Small Group Strategies

When it comes to options for how to organize your small group system, there are many. In my book How Do We Get There from Here? I identify four key questions which differentiate the strategies from one another. These are four questions you can ask about the different approaches to see how they are distinct. These questions are:

1. What is the purpose of the small group?
2. How are small group leaders supported?
3. What priority is given to small group life as compared to other activities in the church?
4. How does the church equip small group members and raise up new small group leaders?

In that book, I use these four questions to analyze ten different strategies, including the cell church model (which I call the Cho/Neighbour Model), Groups of 12, the Purpose-Driven model, and others). Here's a quick list of the major strategies:

• The On-going Open Group Strategy (See Small Groups Big Impact by Jim Egli)
• The Semester Sermon Study Strategy (See Sticky Church by Larry Osborne)
• The Semester Elective-Group Strategy (See Activate by Nelson Searcy)
• The 40-day Campaign Strategy (See Small Groups on Purpose by Steve Gladden and www.markhowelllive.com)
• The 9-month Closed Group Strategy (See Creating Community by Andy Stanley and Bill Willits)
• The Mid-sized Program Strategy, usually involving a revamping of the Sunday School System (See The Connecting Church by Randy Frazee and www.abfresources.com)
• Cell-Based Church (See resources by Joel Comiskey www.joelcomiskeygroup.org)

While there is much overlap between these various strategies and there are many variations of them, these are primary options that have proven themselves over time, at least from how I see it. What other options do you see?

BTW-I'll address some of the models that have developed that are more overtly "missional" in a post soon.