walked into the Women’s Bible Class with six little old ladies. He announced the class would no longer meet after this Sunday. They were encouraged to attend another one. On the way out, Sally said, “Pastor, I won’t be back, there is no longer room for me in this church.” They had just taken away her primary people spot with predictable results.
How many small groups?
How many small groups does your church need? Divide your annual average worship attendance by the number of small groups in your church. If the answer you get is eight or more, your church doesn’t have enough small groups. Either you will start enough small groups to reduce that number to eight, or your worship attendance will shrink until that number reaches a level your small group base can support.
Next - The Purpose of Small Groups
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February 9, 2004. Volume 7, Issue 2. People Spots Online is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org. Articles may be duplicated and reproduced in any way with proper credit. A new article is produced about every two weeks. To be added to a list to receive these messages directly by e-mail, send a request to churchconsultants@yahoo.com.