Language of Small Group Ministry

The langauge of Small Group Ministry is hard. We often talk about launching a small group ministry or starting a small group ministry. This reinforces the common practice of ADDING a small group ministry program to a congregations offerings. The potential of small group ministry is in ministering THROUGH small group ministry, in sharing your ministry with lay leaders, in focusing on helping each person find her or his own ministry.

Carl George talks about this in his books on the Meta Church model. His model is about how we can look at everything we do in church as being connected to the ministry of the church, with intentional leadership development, support and care. Meta church is a way of examining and mapping the community. It is not another term for small group ministry, though this is a common claim.

Question: are you a church with a set of small groups or are you a church that ministers through small groups?

There is a huge difference. Can you see it?

When you talk about "a small group ministry" make sure you are not shoving it into the category of another program.

Perhaps we should talk about becoming a small group ministry...