Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….2
Arnold Summary..………………….……………..…..……………………………..……………2
Earley and Dempsey Summary……………...……….….……..…………………..……………..3
Steps for Creating a Group…..……..………...……..…..………………………….……………..4
Group Outline……………….………………………………..………….……...….……………..5
Types of Small Groups……………………………………………………………………………6
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...……….………...7
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………….………………...8
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Introduction
It has been said that anyone can do anything. While that may be true, a proper education
will produce better results. The understanding is applied to every application in life, including
small groups. When becoming a parent for the first time, the parent may take classes, read books,
or consult others to develop their parenting style. A small group should be seen as a family, so it
should be treated as such. Prospective parents should take classes, read books, and consult other
leaders before developing their group. Once the group is established, the leaders should continue
their education as it constantly evolves. Leading a group is spiritually nourishing others, as
Christ did his disciples. To do this, a basic understanding of how to lead an excellent small group
must be understood.
Arnold Summary
In The Big Book on Small Groups, Jeffery Arnold covers how to start a group and its
importance to the community. Arnold begins this section by stating how starting a group with
God at the forefront is vital. Gathering members of the group is more challenging than one
would think. A leader must seek God's guidance, pray, and remember that God can only make
the group happen. Once a group is established, the covenant can be formed. Just as God has a
covenant with humanity, groups should also have a covenant between themselves. Christians
engage in many activities without first agreeing to fundamental issues that define our
relationships.1 Arnold continues identifying problems among small groups, such as tasks,
communication, and group role issues. Group development and group types are also topics
Arnold covers and will be expounded upon later.
The Church's primary focus should be the community it serves, which should also be the
group's focus. Arnold covers this topic thoroughly in Chapter 5. The section starts with: "Mission
1 Jeffrey Arnold, The Big Book on Small Groups (Revised Edition) (InterVarsity Press, 2017), 66.
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control to a small group: We have engaged all engines, and blast-off has succeeded. Have a great
trip!"2 This means that while a small group can be a time to socialize, it should also be a journey
that needs to be completed by all members. A majority of the chapter covered how to relate to
individuals. Relating to individuals is crucial to a small group but can be challenging. Since
groups can be diverse, a leader's personality can slightly insult some members. Arnold gives tips
on how a leader can make all members feel safe and included. These sections are an excellent
tool for anyone looking to start a group or who is having issues within the group.
Earley and Dempsey Summary
Section five of Leading Small Groups by Rod Dempsey and Dave Earley discusses
developing group leaders. Earley and Dempsey start their section by stating the importance of
prayer and making a covenant among members. The authors then take the development further
by giving examples of good questions to consider and small group discussions. These chapters
are similar to Arnold's section on communication. While gathering members may be the easy
part of developing a small group, communication is the key to ensuring the group runs smoothly.
Earley and Dempsey go on to educate a leader on how to find and train an apprentice.
One of the items that they suggest is using the acrostic F.A.I.T.H. It stands for faithful, available,
integrity, teachable, and heart for God. All three authors focus on diversity in the group and how
to relate to and minister to different people within the group. We've all had a "challenging
person" in our group.3 However, Earley and Dempsy add their expertise in integrating children
into a group meeting, which opens up a more comprehensive range of outreach. It is an
educational must-read on how to lead a healthy and thriving small group.
2 Jeffrey Arnold, The Big Book on Small Groups (Revised Edition), 83.
3 Rod Dempsey and Dave Earley, Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying, Small Groups (Wordsearch, 2018), 101.
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Steps for Creating a Small Group
Creating anything takes time and patience. Nothing happens overnight. The same mindset
should be taken when developing a small group. The first step to any task is to pray about it.
Leading a small group can be difficult. You may find yourself preparing to start a first group and
realize how scared you are.4 Leaders must seek guidance from God, just like with every aspect of
life. As a first-time leader, fear may be stopping a group's development. However, a leader must
remember that God did not give us a spirit of timidity (2 Tim. 1:7). While praying, a leader
should research, consult others, and start planning the group dynamics. Strategic planning is
what a leader should do to make the group successful.
Once a leader has the plan down, God gives the green light to move forward. Then, the
leader can start looking for members. The place to start when attempting to gather a group is on
your knees.5 The leader is again praying for this step of the process. Since the question “What
kind of group will you lead?” is answered in the strategic plan, the next question is where I will
find my members. The most accessible place to start is in the circle of influence. Once
individuals have accepted your invitation, the real work of ministry begins.6 The third step is
building a covenant. The covenant is an agreement between the members on how the group
should run and how to hold members accountable. The first covenant will be the trial run, and
then after that, the group will move on to a more permanent covenant.
