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People Spots
Online Impact of Small Groupsby James W. Moss, Sr. Why do I keep plugging the theme of small groups? A lack of small groups is one of the biggest blockers of growth. A church builds a foundation of small groups to support the twin towers of worship and Sunday school. The towers will grow no larger than the foundational base can support. If your average attendance is less than 200, then divide your annual average worship attendance by 8. If your average attendance is more than 200 divide your annual average attendance by 10. This exercise will tell you how many small groups you need to support your current attendance. What is a “people spot”?People spots reside in small groups. A people spot is a three-dimensional place for a person which involves a physical space such as a chair to sit on, a relational space or a chance to know a few people well, and a space for the person to have some of their felt needs met. There are no people spots in worship unless the average attendance at worship is less than 35. In that case, worship will act as a small group. There are two pre-requisites for a person to stay in your church long-term. First, they must have two friends in the church besides the professional staff. If a staff member is the only friend they have, they will tend not to stay. If that friendship is strong enough to hold them, they will leave when that staff person leaves. Second, they need to be a part of a small face-to-face fellowship group where they are known by name, feel needed and wanted, and are missed if they are absent. Five (or six) kinds of small groupsThere are five kinds of small groups. They are: 1) Sunday school classes, 2) care groups, 3) support groups, 4) task groups, and 5) athletic teams. I believe a healthy church has all five kinds of groups. It is unreasonable to anticipate that all kinds of people can fit into one kind of small group. It has become apparent in recent years that a sixth kind of group exists as well. That is a worship service that averages less than 35. In that instance, the service takes on all the characteristics of a small group. One of the primary characteristics of an established small group is resistance to the arrival of new people. There is no such thing as open small groups. Once a group is formed, it is closed and will only rarely open to allow new people in. Most groups close within six to eighteen months of their formation. The key to expansion is that the existing groups won’t block the formation of new groups. Keep a small group listRarely does a pastor or important lay leader know how many groups their church has. I encourage the building of a small group list. A very responsible person in the church needs to maintain that list. If a new group is formed, they are added. If a group closes they are deleted. The list will be very volatile in a healthy, vibrant church. It will be constantly changing. The keeper of the small group inventory list needs to be constantly checking the number of existing groups against the number needed to support worship attendance. Sooner or later the worship attendance will adjust to the amount that can be supported by the small group base. New churches and growing churches need to be very cognizant of these facts. Even if your church is very successful at walking people through the door, the growth won’t remain permanent if the new people don’t find their way into small groups. The new people will attend for three to six months and then drop out and are replaced by another set of new people. Frequently, they attend long enough to become members. The membership class becomes their small group. On the Sunday they join, their small group disbands. They are asked to find other groups. Most of those groups are closed. Many new members will disappear within the first six months after joining. Study the new members your church has received in the past seve years. What percentage of the new members are still active? Please don’t ignore this fact that is very important in the life of the expansion of any church. To ignore this information will bite you sooner or later. _____________________ Read about Jim's seminars and books. _____________________ September 27, 2005. Volume 8, Issue
15.
People Spots Online
is prepared by James W. Moss, Sr., and Church Consultants. It is provided as a service by New Life
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