ONE key to making home groups OR Sunday School work
Published: Fri, 05/23/14
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ONE key to making home groups OR Sunday School workWhether you choose home groups or on campus groups, these four keys will make them a success. Participation by the pastor. I read a survey recently that said that the number of pastors who think Sunday School is important has dropped from 25% (which I thought was deplorable) to 18%. Nothing will work if only 18% of pastors think it will work. Nothing is important until the pastor says it is important. Sunday School works at Woodstock because Johnny Hunt attends Sunday school. I have a friend, Lance Witt, who was on staff at Saddleback for a number of years. He told me small groups really took off at Saddleback when Rick Warren started attending. Stories would naturally show up in his sermons because they came out of his life. People noticed. People came to groups. Andy Stanley says, “Groups don’t really impact a local church until they become part of a church’s culture. And that begins with senior leadership.” Nelson Searcy agrees. “If a pastor chooses not to participate in a group in an attempt to keep an elusive distance, or for any other reason, the system will never work.” Larry Osborne, author of Sticky Church and leader of a sermon based group movement also recognizes the importance of the pastor leading by example. “I’ve learned that two simple measurements will always tell me their real place in a ministry’s pecking order:
By far the most important of these measures is the participation level of a church’s leaders.” Bill Hybels says it most simply, “The leader must embody the vision.” Whether you use home groups or on campus groups the first key to success is leadership by example. The pastor and all top level leaders must joyfully attend groups. It is not enough to just attend. They must like attending. The leaders must be fired up about groups before anyone else will be fired up about groups.
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