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Church Is a Team Sport - 8/7/2008 1:07:03 AM
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InfoCentral
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About half way through this book and I am really excited about joining a small group.
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RE: Church Is a Team Sport - 8/7/2008 8:21:06 AM
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JimboFletch
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Since I haven't seen the book, by "small group" do you mean a small church, a Bible study group, a few friends over coffee, or something else?
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RE: Church Is a Team Sport - 8/7/2008 11:07:11 AM
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InfoCentral
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It is the small group model that Real Life Ministries is using for their entire church structure. In their model the small group is the central focus and the Sunday church service and on the bottom of the diagram. They try to get everyone into a small group. All small groups use oral bible story telling.
They are relational focused. They believe they you need to establish relationships. Everything they do is build up around the relationship model and the only way you can really establish a good relationship with others is through small groups. They have 700 small groups with church membership currently about 7,000 with yearly membership growth averaging 1,000/year new members.
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RE: Church Is a Team Sport - 8/7/2008 11:13:42 AM
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JimboFletch
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Sounds a lot like the pattern the Southern Baptists have been using in principle for decades. I can't imagine just attending a 1200 person service without also connecting and felowshipping and studying in a small group setting. They go hand-in-hand, but the small group is the backbone of a strong church.
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RE: Church Is a Team Sport - 8/7/2008 11:26:38 AM
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InfoCentral
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Yep, I agree. How are we to admonish and support one another if we aren't connected. And how are we to know about each other if we aren't connected relationally? The only way this can happen is through small groups.
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RE: Church Is a Team Sport - 8/9/2008 10:00:39 PM
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semperfidelis
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I'm a big advocate of small groups, but after 10 years a group of 5 leaders are pitching to our senior pastor that some of the groups take a break from them for 6 months. Sometimes there is a need to develop unity. Not that we have disunity, just fragmentation. Small groups that are too separate from each other and it is not helping the Body as a whole.
Aside from that, a good thing can be taken too far. Small groups' greatest strength can be their biggest weakness -- they can become clique-ish and too tight. On the other hand, I also know of leaders who have tried to rotate small groups, and this is often either done too much or it becomes difficult to know people well.
Small groups need to be used as a tool. My church (~700) does small groups quite well, 2 other churches (~300 - 900) I know have done well without them and have started or will be implementing small groups. Another church just about was destroyed by a legalistic application of the G12 groups program. They'd been around 5000 people, 3 services a Sunday and a night service, and massive outreach programs. They are now under 1500 people and two services (no extras) and the pastor and leadership apologized to the congregation for the mistakes made in trying too hard to apply what had the potential to work well.
Definitely see if small groups works for you. Just don't go nuts.
_____________________________
The man in the arena....
If I rise and succeed, it's because His hand has lifted me.
I may not have 3 greek letters but I have 2 latin words: SEMPER FIDELIS (no, I'm not a marine, but we like the same things)
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RE: Church Is a Team Sport - 8/9/2008 10:47:18 PM
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InfoCentral
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The Real Life model uses bible story telling. All small groups tell the same story the same week they meet. This builds unity within the church and between groups. Also your small group is supposed to be growing and dividing to start more small groups. If your group isn't growing then they may need to take a look at it and perhaps break in up into other groups. Sometimes people become comfortable in their small group and they don't want to grow it and divide it.
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RE: Church Is a Team Sport - 8/13/2008 11:57:16 AM
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InfoCentral
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Just in case anyone wants more information here is the link to Real Life Ministries.
There is also a free five week sermon series based on this book here.
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