Good to Great Groups

By Michael C. Mack

READ THE SIDEBAR: “God’s Word on Great Shepherds”

READ THE SIDEBAR: “Great Small Groups Need Shepherds”

Good small groups are the enemy of great small groups.

Jim Collins opens Good to Great (HarperCollins, 2001) with similar words: “Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great.” God promises to make us into something great (i.e., Genesis 12:2). Yet countless small groups settle for good. They acquiesce to ordinary and adequate rather than pursuing an abundant, transformational ministry.

In his book The Relational Way, Scott Boren discusses the fact that we”ve settled for “a life of spiritual mediocrity and below average small groups.” In these groups, he says, “people gather every week to help each other feel better about their lives, but there is no call to war, no call to enter into the spiritual battle to lead men and women from captivity. Instead, small groups become enclaves for what Eugene Peterson calls the spirituality of narcissism.”

Small groups generally do not start off with below average or even good as their goal. Most want to accomplish something great for God, but along the way they lose their focus and begin to stagnate. Their growth curve looks like chart 1.

I”ve seen groups remain in this plateaued state for years. Groups come to a number of decision points along their journey together where they will either continue settling for the comfort of good or they will get out of their comfort zones and pursue great. In his book Good to Great in God”s Eyes, Chip Ingram says, “Great Christians don”t play it safe.” The same is true for great small groups. They come to a decision point and resolve to do something risky or costly””something that takes great faith. Making that decision forces them out of their comfort zones and propels them toward greatness. (See chart 2.)

What”s in the gap between good and great groups? In other words, what do great groups do that good groups do not? A number of very specific things are in this gap, but they can be summarized by three main priorities.

Great Leaders

Whenever God is about to accomplish something great, he starts with leaders. They are not perfect, but they have a heart that God can use to accomplish his will. Great groups require great leaders””great, that is, in God”s eyes. They are highly committed first to God, and then to the group. Collins calls this initial good-to-great principle “level 5 leadership”: a blend of extreme personal humility with an unwavering resolve for the company. Level 5 small group leaders also have a sense of personal humility as well as an ambition for God”s kingdom. They have the following heart attributes.

Great small group leaders have been transformed.

One of the high calls of small group leaders is to bring about spiritual transformation in the lives of group members. But this starts with leaders who have first been transformed themselves. The apostle Peter is a model of a transformed leader. Compare his attitudes and actions””and more importantly, his faith””between the Gospels and Acts. Peter, like the rest of the apostles, was an unschooled, ordinary man whose life was transformed by being with Jesus (Acts 4:13). Before the resurrection, they were self-absorbed, worried, and protective of their lives. They were still pursuing power and prestige rather than the abundant life. Just a short time later, their faith was bold and courageous enough to stand up to the same religious leaders who had put Jesus to death. Jesus used these transformed leaders to build a great, world-transforming church.

Like Peter and the other apostles, great small group leaders spend time with Jesus so he can transform their lives.

They do not need to be Bible scholars or super-stud Christians, just transformed.

Great small group leaders live surrendered to God.

Jesus taught the apostles how to live and lead in surrender to God”s will. Jesus instructed the apostles in Acts 1 to do one simple thing: to wait. Their natural, unsurrendered reaction would have been to jump into action, attempting to accomplish Jesus” vision by their own power. But they obeyed and waited in Jerusalem, praying and preparing. Once they received the promised Spirit, they carried out Jesus” mission in complete reliance upon and surrender to God (see Acts 4:19-31, for one example).

Great small group leaders know that the group is not theirs; God is the real leader. They turn to God for everything: who will be in the group, the group”s purpose, what the group will study. To do this, great group leaders pray and then wait before making decisions. This takes extreme personal humility, but they surrender their leadership to God because they know he will accomplish far more through them than they can do in their own power.

Great small group leaders are shepherds.

These transformed, surrendered leaders invest relationally in and lovingly guide the group that God puts under their care. (See “Great Small Groups Need Shepherds,” p. 11.)

A Team of Radically Devoted Group Members

Jesus formed a team that would eventually change the world. Likewise, great small group leaders view the group as a team. They do not try to do everything themselves, but excel in sharing leadership with others. Collins”s second good-to-great principle is “first who . . . then what.” He discusses getting the right people on the bus (and in the right seats) to create a strong team of equal partners.

As Jesus formed his group, he started with a core team of three””Peter, James, and John””with whom he spent most of his time. Great small group leaders also start with an “inner circle” of three to four. Who? Leaders begin by praying and then waiting on God. This is one of the first tangible acts of a leader”s surrender to God, believing God will lead him to these people.

The core group meets to pray, plan, and then wait on God to move. They prayerfully discuss why this group will exist and what the group will do. They pray about who else they will invite, and then they wait expectantly for God to place these people in their path.

Note that this is far different than how most small groups usually start. It may be a way of thinking and operating new to many, and it will probably take more time. This is another vital decision point in developing a truly great group.

Once great leaders have determined the “who,” it”s time to consider the “what.”

A Great Mission

Jesus gave his group a great mission and he gives the same mission to small groups today: to go and make disciples  . . . teaching them to obey everything he has taught us. The main job of leaders is to guide their groups to pursue God”s mission. A great group is defined by a great mission pointing toward a God-Sized Plan. (See chart 3.)

The fact is, many small groups in America are not so mission-orientated. They are good at caring for one another and studying the Bible””and that is good . . . but not great! Collins discusses the need to “confront the brutal facts.” Small groups should honestly and diligently confront the brutal facts of their current reality in comparison to the truth of God”s Word. This examination may lead groups to a major decision point in their life together: to move off their comfy couches to do something God-sized or to remain where they are and maintain the status quo.

At Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, every small group launches with a plan of action using a study I wrote called Launch Into Community Life (available from Touch Publications; www.touchusa.org). This four-week study helps people become a healthy, holistic group using studies from Acts 1-6. As the new group members discuss how the early church launched into ministry, they develop their own master plan for their future together.

This plan involves four main values: Upward (relating to God), Inward (community), Outward (serving and evangelism), and Forward (developing leaders). A “master plan,” also known as a group agreement or covenant, is vital to becoming a great group. It gets everyone on the same page, develops teamwork, and helps the group set goals for their future.

A step above a master plan is the development of a God-Sized Plan (GSP). Collins calls this a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). A GSP is a plan that is so big that if God is not in it, it is destined to fail.

In Acts 5:38, 39, one of the Pharisees described the ministry of the apostles in God-sized terms: “If their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” A GSP is always focused outside the group, making an impact on our community and the world. It moves the group from an inward-focus toward externally focused ministry. Pursuing a God-Sized Plan purposely moves a group out of safety and security and into taking great risks with great faith.

Small groups decide on their GSP with much prayer and listening. Often it arises out of group members” God-given passions, spiritual gifts and talents, and what resources God has already provided the group. I encourage groups to ask God for his guidance, imagine what God might do through them, and then watch God do immeasurably more than they could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

Jim Collins closes his book by encouraging, “Get involved in something that you care so much about that you want to make it the greatest it can possibly be, not because of what you will get out of it, but because it can be done.”

And not just because it can be done, but because God will accomplish great things through great groups like yours.

Michael Mack is the small groups minister at Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of several small group resources, including his most recent, I”m a Leader . . . Now What? from Standard Publishing.