Activate

Nelson Searcy

Description

Church leaders want to know how to make their small groups work. Drawing from the startling success of small groups at The Journey Church, Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas debunk the myths, set the record straight, and show how church leaders can implement a healthy small group ministry that gets the maximum number of people involved and solves many of the important problems facing churches of all sizes. These practical strategies will produce life-changing results.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 06 mars 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493412747
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2008, 2018 by Nelson Searcy
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-1274-7
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled Message are from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled NKJV are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Dedication
To all the faithful small group leaders at The Journey Church
Contents
Cover 1
Title Page 3
Copyright Page 4
Dedication 5
Acknowledgments 11
Authors’ Note 13
Introduction 15
PART 1 THE ACTIVATE MINDSET (OR, PARADIGM SHIFTS) 23
SECTION 1 Rethinking Small Group Methodology 25
Big Idea #1: Think from the Outside In, Not from the Inside Out 27
Big Idea #2: Think Larger, Not Smaller 33
Big Idea #3: Think Friends, Not Intimacy 39
SECTION 2 Rethinking Small Group Structure 49
Big Idea #4: Think Short Term, Not Long Term 51
Big Idea #5: Think Promotion Months, Not Ongoing Sign-Ups 59
Big Idea #6: Think Church of Small Groups, Not Church with Small Groups 64
SECTION 3 Rethinking Small Group Strategy 73
Big Idea #7: Think Easy, Not Hard 75
Big Idea #8: Think Ahead, Not Behind 84
Big Idea # 9: Think Full Staff Participation, Not Staff Specialist 89
SECTION 4 Rethinking Small Group Leadership 95
Big Idea #10: Think Apprentice, Not Expert 97
Big Idea #11: Think Decentralization, Not Staff Control 102
Big Idea #12: Think Leader Multiplication, Not Group Multiplication 108
PART 2 THE ACTIVATE SYSTEM INTRODUCING THE FOUR FS: FOCUS, FORM, FILL, AND FACILITATE 113
SECTION 5 Focusing Your Groups 119
Focus Step #1: Evaluate 123
Focus Step #2: Set Your Calendar 136
Focus Step #3: Set Your Goals 138
Focus Step #4: Set Your Structure 154
Focus Step #5: Build Your List 158
SECTION 6 Forming Your Groups 165
Form Step #1 : Make the Big Ask 169
Form Step #2: Schedule the Team Leader Meeting 179
Form Step #3: Get Your Groups List Ready 183
SECTION 7 Filling Your Groups 189
Fill Factor #1: One-Step Sign-Ups 201
Fill Factor #2: Teaching on the Power of Groups 210
Fill Factor #3: Testimonies, Videos, and Dramas 218
Fill Factor #4: Small Group Table 222
Fill Factor #5: Targeting Specific Group Types 224
Fill Factor #6: The Church-Wide Campaign 228
Fill Factor #7: Emails, Newsletters, and Mailings 233
Fill Factor #8: Selling the Previously Sold 238
Fill Factor #9: Promoting Groups to Newcomers 241
Fill Factor #10: Creating Urgency 245
Fill Factor #11: No Sign-Up Left Behind 247
SECTION 8 Facilitating Your Groups 251
Facilitate Principle #1: Training Group Leaders 253
Facilitate Principle #2: Structuring the First Group Meeting 267
Facilitate Principle #3: Conducting Week-to-Week Facilitation 279
Facilitate Principle #4: Conducting Monthly Facilitation 287
Facilitate Principle #5 : Conducting Semester Facilitation 289
Conclusion 297
Notes 299
About the Authors 301
Back Ads 303
Back Cover 314
Acknowledgments
N elson:
To Kelley, my wife and best friend.
And to our son, Alexander. My love for both of you grows every day.
Thank you to Kerrick and Jennifer for the opportunity to do this book together. May God use it for his glory.
Kerrick:
A big thank-you to my wife, Lorie, who is a much better small group leader than me and my favorite person to lead a group with (even though she thinks I talk too much!).
To my children—Hudson, Jackson, and Sydney—who have always understood why Mommy and Daddy going to Growth Group is important.
And to Nelson—I’ll never forget drawing up the initial ideas for the semester-based small group system while sitting in a booth at Burger King. Thank you for trusting me to implement Growth Groups at The Journey!
Nelson and Kerrick:
Thank you to the amazing staff, members, Growth Group leaders, volunteers, and partners of The Journey Church. A big thank-you to our writing partner, Jennifer Dykes Henson. And thank you to the multitalented and committed team at Baker Books for their continued partnership and commitment to this book.
