People Spots
Online
Produced by James W.
Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants
Provided as a service by New Life Ministries
Evaluating Group Participation
Third article in a series by James W. Moss, Sr.See the
first article - Small Groups
See the second article - The
Purpose of Small Groups
Pastor John Smithton presented the following monologue. “We have good groups. We also have a variety of groups. Why are we getting a continuous rollover of people? Why do some people come for a period of time and then disappear? Why do another group of people show up and then the same result? This is not a massive metropolitan area. There are only so many people to walk through the door. We have to hold onto some of them. I recognize that new people have to get into small groups, but what are we doing wrong?”
I have literally heard this speech with various nuances dozens of times. The fact is the new attendees don’t perceive that the current groups your church is offering will meet their felt needs. Or they will have tried a group or two only to discover that those groups are closed. Any adult group that is two years old will be resistant to the arrival of new people. Only the strong, brash extrovert, a person who marries into the group, or a person sponsored into the group will be accepted. A group will only grant the rite of sponsorship to selected members who will know who and how many people can be brought into the group without messing it up.
A evaluation process
How can we discover to whom our groups are not ministering in our church? Which people are at risk? The following is an exercise that will assist you in evaluating your church’s small group participation. I realize that the larger the church, the greater the task. But I think it will be worthwhile.
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List everyone who has attended worship at least once in the past 6 months. |
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Have each small group leader share with you the names of the persons who have attended at least half of the meetings of their small group. Compile the names so that each person’s name appears only once. |
The attendance list will be long. The small group participation list will be much shorter. Separate the attendance list into two segments. Those on the attendance list and the small group participation list will be put together to form one segment. The remainder of the attendance list will be the second segment.
Danger ahead
These persons on the longer attendance list are in jeopardy. This is not a game. It is serious business. The next family that will leave your church will most likely come off this part of the list. Many of the people who leave your church because they couldn’t find a people spot will drop out of church totally. Most will not go somewhere else. They will drop out of church totally.
Analyze the second segment. Begin to place people in common demographic groupings. Several such significant groups should appear. It is difficult to predict just what groups will appear from church to church. It could be single parents, single and never married, couples with double income and no kids, widows, and many others. One church that did this discovered to their amazement that there were many retirement age couples. There were groups for older women and men. However, if the couple wished to go as a couple, there were no opportunities.
A common exception
There is one major exception in a church that has existed for more than one generation. Heritage people are attending for different reasons. Many attend only worship. They will not be pushed into a small group. If you try to do so, they will bite you. The only group they might find attractive is one that would deal with heritage.
This exercise has the potential to identify several groups that would need to be started to incorporate people who are now attending. Secondly, it has the potential to provide an important beginning point for a prospect list for new groups.
The persons who respond to your new group will be people that perceive the new group will meet their needs, who appreciate the leader and the group gathered, and who are experiencing some pain in life at the point the new group is beginning.
Keep in mind that two things have to happen if a person is going to stay long term in your church. First, a person has to have two friends in the church besides the professional staff. The term “friend” implies a significant relationship. And they must be a part of a small face-to-face fellowship where they are known by name, feel needed and wanted, and are missed if they are absent. These needs are met best in a variety of small groups.
Next - Part 4: Starting New Groups
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Read about Jim's seminars and books.
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March 8, 2004. Volume 7, Issue 4. 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.