Simple Small Groups: A User-Friendly Guide for Small Group Leaders

By Bill Search

Book Overview

Over the past two decades, small groups have gone from spontaneous gatherings among friends to a major and elaborate phenomenon in the church. Many evangelical churches have some form of small groups ministry in place. But there's just one problem, says Bill Search--what started as a simple get-together has become a complicated process, especially for small group leaders. They are often not sure what is expected of them or what to expect from their groups as a result of their efforts.In Simple Small Groups , Search lays out the three C's of small groups--connecting, changing, and cultivating. This paradigm helps to simplify leading small groups in a way that is helpful, rewarding, and life changing. Unlike many other books geared toward small group leaders, Simple Small Groups does not require a church-wide adoption of an intricately designed system of assimilation, making it useful to any small group leader looking for guidance.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801071534
• ISBN13: 9780801071539
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Baker Books
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Keeping It Simple

I serve at Our Savior's Baptist as a second-chair leader with significant responsibility for guiding our small group ministry. I am thankful for Mark Howell's recommendation to read Bill Search's Simple Small Groups. I appreciate Search's micro emphasis on what happens within a small group rather than on a macro emphasis of developing an entire small group system. In fact, I would like to put a copy of Simple Small Groups in the hands of each of my small group leaders! Why? Well, because it's so simple! In broad strokes Search describes three functions of every small group: to help people connect, change, and cultivate. He very wisely describes each as be a continuum rather than a destination. The connect continuum includes meet, commit, and belong. To move people along that continuum he suggests that we can help people get connected when they meet by conducting a good meeting, sharing leadership responsibilities, and praying for each other. Leaders can help people increase their commitment to the group by hanging out together and meeting in sub-groups. He suggests that going on a retreat or vacationing together helps people move toward belonging because it helps create common life stories. The change continuum includes learning, growing, and transformation. Search asserts that groups foster change through honesty, applying the Scriptures, and listening. Of particular interest and insight here is his description of the importance of the relational bridge on p. 84: My friend Mike loves to say, "You've got to build the relational bridge strong enough to hold the weight of truth." I love that metaphor! Imagine that a group is a series of relationships that create the foundation of the bridge,the piers, the cables, girders, and finally the roadway. Every time the group meets or members interact they add to the bridge. They secure a cable. They fasten a relational bolt. They pour cement. The more the bridge takes shape, the safer it becomes. Along the first segment of the change continuum (learn) Search suggests that groups learn together, memorize scripture together, and pray together - always keeping it simple. Along the grow segment of the change continuum groups will discuss the Bible - including the context, background, and personal application. And then there's what he calls "mirror time." He defines mirror time as "..what we need are friends from our group who will hold up the mirror and simply ask, "Do you like what you see?" And we need to be willing to prop up the mirror for our friends and be willing to ask them the same question. (p.98) Getting groups to the final segment of the change continuum (transform) includes setting personal spiritual goals and confession. True to form Search identifies three segments for the cultivate continuum, too: exploring, applying, impacting. Cultivating is establishing a missional pattern in the lives of each group member. It may include a group activity but perhaps more frequently takes the form of

Great

This is the most down-to-earth look at spiritual small groups I've read. Really covers the reality of dealing with all kinds of people and situations in small groups rather than the "shoulds" and actually debunks some of those shoulds. Very helpful.

Great for Developing Leaders!

Looking for leader training ideas? Simple Small Groups: A User-Friendly Guide for Small Group Leaders, newly released by Baker Books and written by Bill Search, a veteran small group practitioner, is a great new resource designed to make effective small group ministry simple. Rather than over-complicate the subject, Search isolates three simple and essential ingredients that every effective group must have, identifies them with a single word, and then proceeds to explain the role played by each of them. The best part? He goes on to flesh out the nuts and bolts of how it works. There are a number of really helpful sections. My favorite aspect is that each section concludes with a diagnostic set of questions to help determine what your next step is in the development of each essential component. I can easily see this getting a lot of use! If you're like me, you're looking for resources that are about how it can be better. Simple Small Groups: A User-Friendly Guide for Small Group Leaders is one of those.