Authors’ Note
W hile the thoughts, anecdotes, and principles presented in these pages represent the contributions of both Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas, we’ve chosen to fuse our combined experience into one voice for clarity’s sake. The voice in the pages ahead is Nelson’s.
Introduction
I haven’t always loved the idea of small groups. In fact, there was a time when I didn’t think very highly of them at all. Maybe you have felt this way too. Maybe, like me, you know that small groups are a crucial part of God’s plan for the spiritual maturity of his people—but as far as you can tell, most of the current small group systems out there simply don’t work. You may be asking yourself the same questions I asked in the beginning of my journey. Questions like: Is it possible to have a small group system at my church that isn’t complicated? Is it possible to operate small groups without hiring new staff people? Is it possible to get every adult attender involved in a group? Is it possible for true life-change to happen in groups? Is it possible to have a small group ministry that my staff and I are actually excited about?
In the pages ahead, I will walk you through my conversion from being apathetic toward small groups to becoming a raving fan. My change of heart came when I discovered a proven way for groups to be simple, self-sustaining, and life- changing. This didn’t happen overnight; it took place little by little, through the life of my local church, The Journey Church in New York City.
My journey toward a new small group model was founded on two basic assumptions.
➢ Assumption #1: Small groups are biblical.
As Luke wrote:
They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. (Acts 2:46–47)
My goal in these pages is not to revisit the theology of small groups or defend the plethora of reasons you should consider incorporating small groups into the life of your church. You’ll find an extensive list of books to do just that at ActivateBook.com . Instead, this discussion is an outgrowth of the widely validated assumption that small groups are biblical.
➢ Assumption #2: The existing models for small groups are ineffective at both getting people involved and fostering spiritual maturity among believers.
Even the best small group models seem to engage only a marginal percentage of weekly worship attenders. The New Testament model for small groups requires that the vast majority of believing adults meet in small, house-to-house gatherings. Participation in such small group gatherings should be the rule for our attenders, not the exception.
The Activate System—A New Model
With these two foundational assumptions in place, my team and I prayerfully began building a small group system that God could work through to engage and grow his people. Our initial goals were to: Build a biblical small group ministry that would create maximum life-change. Build a small group ministry that would see 100 percent adult participation. Build a small group ministry that would be outwardly focused. Pinpoint the ideal size of a small group. Create small group environments that would encourage friendships to form. Develop a clear and simple sign-up system to catalyze involvement. Work with the natural flow of the calendar to maximize sign-ups and life-change. Reproduce new group leaders without requiring overwhelming training. Multiply without having to split existing groups. Nurture excited small group leaders who want to lead again and again. Develop a simple structure capable of growing with the church. Implement a promotion plan to get people excited about joining small groups. Discover how to mobilize small groups for ministry in the church, evangelism in the community, and mission in the world.
We wanted to accomplish all of this while avoiding the most common traps associated with small groups, such as renegade groups, theological messes, administrative nightmares, and leader burnout.
With these goals in place, my team at The Journey and I set out to develop a small group system that would work the way a small group system should—and we did. Known as the Activate system, the model we created and honed has not only garnered amazing results in our own church but has also earned an incredible track record of success as it has been implemented in churches around the United States and the world.
Revised and Expanded
Since the original publishing of Activate: An Entirely New Approach to Small Groups , the Activate system has had tremendous impact on the