Small Groups: Loyality Builders or Loyalty Busters?

Assemblies of God churches tend to be where the action is. From Phoenix to Brooklyn, their congregations have gained widespread admiration for finding innovative ways to advance God's kingdom. Whether church planting or conversion growth, quite often an Assemblies of God church is setting the standard.

For example, the world's most prominent small group advocate is an Assemblies of God Korean pastor and chairman of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, Dr. David Yonggi Cho. Also, many high-visibility Assemblies of God churches in the United States have had significant success with small groups.

Yet there are identifiable reasons why the advantages Dr. Cho pioneered have been slow to take root in U.S. and Canadian Pentecostal churches. I've observed a five-stage adoption process of small group ministry among Pentecostal churches in North America.

STAGE 1: SMALL GROUP NECESSITY

Dr. Cho's ideas for forming small groups arose out of his physical collapse, making him unable to carry his normal pastoral responsibilities. He provided guidance to his volunteers and staff from his bedside and realized that if he could pray, teach the Word, and create a structure that empowered laypeople, then his weakened physical condition would not prevent his congregation from being encouraged and helped. Indeed, during his recuperation, Yoido Full Gospel Church's pastoral care units kept the congregation together between Sundays1.

As the ministry grew and his health returned, Dr. Cho was careful to provide supervision to the lay workers. He trained staff members to spend most of their time in the field working among the cell leaders, each resourcing several dozen groups. Their task was to assure the health of the cells through the vitality of the lay leaders.

Over the years he initiated a variety of leader-training strategies. The constants were that he never withdrew empowerment from his group leaders, and he vested enough professional staff to keep them supported and encouraged. Dr. Cho's model offers a remarkable example of trusting lay leaders and providing them with sufficient resources and materials.

He recognized that John Wesley's lay-led class meetings were an 18th-century parallel to what he was trying to do. Both Cho and Wesley suggested that these small communities of faith imitated the house church pattern of New Testament times.

Wesley's class meetings displayed a wide range of spiritual-gift practice that many would identify as charismatic or Pentecostal. Historical descriptions include the phenomenon of glossolalia and swooning (known today as being slain in the Spirit), presumably under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

STAGE 2: ATTEMPTED CORRECTIONS

By 1979, as Dr. Cho was passing the 100,000 mark for average weekly worship attendance, numerous Pentecostals in Korea shunned him.

He worked with U.S. Southern Baptists, who respected his congregation's evangelism and size, and a limited number of American Pentecostals. He shared his cell-system concept on several U.S. tours. Planeloads of Assemblies of God leaders and other Pentecostal pastors flew to Korea to see what he was doing.

Unfortunately, the implementation of Dr. Cho's ideas was not as simple as organizing a training time for group leaders and hiring staff to supervise them. A deeper problem existed that needed to be solved.

Newly converted Pentecostal enthusiasts sometimes failed to use wisely the fruit of the Spirit with the gifts of the Spirit, not knowing that the prophetic gift depends on discernment by the greater Body for authentication. They usually needed to go through a season of maturing where they learned how Body life works.

Consequently, pastors took an element of risk when lay leaders were allowed to display more zeal than wisdom, when they were encouraged to hear directly from God, and when they were empowered to take a group of people into their living room for fellowship and spiritual nurture.

In situations such as these, immature group leaders relished having their desires for authority endorsed by what they considered Holy Spirit revelation. The notion of using gifts within a context of submission to one another and under proper discernment was not one they readily applied to themselves. The net result was numbers of well-intentioned pastors who launched small group systems faced disharmony and division in the name of God.

Yet the widespread acceptance among denominations of the need to experience God and embrace a wider range of spiritual gifts shows the overall success of the Pentecostal movement in influencing the Kingdom.

STAGE 3: NEW ERA OF MATURITY AND RESPONSIBLE LOYALTY

Within the Pentecostal and charismatic family today, I see a new maturity in leaders. There is a broad understanding that the gifts of the Spirit must be accompanied by the fruit of the Spirit. Growing Christians see the benefit of voluntary, self-submission to a group for discernment to avoid "the prophet's own interpretation" (2 Peter 1:20, NIV). In a properly administered small group system, division and disharmony are not the threat they have been in the past.

Pentecostal and charismatic churches are at a new place of wanting to prevent loss and dropout due to schism. Pastors are experiencing excellent results by positive loyalty formation. They are properly training group leaders in their roles as resource personnel in ministry partnership with the church staff. The usual result is loyalty.