Once the group is formed, the group is at stage one: Just getting started. After the group
established its boundaries and purpose and resolved its issues, it moved to stage two: Mature.
Step one can take as long as it needs. However, a re-evaluation should be done every six weeks.
Eventually, all good things must come to an end. When a group is ready to retire, it has entered
4 Jeffrey Arnold, The Big Book on Small Groups (Revised Edition) (InterVarsity Press, 2017), 62.
5 Jeffrey Arnold, The Big Book on Small Groups (Revised Edition), 63.
6 Jeffrey Arnold, The Big Book on Small Groups (Revised Edition), 65.
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stage three: Later. This can happen for numerous reasons, such as members moving. Throughout
the entire process, the leader must pray as its members. Joel Comiskey has made a study of
thriving small-group leaders. He discovered that groups that multiplied regularly were led by
leaders who prayed an average of an hour daily.7
Group Outline
Once a group is ready for its first meeting, an outline of the weekly meeting should be
created. The five Ws should be the essential practice in every small group: welcome, worship,
word, work, and witness. Here is a sample outline using the five Ws.
7:00 pm: Welcome: Have the host(s) greet members as they enter the door and instruct them to
enjoy refreshments while the others arrive. Icebreaker games can be played here.
7:10 pm: Worship: Put on some Christian music to cue people to come together at a designated
meeting space (Kitchen table, Living Room, Florida Room, etc.). Keep the music going in the
background, and use the time to go through the prayer journal. Jotting down prayer requests and
writing down when they were answered. Then, have a prayer. (Two members should have jobs
here: the journalist and the person leading prayer.)
7:15 pm: Word: Bible Study and Application. Most groups go in together and purchase books for
the group. This allows everyone to have weekly studies to discuss during this time and answer
any questions.
7:40 pm: Work: This would be when group members pray for one another. Larger groups will be
broken down into smaller groups for this task. It makes people feel more comfortable. This time
could also be used to plan a more significant outing later in the month. These outings could be
visitations or helping others.
7 Rod Dempsey and Dave Earley, Leading Healthy, Growing, Multiplying, Small Groups (Wordsearch, 2018), 87.
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7:50 pm: Witness: Evangelism and the Great Commission are the purposes of being a Christian.
At this point, we will discuss how invitations in the community are going and evangelism ideas
like making goodie bags for the homeless or bookbags for school supplies for needy children.
Closing prayer.
Types of Small Groups
Small groups range in dynamics. Groups can be small or micro, having about two to four
members. They can also be average size ranging between five to twenty members or large,
ranging from about twenty-one to fifty members. Anything over fifty causes issues within the
group. Groups can also be identified based on their purpose. There are cell, discipleship,
ministry, particular need, affinity, and needs church groups. Eagroups are the group's churches
with their strengths and weaknesses. For the sake of time, I am only going to focus on the group
that I plan to start: Special-needs Group.
Before becoming ill, I was pretty active in Church. I was on the praise team, had small
groups twice a week, and volunteered. My marriage was on the rocks; it was the only way I
knew how to fix it. When I fell ill, I was not able to continue doing everything, and I spent ninety
percent of my time in my home. Even physically, going to Church ended, and I attend online
Church. It is hard for most people to imagine, but physically going to Church will put me in bed
for weeks. Apart from I felt empty, especially when my Church started this small group launch. I
signed up, but one meeting left me feeling alone and frustrated with people telling me to pray
more so I could be healed. They did not know that I had been healed. My relationship with Christ
is mended. My body will remain broken.
After this experience, I started asking around. So many of my friends in the chronically
ill community told me about how they used to have a relationship with Christ but no longer have
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one because they can not go to Church, participate, or do small groups. The one thing that hurt
me was hearing the amount of people who converted to atheism because God never answered
their prayers. This experience has had me praying about a small group of people who are
chronically ill/diseased.
The group would be considered a special needs group because it will be focusing on
emotional healing after having an incurable diagnosis. The group would reach out to others in the
same situation, feeling alone and abandoned by God because they think he did not answer our
prayer by healing a physical body. The group's primary goal will be spiritually healing members
and giving them the courage to attend an in-person meeting or church service. We all strive for
these moments that will one day happen. Where we gather and pray for the same thing and each
other, God will hear us and give us what we need (James 5:16, Matt. 18:19-20). There was a
reason for my sickness, and I am forever grateful for it because it will help me lead people in
similar situations to a stronger relationship with God.
Conclusion
Becoming a leader of a small group is a challenging feat. However, Arnold, Earley, and
Dempsey give leaders the tools to create a successful leader and group. The best way to become
confident is to educate oneself and have tools to help solve problems when they arise. Start the
process with prayer and use prayer throughout the task's duration. God will guide the leader in
the direction they need to be in to serve his purpose.
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