Patric Brasher, the author of this series of blog posts, is a senior at UAB and has led a college disciple making small group through Brook Hills for the past 2+yrs. He and his crew have, in many ways, led an exemplary small group that is both inwardly focused (growing in the gospel together) as well as outwardly focused (extending the gospel to others). This is the introductory blog post in a series entitled, “Multiply Small Groups.”
O Multiplication, Where is Thy Sting?
I love hypothetical situations. While they can be a bit over done, they can also sometimes be a quite helpful tool in the field of mental preparation. So in light of this fact, I invite you to step into a hypothetical situation with me for a moment that could be really helpful for you if you’re leading or could potentially lead a small group of people under the banner of Jesus Christ.
Let’s say perchance that you are leading a thriving small group within the context of your local church. It’s been just 8 months since you’ve started but in that short amount of time your group members have really connected with each other and are starting to flourish. You guys are “tearing it up” during your meeting times via a healthy diet of the Word, worship, and prayer. Your group is involved in the community and is intentional about inviting and welcoming outsiders. You guys even hang out together on the weekends, invite outsiders into those hang out times, and regularly get lunch and coffee with one another throughout the week as well. Community.
But there’s one problem. Because your group is so stinkin’ awesome, the Lord is really starting to use the people within it to draw more people to it. And because of the life-giving relationships and attractive model of Biblical community that it provides, regular attendance is now creeping up to 15-20 members. As a result of this new found “problem,” your group now resembles more of an upstart church plant than a traditional small group. So what to do? Easy, multiply.
“But wait a minute,” you might be thinking. “So what if there’s a lot of people? Why multiply?” If you really see the Lord is using your community to be a light to the community, growing individuals, and is a place where people feel loved and comforted, why throw a wrench in the whole operation by proposing some people leave and some people stay so you can “multiply”?
Well I think this is one of those situations where the question is not “is what we are doing good?” This is a situation where the question is instead “ what is best?” So I would like to propose my thesis. As small group leaders one of the major purposes of doing small group is to eventually multiply at WHATEVER cost. If you are confused or disagree stick with me, my explanation is soon to follow.
(In my next post I will uncover the why of small group multiplication)