Category Archives: Groups

Reproduce Yourself!

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Crossbridge desires to be a reproducing Church.  Let’s reproduce together . . . and when I say reproducing, I don’t mean having more kids.  We want to be a church that is reproducing at every level . . . we want to reproduce campuses and churches . . . and we want to reproduce groups and leaders.  Being a reproducing church starts with leaders at every level (kids teachers, sound techs, group leaders, greeters, worship leaders, etc) reproducing him/herself.

Reproducing is easier than it sounds.  Reproducing is teaching someone to do what you do.  Jesus did it.  While Jesus’ life was brief, his ministry continues today because Jesus taught people to do what he did.  Throughout his life, Jesus invested in people who would carry out his ministry.

If we-individually and as a church–want to make a lasting impact, we have to teach people to do what we do.  We have to reproduce ourselves.  The easiest way to reproduce at every level is to have an apprentice.

This is why I believe reproducing through apprenticeship is important:

  • Reproducing allows our impact to continue without us
  • Reproducing expands our capacity to do ministry
  • Ministry is more fun when we do it together
  • We are called to make disciples.  Reproducing yourself, reproduces disciples
  • When we reproduce, our church is able to help MORE disconnected people connect to God
  • Investing in people matters

Reproducing yourself is easier than it sounds.

In their book Exponential, Dave Ferguson and Jon Ferguson outline a simple method for developing an apprentice—for reproducing yourself.  It goes something like this:

 I do, you watch, we talk
I do, you help, we talk
You do, I help, we talk
You do, I watch, we talk
You do, someone else watches

This is how that might look:

If you are a leader (let’s use a group leader as an example), invite someone to be your apprentice.  Let your apprentice watch you lead a group.  Talk about what happens.  Learn from each other.  Let your apprentice help you lead a group . . . perhaps this means leading a portion of your group (maybe the discussion . . . maybe the prayer time . . . maybe something else).  Talk about what happens.  Learn from each other.  Your apprentice takes ownership of making the group happen.  You help your apprentice.  You talk about what happens.  Learn from each other.  Your apprentice leads the group without your help.  You watch.  You talk about what happens.  Learn from each other.  Your apprentice leads a group and invites someone else to be his/her apprentice.

Maybe you are not a group leader.  Maybe you are a kid’s teacher, sound tech, greeter, or ministry team leader.  The same pattern works for all of us.  Becoming a reproducing church starts with leaders at every level teaching someone else to do what you do.

REPRODUCE YOURSELF!

Getting your Community Group off on a Great Start!

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It’s that time of the year again—Community Groups are starting/re-starting for the Fall.  Yi and I are leading a group that begins next week and we are getting excited.

In light of this season, I thought I’d share 15 ideas to get your group off to a great start:

  • Begin praying for your group and group members now.  The amount of time you spend praying for your group will have a greater impact on your group than anything else you will do.
  • Take some time to think about people you know that are not connected to a group.  Pray for them.  Invite them to your group.  Be proactive about getting people into your group.
  • As your group begins, remember group leaders are environmentalists.  Create an environment that fosters community with each other and communion with God.  If you don’t have it week one, try something different week two.
  • Make EACH individual member feel comfortable and welcome.  Follow up if regular (especially first few weeks).  View each person as an individual (with unique characteristics and needs) rather than a piece of a group.
  • Give all the group members an opportunity to fully introduce themselves.
  • Give significant time in the early weeks getting to know each other.  Mix up the environment, have some fun, bring the group together.  Find “community” early.  This will help other group components fall into place.
  • Explain the group’s goals and purpose.  Define mutually accepted group norms.  Share expectations early.  Work with the group to clarify expectations for your time together.
  • Set the tone for a reproducing culture.
  • Set the tone for a missional culture.
  • Clarify group organization and administrative details (how does food, childcare, etc. work)
  • Work on the team.  The group leaders’ role is not to do all the work, but to set the environment.  Enlist support—hosts, discussion leaders, apprentices.
  • Assign certain tasks that can be shared (organizing food, email updates, event organizers, etc.)
  • Set an example for the group.  Behave as you would expect group members to behave.  Follow the rules the group establishes.  Be honest and open with the group.
  • Go first with being real with your group.  You set the example for how the group will be.  If you want your group to be real and open—YOU have to be real and open first and often.
  • Evaluate (weekly at first, then periodically) and adjust.  Evaluate and adjust.

