What Makes a Small Group Healthy?
Michael Mack identifies seven biblical values Northeast Christian Church uses to define and evaluate healthy small groups. The values focus first on how a group is centered and organized, then on how the group lives out community, discipleship, and mission.
- Healthy small groups are centered on Christ and supported by growing, shared leadership.
- Groups benefit from written plans, clear expectations, and authentic community.
- The fruit of small group health is growth, outreach, and reproduction.
By Michael Mack
What makes a small group healthy? At Northeast Christian Church, we define small group health by seven biblical values and evaluate all groups annually to see how they are doing. Note that the first four deal with how a group is focused and organized, and the last three deal with what they do.
Seven Values of a Healthy Small Group
1. Christ-centered: Jesus is the real group leader. Groups meet in his presence and power and for his purposes. (Matthew 18:20)
2. Healthy, growing leaders: The small group leader is growing in his or her faith by being involved in daily disciplines such as Bible study and prayer. (1 Corinthians 11:1)
3. Core team: The group is led by a core team of two to four members who share leadership. No one leads alone. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)
4. Goals and plans: The group has a written “action plan” (covenant or agreement) that includes a mission, goals, expectations, ground rules, etc. (Proverbs 16:3)
5. Connecting with one another in authentic community: The group meets regularly and consistently, does life together outside meetings, and regularly prays for and ministers to one another. Every group member has a role (shared ownership). (Acts 2:42-47)
6. Knowing God: Group members are intentionally being discipled. The group engages regularly in Bible study and application. (Colossians 2:6-8)
7. Serving others: Christ’s mission (Matthew 28:18-20) is the group’s mission. The group regularly prays for their lost friends and is sharing their faith with others. The group is intentionally open to new people. The group is serving others together and/or individually (or plans to do so, if the group is new). (Colossians 4:5, 6)
The Fruit of Small Group Health
The result (or “fruit”) of a healthy small group is that the group is growing, reaching out, and reproducing.
Michael Mack serves as connect minister with Northeast Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky. He has written several books on small group leadership and founded SmallGroups.com. You can see his blogs about small group leadership at www.smallgroupleadership.blogspot.com and leadingfromtheheartdevotional.blogspot.com. His Small Group Help Guide, I’m a Leader, Now What? is available from Standard Publishing.
This is a valuable list, Michael! I’d love to see a sample of an “action plan” you’ve used with your groups. That sounds like a valuable component to get a group started on the right foot. Thanks for sharing!