Randall Neighbour Conference Call

My church is becoming a church of healthy, growing, serving small groups, or as we call them, Life Groups. I am a huge proponent in the life-changing, ministry-mobilizing power of small groups. I've been blessed with lots of challenging, growth opportunities as a pastor by meeting small group gurus from around the nation. Randall Neighbour did a conference call with small group leaders all over the nation today, and it was a great experience. Randall is the author of The Naked Truth about Small Groups and is a very successful small group pastor in Texas. So I jotted down some pretty cool nuggets from that conference call, so if you are into small groups in your church, I hope some of these things will spark thoughts, ideas, actions, or healthy questions to get you moving in the direction God may be leading you and your church... • A lot of ministries are set up to build a congregation rather than the body of Christ • Why do pastors want more leaders? Sometimes it’s simply job security. Sometimes it’s a numbers expectation. • Let’s not let this be rooted in volunteerism. Let it be rooted in calling. • Let’s not build a castle. Let’s build His Kingdom! • Let’s help people not for OUR structure but for THEIR sake. • Do what you need to be doing for your group MEMBERS, and you’ll end up getting group LEADERS for free . • Our culture, including the church, is built around consumerism. What does the church offer me? Solution: cultivate organic relational evangelism in your church which breeds discipleship which breeds new leaders. • What does relational evangelism look like in group life? New parents mature at a rapid pace because there is someone they are responsible for. Same is true for Christians who lead friends to Christ. They become disciplers because they are responsible for helping another person spiritually. • If a small group decides to band together to reach their friends for Christ, we will see great relational evangelism which results in effective, one-on-one discipleship. • We need to focus on helping our groups and equipping our groups to reach their friends for Christ. • Key word: organic. • Randall defines a small group as a group of folks (about 10-12) who gather together because of Jesus. • How to do this? Start with just one group. Get one group to have its individuals to list lost friends that live locally in order to pray for them. • Book by David Early • Help a group reach a couple of their friends for Christ to get this process started. Invite lost friends to supper in your home. • Whoever wins them Christ, have that person bring that new convert to their group and win that new convert to your group. • Let this be a slow process to develop your small groups into groups that seek to win the lost and to disciple those they win. • Set the bar real high. Let the church know that this is not about building a church structure; this is about doing what God has called us to do. • Build a pathway that you want your groups to intentionally take to move them to a healthy, growing, missional, Christ-centered group!