Big Numbers Or Small Groups?

Do You Really Have To Choose?

If I can pinpoint the determining factor of why I am where I am today I can point it back to my small group experience. When I was in high school, small groups were where my faith really started to mature. I grew up in the church but didn’t really do anything about my faith until my junior year. That all changed when I was thrown into this random group of guys where I truly began to understand what true, authentic, spiritual community can do for someone. Now I have to warn you, my experience was a little weird, because these guys were a little weird.

I remember it was during a weekend camp. For some reason I came up later in the evening. I was a little nervous because I didn’t know my leader and I didn’t really know any of the guys who were in my cabin. I walked into the room and to my right I saw Travis and Wes wrestling in the corner, and Wes was trying to pop a ginormous zit on Travis’ back. I walked down the hall and out of the shower comes my cabin leader who proceeded to towel whip my bare back and it drew blood while saying, “Welcome to small group.” In my head I thought, “I’m not going to make it this weekend. I’m already done.”

I made it through that weekend and they kept on inviting me to hang out with them at their small group. I thought, “Okay I’ll go, I had a good time.” So I kept going, and I was weirded out by the group. The guys would get together and talk about their problems. They would cry. They would pray for each other and I could tell they genuinely loved each other. I thought it was a little weird.

It was definitely uncommon.

But over time, I was drawn to it. They had something that I didn’t have. The way the handled the same things I was going through, it seemed like they had hope when I didn’t. I began to engage in this community. I began to partake in what they were doing and I began to see myself grow closer and closer to God and started to become more and more like Him. Years later, I still get to call them friends. The small group changed my life.

Focusing on your BIG GOAL

Some of the key questions you need to ask your self about your small groups are:

-What role do small groups play in the overall structure of your program?

-What is the end goal for your student ministry? Is it your service? Is it getting them plugged into small groups? Is it getting them serving in the church?

As I write this I am in my second round at Christ’s Church of the Valley, where I serve. I worked here for almost 4 years and we were able to get some big numbers at our Wednesday night programs. I left to work at Saddleback Church in the student ministry for a bit and now I’m back at CCV. Right now, in my second round at CCV, we are not getting the numbers we once were; and I’m okay with that.

Why?

My first round, big numbers were the goal. We had a great program, students would show up out of nowhere and nights would be big and loud. But when the leaders left, so did the students. The numbers were based on hype. Does that mean God was not showing up? No, not at all. It was a great team of people who loved the Lord and students met Jesus almost every week. Looking back, we had our structure wrong. We had our end goal in the wrong place.

In this season at CCV, our end goal is plugging kids into small groups – we have small groups and students are in a community being discipled. Do we all want bigger numbers? Of course we do. We hear about it all of the time from the people we report to or whether it’s the voice in our heads. Why am I happier right now? Small groups are our end goal. I feel like my first round here, as awesome as high numbers are, Wednesday’s were our end game. Our success was based on how many students came. The extent of our discipleship was what they got on Wednesday. As big, fun, energetic as that is, it ended when they left.

This year with the launch of our small groups Wednesday’s are now a means to an end. We do Wednesday’s in hopes we can get students there so that they can get connected into a small group. One of the best things about working at Saddleback HSM and overseeing their small group ministry was I saw what it was like to have more students in small groups than attended the weekend services. The weekend/midweek services are great, but if they are the end, we can gather as many as possible but it will not be as healthy as getting them into something else that will close that dreaded “back door” or ministry where they can allow Jesus to truly invade their lives and be transformed.

Let’s not get caught up in numbers, okay?

Do I still get caught up in the numbers game? Of course, we all do if we are honest. But I know now with 35% of students in groups our first year of groups (our goal next year is to get to 50%) and smaller attendance right now, we have a far healthier ministry than we once had. It’s a change of mindset of what is important. I still care about numbers, but the numbers that drive me are how many are in a small group community, with 1 or 2 adults pouring into them where they can study Scripture and allow Jesus to transform them all school year long.

Does this mean our midweek service suffers? Not at all. We will keep being a ministry in which attracts students who do not know Jesus to come be exposed to him during our midweek. We know that as we grow in our midweek, we will grow in our small groups because we have somewhere where we want them to go. They will feed each other.

The end game changed and I feel our ministry will grow because of it. It might not be the explosive growth we once saw, but it will be healthier growth. Healthy things grow.

So, what’s your end goal? Do you have an “end” you want students to get to? Why do you want students to there?

One of the worst things we can do as leaders is not know the answer to these questions. If you don’t have a clear answer, it’s important to take time and form a clear answer. We have to know where we want students to go before we start sending them in a direction.

Small group ministry changed my life, and I believe that it will change the lives of every student in our ministries. Give yourself time to create a great small group structure and a plan for funneling kids toward them. Remember: healthy things grow. Healthy small groups grow healthy teens. And that’s totally worth our time.