Yesterday we looked at a vision statement for a large urban church. Today we’ll consider the other end of the spectrum.
Example 2:
You’re the solo pastor of a struggling 50-member church in the Midwest. Your members are mostly long-time residents in a small town that is struggling to stay alive in these tough times. You have […]

We’ve been studying how to develop an effective vision statement for a small group ministry. Let’s look at some examples to help you create your own.
Example 1:
Let’s say you’re the small groups pastor of an urban church of 1,000 members. Your church has a good socio-economic cross section of the community as a whole. Your […]

Yesterday we introduced the need for vision. So what is vision? George Barna in his classic book The Power of Vision: How You Can Capture and Apply God’s Vision for Your Ministry says, “Vision for ministry is a clear mental image of a preferable future imparted by God to His chosen servants and is […]

I spoke with a small group pastor the other day. He was frustrated that his leaders seemed to be all over the place in terms of skills, interests, and direction. He’s tried to conduct training sessions, but gets a less than 20% turnout. In his frustration, he’s beginning to demand participation in leadership events. What […]

Dreambuilders Ministry in Motion has just published an interview with me to complement the article they published last week. Want to know a little more about the real Pat and the history of Why Didn’t You Warn Me?, check it out.

CT’s BuildingSmallGroups.com has just released a new download called “Ministering to Difficult Group Members.†It features four articles on dealing with difficult personality types, including one by Les Parrott called “Coping with People Who Beef, Bite, and Bellyache:
How To Handle Difficult Relationships In Your Small Group.†I can’t wait to read that one.
My […]

This seems to be my mantra lately. Probably because I keep seeing the effects of groups that have grown too big.
I’m preparing my workshops for the Bay Area Sunday School Convention (BASS) for this coming weekend, and noticed that I have something about “keep it small†in all of them. Must be important. I just […]

In my last post, I listed some questions I ask in assessing the effectiveness of any small group I’m leading. The Sower from Bethel Church in Richland, WA, posted a quick assessment tool by Reid Smith. This summary is adapted from his article in Small Group Dynamics, Dec. 2007.
Do people love God more? Experiencing more […]

How do you check the pulse of your group? When I’m leading a group, I like to do a periodic check up to see how we’re doing. Below are some of the questions I’ll distribute to members and ask for their honest feedback. We may or may not discuss them, depending on the group. People […]

Rex L. Stancil has an excellent post called “Treat or Refer†at “I Had Been Thinking…â€. He strongly recommends that pastors and small group leaders provide a healthy community, but that they not get involved in long-term counseling of group members. He sets out very wise guidelines for all of us.