BIG IDEA AND SMALL GROUPS: A TRANSFORMING COMBINATION

One of the people who influenced the development of small groups at CCC is Lyman Coleman, founder of Serendipity Publishing and a pioneer of the contemporary small group movement. Lyman has an unwavering passion for the church and has worked tirelessly and sacrificed much to train pastors and small group leaders. He speaks fondly of his experience in small groups through the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. He says that in each of these decades the church made great attempts to develop small groups but had a tendency to overemphasize particular aspects of group life at the expense of others.

Lyman says that most small groups in the 1950s were almost exclusively about Bible study, “the deeper the better.” Relationships were an afterthought if a thought at all. In the 1960s, not surprisingly, small groups reflected the culture of our day and took a turn toward activism; consequently, Bible study took a backseat. Relationships often were forged around a particular cause, but the cause wasn’t necessarily biblical. Then in the 1970s small groups ushered in the era of “naval gazing,” and both Bible study and activism took a backseat to self-reflection and personal growth.

Lyman’s vision for the twenty-first century was that small groups would finally achieve a balance of three things: Bible study, relationships, and service. He called it the “three-legged stool” model. Take away one leg of a three-legged stool, and it will fall. Take away one of these three things from a small group, and it will fail. I’ve always thought that Lyman’s historical take on small groups is very helpful for avoiding some common pitfalls; namely, too much focus on information and too little focus on transformation and life change.

In the 1980s, Lyman proposed an idea that he called “pulpit groups” — small groups that would base their Bible studies or discussions on the sermon from the previous weekend service. At the time, only a few churches across the country were implementing this model. Lyman was convinced that this approach to small groups would have several benefits:

1. It would make it easier for a person with minimal Bible knowledge to lead a small group.

2. It would result in greater life transformation.

3. It would thematically tie in the theme of the weekend service with the small group experience during the week.

Lyman was a huge advocate of including nonbelievers and believers in the same small group and challenged people to place an empty chair in each group as a reminder of the “prodigals” who had yet to find their way back to God. He thought that featuring the same topic in both the weekend service and the small group would be an easy way to invite newcomers in a small group to a weekend celebration service. He never called this strategy the Big Idea, but in retrospect, I’d say it was very much the same idea. While not all of our small groups use the Big Idea in their weekly gatherings, more and more are starting to use it, and we are seeing a number of benefits as a result.

Ferguson, D., Ferguson, J., & Bramlett, E. (2009). The big idea: focus the message---multiply the impact. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

If you need help with custom lessons for your church, please contact me. josh@joshhunt.com 575.650.4564

-- Josh Hunt