University Church of Christ Acts 2 Group Leaders

What We Can Learn from the Happy Baby!!!

Every time I change my youngest son’s diaper, he grabs his feet and pulls them to his head.  He makes it look so easy.  But have you ever tried to do that?

No seriously, try it?  

If you ever try Yoga, you’ll probably do this move.  Except you’ll come nowhere close to demonstrating the flexibility that a little baby does. 

So what does this have to do with our Acts 2 Groups?

Several of our groups have grown out of the infant stage and have matured over time.  Unfortunately, some of those groups have also lost the flexibility that they had in their infant stage.

As our groups mature, we tend to stick to the things that make us comfortable, the things we’ve always done in the past.  Prayer  times are skipped in order to spend a little more “fellowship” time together.  We’ll skip a meeting because we’re all sooooo busy.  We’ll stop trying to reach out to others in our community because of a few unsuccessful attempts.

Here’s my challenge to our groups, especially our group leaders.  If your group has “hit a wall”, start over.  For some of you, it may be as serious as disbanding and forming two separate groups.  For others, you may need to sit down and discuss the structure of your entire group and see what needs to be changed.    Whatever you decide to do, bathe it in prayer first and let God determine your course.

For some reason, when a group starts to mature, they often tend to get comfortable with what got them to that point.  Unfortunately (or rather fortunately from a spiritual perspective) the members of the group have changed their personalities.  Yet, as a group, we like to follow the same format that took us from infancy to maturity.

The funny thing about flexibility, is you don’t realize you are losing it until it is gone.   If I sit down to try the “Happy Baby” stretch, I’ll never get my legs as far and as comfortable as my son.  Yet somehow, I missed the day where that flexibility just went away.

However, you can get that flexibility back.  If I perform that stretch every day, I’ll become more flexiblle over time.

So let’s start “stretching” today.  And if you pull a hamstring in the process of reading this, I know a good physical therapist that can help you out.

Is Your Small Group Too Big?

If you have to ask this question about your group, then the answer is probably “YES”.

After seeing the responses from most of you regarding your demographics, it became increasingly clear that our small groups are…well… not so small.

There are several contributing factors to this problem. 

1. Lack of people willing to lead a group.

2. Several groups have existed and grown for years, yet they are unwilling to split.

3. Other groups have failed and the remaining groups have absorbed the ”shrapnel”

“But we love our group!! We’ve been meeting for years and everything is going ok.  We don’t care about that we have a lot of families in it.  We can handle it.”

 I hear you.  I really do.  But let me ask you. 

Does your group follow the “Acts 2″ group model?

Are you so maxed out in space, that you can’t add another family into the group?

Does everyone really feel comfortable enough in the group to open up, or is the group so large it is in effect “another Sunday School class”?

It’s hard to accomplish growth, both spiritually and physically, in a large group. 

And you definitely won’t have a desire or ability to invite others.

I hear you Timmy D, and I may or may not agree with you, but splitting is not an option. We tried to split in the past, but it just didn’t work.

Not surprisingly, this is common.  And the real heart of the matter here, is the original group wasn’t set up correctly to begin with.  Instead of focusing on prayer and growing the group spiritually to the point where we can multiply, many of us treat our groups like deciding which van to ride on during a youth group trip.  Everyone wants to “sit with” their friends and the thought of being away from them and being with “other” people is not so good.

If we treat our Acts 2 Groups  similar to hanging out with everyone from the cool van, then we’ll never experience quality groups.  Instead, we’ll have several large groups that are extremely similar to our Sunday school classes.

Think about the youth trips analogy again.  Sure, you can have a lot of fun in a big van, but don’t you learn a lot more about someone when you ride in a car with three other people? 

So what do we do now?

If you have an established group and you probably need to split, or you don’t know where to go, I suggest you go back to the drawing board with your group.  Is prayer central to your meeting time, or is fellowship?  Do you openly talk about splitting some day because you are too big?

Just some thoughts for you guys.  If you want to talk more, please feel free to contact me and we’ll look at the dynamics of your group.

What Should My Acts 2 Group Look Like?

As a leader, you may wonder, “Is my group headed in the right direction?”  To answer that question, I asked Shon to put together a resource for us to see if your group is headed in the right direction.  So, here is the challenge….

Does your group look like this?

What do you need to change?

What obstacles are in front of you?

Acts 2 Groups

“University is a church of small groups, not a church that does small groups.”

Build Community – University church expects Acts 2 groups to be the primary vehicle for members to develop strong relationships.

            Acts 2 groups meet weekly for prayer, bible study, sharing, and fellowship.

            Acts 2 groups should plan periodic (once a quarter) purely social activities.

            (cook-outs, game nights,  holiday parties, etc…)

               Acts 2 groups should strive to invite church members who are not currently involved in a group to join theirs.

Member Care – University church expects Acts 2 groups to provide primary care for members of their group.  

            Church staff must inform Acts 2 leaders of group members who are hospitalized, have experienced a death in the family, or have been  consistently absent.

            Acts 2 leaders must make sure the member in need receives appropriate care from group (visit, phone call, meals, flowers, etc…)

            Acts 2 leaders should inform church leadership if there is are deeper issues that require the attention of the ministerial staff or elders.

Community Outreach – University church expects Acts 2 groups to be a close community that maintains an outward focus.

            Acts 2 groups are expected to work closely with their community adopt partner.

            Acts 2 groups should spend time every week praying for people they care about who are unchurched or dechurched.

            Acts 2 groups should periodically host non-threatening events or activities specially geared for their unchurched or dechurched friends.

Celebrate God’s Grace – University church expects Acts 2 groups to celebrate within the group and with the church the transformative work of God.

            Acts 2 groups should keep a journal of weekly prayer requests.  The group should regularly take time to praise and celebrate how God is faithful to answer prayer.

            Acts 2 groups should regularly share with church leadership examples of how God is working in their group and through their group.