Leading a life group can be a stressful and confusing endeavour. There are expectations from the church, yourself, and your group members. And the expectations usually stem from this question: What is the purpose of life groups? A question that would usually lead to the next question: what is the purpose of my life group?
Life groups, or small group ministries, have been happening in our church for many years, and we have experienced a lot of fruits from our groups as well as challenges and questions. Challenges and questions like, how long should a group be together? Do we have to do a book study? Can my group be mixed or family only? What size is best for my group? Should it always be open or closed? Can people from other churches join one? How many times should I meet? In-person or online? … I can continue to list more questions, and maybe you are now wondering if you want to lead a life group now!
Leading life groups in the midst of these questions can be overwhelming. It can be overwhelming because we want the right answers to all these questions. And we want the right answers because we want our life group to do everything for everyone. We want the right program or the right small group models to give us all the answers for all the groups and for everyone. We want that one-size-fits-all solution.
Yet, through the years, all of us realize there is no magic one-off solution. Life groups, like life, are fluid and organic. Life is a journey of different seasons through the valleys and mountains, and life groups are often paced by these seasons. Furthermore, life groups are not meant to solve everything and be everything for the church. Rather, life groups are a part of the church and play a part in its mission. A mission which can be boiled down to this: To make disciples. And a disciple is someone who knows and obeys Jesus and his teachings.
Life groups play a part in making disciples. It does not do the whole thing, but it is an important piece in a person’s discipleship journey. Often time, life groups are only a springboard toward discipleship, and that is ok! It’s ok because a life group’s purpose should always direct someone toward greater knowledge and obedience to Jesus, within or outside the group. A life group might be a short-term connection group, but it can lead a person to deeper one-on-one discipleship meetings outside the life groups. A life group might not have 1-hour bible studies because of their group’s season of life, but it can encourage a member to commit to the church’s bible study Sunday school classes for further growth. The goal is to help your group to grow as a disciple with the whole church; to include all the different parts of the church in your discipleship process.
A life group is not a standalone do-it-all ‘program’ or the church in itself. It is not meant to be independent and separate from the body of Christ–a body that we experience within the local church. This is why life groups are also a part of the mission of the church; each group should play a unique role in its member’s discipleship journey.
So, here’s the question we need to prioritize before we are overwhelmed by all the other secondary questions:
Is your life group making disciples or playing a part in each other’s discipleship journey?
Is there an explicit intentionality in helping and directing one another toward greater commitment and obedience to Jesus?
This intentionality and clarity in your life group’s mission do not mean you need to do more things, but rather, it means you focus on what will intentionally encourage and direct your unique group toward greater discipleship. (We will talk about the areas of discipleship in later weeks!)
If you would like to talk with me about how you can help your group toward greater discipleship, I would love to sit down with you over a coffee! Just shoot me an email here!