The bigger issue today is preventing back-door losses. Studies show that a major source of dropout comes from not having a care system in place. A church loses far more people through the cracks of inattention and neglect than through a small group leader taking his or her group away to join the church down the street or to start a new church.

A small group leader may genuinely sense a call to launch a new work and seeks the blessing of the church's pastoral leaders before doing so. Others might cloak their rebellious spirit under the banner of an apostolic call. In such cases, congregations might do well to let them go.

The increasing pattern today is to define the role of group leaders and make them responsible for recruiting the membership of their groups. If a division occurs, the losses to the church are not as hurtful as if it had handed these leaders a ready-made class.2

Small groups must assure each individual's enjoyment and connection with the larger congregation. Group members go from the worshiping congregation back into the small group as a safe place to discuss their personal challenges and victories, to provide love and care, and to use their spiritual gifts. This cell-celebration rhythm leads to maximum church health.

STAGE 4: EVEN BROADER IMPACT BEYOND THE HOME MEETING

When many pastors think of small groups, they imagine a living-room care circle or a before-work fellowship breakfast at a restaurant. This mental picture can miss about half the action that occurs in the typical church. It limits small groups to those that focus only on nurture.

If pastors examine their churches for any people units that convene for any purpose in Jesus' name, then they will probably make some important discoveries. They might notice a task group that feeds the poor, one that works the clothes closet, and another that handles the church parking lots.

The term ministry team is the most popular generic description for these task-focused subunits of the church. Ministry teams show up under names such as Greeters/Ushers, Hospitality, Cassette Ministry, Choir/Orchestra, or Bus Ministry. Loyalty develops in these teams as people receive visibility and appreciation for their ministry.

Such teams often focus so much on empowering people to serve in a specialized fashion that they overlook their community and caring aspects. Too often, the preferred ministry profile for team leaders looks more as if Martha wrote it than her sister Mary (cf. Luke 10:38-42). Little attention is given to "sitting at Jesus' feet" other than requiring attendance at church worship services.

Each ministry team has an internal life that can be nurturing to the people involved. The external service may be Martha-like, but the internal chemistry can be Mary-like.

Task groups must be careful not to miss opportunities for nurture. An evening of cherry pie together can do wonders toward building a spirit of devotion and enthusiasm among an usher team. A time of recreation and prayer for the drama group will result in emotional team building. Conversely, care and support groups will be more healthy if they do occasional service to others outside their meetings, both individually and as a group.

Healthy groups cycle through service activities as well as nurturing-of-the-team activities. If pastors broadly define all subunits of the church as small groups, they will view team leaders in a new light. They will see such leaders as having a pastoral capability toward their team, in addition to whatever task hat the group wears (such as Bible study, handbell choir, benevolence committee, etc.).

As a result, pastors and lay leaders encourage a sense of community. Everyone develops a deeper understanding of what spiritual community is all about. Loyalty to the church deepens.

STAGE 5: OVERALL INCREASES IN LOYALTY

Are small groups loyalty builders or loyalty busters? Loyalty develops best when leaders receive help in resolving their ministry problems. Properly resourced lay leaders can assure quality care, facilitate relational evangelism, and guide serious discipleship on a far more personal scale than can be achieved through even the most skilled sermon delivery. In the vast majority of cases, the partnership of lay leadership with ordained leadership dramatically increases people's loyalty to their church.

Small groups are not a new discovery by Dr. Cho or even by John Wesley. Leadership development through small groups started with the Twelve and with the church of the New Testament era. Small groups are the best possible context "to equip the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:11,12, NRSV).

ENDNOTES

1. For further information about Yoido Full Gospel Church, see Karen Hurston, Growing the World's Largest Church (Springfield, Mo.: Chrism, 1994).
2. The role description for a small group leader that best helps the pastoral staff build loyalty through groups can be seen in my latest book Nine Keys to Effective Small Group Leadership. Key 1 emphasizes the need for a partnership relationship between group leaders and church staff. This supportive relationship is primarily sustained through skilled coaching interviews. Key 6 teaches the importance of bringing the group to the worship service. Key 7 discusses the responsibility of the group to serve the church and others. Key 8 deals with evangelism that includes the congregationalizing of the new convert. Key 9 stresses the importance of listening to and obeying God. My training videos entitled Nine Facets of the Effective Small Group Leader have the same objectives.

Carl F. George, internationally recognized author and consultant to many of North America's largest and fastest-growing churches, is director of Consulting for Growth, Diamond Bar, California.