Successful Small Group Leadership

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Have you ever wondered what it takes to lead a successful reproducing small group?  Joel Comiskey did a study to find the answer to that question.  In his book Home Cell Group Explosion, he studied over 700 small group leaders in eight of the fastest growing small group based churches.  He explored what leads some reproducing small groups to succeed and others not to succeed.  I found this study both encouraging and convicting.  Below are some of his findings.

He found that the following factors had little to do with successful reproducing small group leadership:

  • The leader’s gender, social class, age, marital status, or education
  • The leader’s personality type: Both introverted and extroverted leaders multiply groups.
  • The leader’s spiritual gifting: Those with the gift of teaching, pastoring, mercy, leadership, evangelism equally multiply their group.

Comiskey found that the following factors were found in leaders of successful reproducing small groups:

  • The leader’s personal devotional time:  Leaders who spend more time daily in personal devotion time seemed to be more successful leading groups.
  • The leader’s time spent praying for their group:  Those who pray daily for group members are most likely to reproduce groups.
  • The leader spending time with God to prepare for a group meeting:  Spending time with God preparing the heart for a group meeting is more important than preparing the lesson.
  • Setting goals for reproducing: The leader who set goals that the members of the group remember has a significantly greater chance of multiplying his or her group.
  • Knowing your group multiplication date: Group leaders who set specific goals for reproducing, multiply their group more often that goal-less leaders.
  • Training: Leaders who feel better equipped multiply their group more rapidly.  However, training was shown to be less important as the leader’s prayer life and goal orientation.
  • How often the group leader contacts new people: Group leaders who contact more new people per month have a greater chance of multiplying the group.
  • Exhortation in groups to invite friends: Leaders who weekly encourage members to invite guests doubles their capacity to multiply their groups.
  • Number of visitors to group: There is a direct relationship between the number of visitors in the group and the number of times a leader multiplies the group.
  • Outside meetings: Groups that meet more frequently outside of the regular small group gathering—just for fun—were more likely to reproduce than those that didn’t.
  • Building a team: Those leaders who build a leadership team double their capacity to multiply a group.

Missional Community Groups

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We’ve been using a term around Crossbridge this summer–missional community groups.  Our hope this year for groups at Crossbridge is that they be missional community groups.

Missional community groups (at Crossbridge) function in one of two ways:

1)      Groups with a mission:  These groups have a common cause as their affinity and they work TOGETHER to accomplish that mission.

2)      Groups with missionaries:  These groups have a relational affinity and they hold each other accountable for the individual mission that God has called them to.

This is the way I like to think about.  If we want to be more like Jesus, we have to act like Jesus.  At our Sunday gatherings, we hear the words of Scripture.  The Bible is taught and if we engage in this Sunday morning experience, we leave knowing more about what the Bible says and we know more about how we are supposed to live.

The challenge is that there is often a disconnect in what we know and how we act.  This is where our groups come in.  If Sunday mornings are the place that we learn, missional community groups are the place where we act.  Missional community groups are the place that we talk about what we learn on Sunday morning.  They are the place we learn from each other.  We “practice” living out the words of Jesus and find support from our group.

Missional Community Groups are a place we experience the words of Scripture.

Missional Community Groups are a place we act more like Jesus.

Missional Community Groups a place we can live out the Great Commission.

 It might look something like this:  together your group determines a mission . . . each week you pray for that mission . . . as a group, you plan for your mission . . .each month you take time away from weekly activities to make that mission happen . . . together you accomplish this mission . . . you share your experiences . . . you learn from each other.

It might look something like this:  gather together weekly with your community groups . . . hear stories about how others are living out the great commission . . . ask questions and get ideas . . . ask your group to hold you accountable for “doing” something every week . . . do something each week . . . come back and share what you’ve done with your group . . . learn from each other . . . encourage each other . . . pray for each other . . . hold each other accountable.

 This is what we want to happen at Crossbridge:

  • We want to be like Jesus
  • We want to be a church full of people living out the GREAT COMMISSION
  • As a church, we want to have a greater IMPACT on our COMMUNITY
  • We want to take the CHURCH to our CITY
  • We want to make living out the WORDS of Jesus more FUN

I am so excited to hear the stories that come out of our community groups this year.  I can’t wait to hear stories of transformed lives . . . of transformed neighborhoods . . . of transformed work places . . . and transformed families.  I look forward to hearing how God has worked through our missional community groups over the next year.  I look forward to seeing the ways God is impacting our city through this church.  I look forward to celebrating together!