Tag Archive - group

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Celebrating an Incredible year at The Unstuck Group

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

If you’re like me, taking time to pause and celebrate probably isn’t a strong suit. I’m usually more interested in what’s next than what just happened. Slowing down, celebrating wins, and enjoying the fruit of ministry is a discipline I’m continuing to grow in.

Four years ago when I joined Tony Morgan to become a Consultant at The Unstuck Group I never imagined what that startup Consulting Group would turn into. Recently Tony shared some incredible wins from 2015 on a video call with team that I wanted to share with you.

  • We had the opportunity to serve more than 60 churches by helping them through a Ministry Health Assessment, the development of a Strategic Action Plan, and reviewing and developing their Staffing and Structure Plan for the future.
  • We added Amy Anderson, Amanda Baranowski, Ron Baum, Sara Chapple, Josh Clark, David D’Angelo, Chad Hunt, Tammy Kelley, Michael Moore, Chris Surratt and Elizabeth Welborne to our team. That more than doubled our capacity to serve churches.
  • We traveled to 22 states, Canada and the United Kingdom to help churches get unstuck.
  • We launched an online ministry health assessment to encourage churches to take a first step in understanding what’s working and where there are opportunities for improvement.
  • The churches we served ranged in size from under 100 to over 22,000 in attendance. In case you’re curious, the average size church we serve is 1,150 people.
  • We started GrowthSolutions–our service that is designed to coach leadership teams at smaller churches who want to take intentional steps towards growing their church to 500 in weekly attendance.
  • We worked in 18 different denominations. That included launching a new initiative supporting denominations that want to resource their healthiest churches that have the most potential for future growth.
  • We engaged 46 leaders in coaching networks to help them take their next steps in their leadership.
  • We refreshed our website to better reflect what we do to help churches get unstuck.
  • We released two eBooks. The first one was 7 Warning Signs Your Church Has Ministry Silos. The second one was Reaching and Leading Millennials.

It was a great year for our team, and I wanted to take the opportunity to share this with you. It’s exciting to see the Unstuck Group grow, I’m proud of the team that’s being built and I believe in the way we serve churches. But what’s even more exciting to me is to watch churches get unstuck and see more people meet Jesus as a result.

We want to help more churches get unstuck.

Posted in Leadership

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Choosing the Right Small Group Model for your Church

Sunday, December 13, 2015

When it comes to Small Group most churches jump from model to model. They get all fired up about the latest book they’ve read or conference they’ve gone to and change models so quickly that they end up confusing people. They don’t allow any one model to take root and produce fruit.

There are pros and cons to all of the models below, but the goal of all of this group stuff is to simply make disciples. If that’s happening, then choose the best model that fits the unique personality of your church.

A couple of weeks ago I shared a post that came out of a conversation I had with the consulting team at the Unstuck Group. We were talking about helping churches get unstuck when it comes to the disciple-making ministry at their church. In particular we were discussing Small Groups. In the conversation Chris Surratt who runs SmallGroup.com and serves as a Ministry Consultant with the Unstuck Group identified 6 different kinds of group models I wanted to share with you.

#1 Free Market Groups

In free market groups the old adage “birds of a feather, flock together” rules. Groups are built based on affinity. In this kind of group, the content isn’t as important as the relationship. Groups typically pick their own content. There are hiking groups, fishing groups, scrap-booking groups, surfing groups, you name the hobby and there can be a group built around it.

#2 Closed Groups

Closed groups are simply that, closed. They form and commit to meet together for 18-24 months and go through a particular curriculum together. They don’t add anyone new to that group once the group begin, hence the term “closed.” At the end of that time commitment they either re-up or intentionally break apart to start new groups.

#3 Sermon Based Groups

Sermon based groups reinforce the sermon that is preached each weekend at church. There is no curriculum needed, only discussion questions provided to the group leaders for further study of Gods’ Word and discussion about the sermon. Anybody can participate if they heard the sermon that weekend or listened online.

#4 Host Groups

Host groups are often campaign oriented. Similar to a “40 Days of…” campaign. The content is completely provided in a kit and all you have to do is host the group in your home, play the video for everyone to watch and facilitate a prescribed conversation. Often times in this kind of group the host doesn’t even need to be a Christian, they just need to host the group.

#5 Hub Groups

Hub groups are similar to free market groups except they’re built around key stage of life “hubs.” Ministries such as men’s, women’s, parents, singles, and marriage ministries would all fall into this category.

#6 On Campus Groups

On campus groups are groups that meet on the church campus on a weekly basis. The most common example of this is Sunday School Classes. On campus groups have a tendency to be more lecture format and content heavy in nature.

*What other kinds of groups have you seen or been a part of? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear about your experiences!

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation

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6 Keys to Successful Small Groups

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

The other day the consulting team at the Unstuck Group was having a conversation about how to help churches get unstuck when it comes to the disciple-making ministry at their church. In particular we were discussing Small Groups. In the conversation Chris Surratt who runs SmallGroup.com and serves as a Ministry Consultant with the Unstuck Group mentioned 6 great questions that churches should be talking about if they want to have a successful small group ministry.

#1 Is the Sr. Pastor a Champion for Groups?

The churches that I’ve observed that have best small group ministries have a Sr. Pastor that isn’t just a public fan of groups but they are personally in a group. They lead with moral authority by not just saying do as I say but they personally model biblical community in groups. Having a hard time convincing your Sr. Pastor to join a group? Then follow this link to a post that will help.

#2 What’s the Competition?

Churches that have a ministry menu mentality usually have the most difficult time building a successful groups ministry. The more ministry opportunities that you offer such as midweek classes, prayer services, and so on the more choices people have. The more choices they have the less likely they’re going to choose being in a group. By offering a ministry menu churches are unknowingly undermining their group ministry.

#3 Is there a Key Leader?

Who wakes up everyday thinking about Groups at your church? It doesn’t have to be a full-time staff member; it could be a high level volunteer leader. But either way one thing that all churches that find success in their groups ministries have in common is a key point person who is responsible for groups.

#4 What’s the Win?

At the end of the day what are the expectations for groups at your church? What are you hoping happens through groups? What’s the point of groups at your church? Put a clear target on the wall and then build a plan to move towards it.

#5 Is it in the Budget?

Just like you can tell what’s important to a person by looking at their “check book” you can tell what’s important to a church by what they resource and budget for. Churches that find success in their groups ministry budget for success.

#6 Is it Scalable?

Is it easy for new people to get into a group? Do you have enough leaders to accommodate new groups that are starting? Do you have experienced group leaders who can offer coaching to leaders who are just starting out? If the answer to questions like these are no then you’ve got a system issue somewhere and you’re going to have a difficult time scaling as the church grows.

By the way, follow this link if you’re interested in picking up Chris’s new book Small Groups for the Rest of Us.

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation

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10 Articles that will Help Your Church Make Vision Real

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Thank you for making September a great month here at Helping Churches Make Vision Real! It’s great staying connected with you through social media and hearing that these articles have been helpful. So, thank you for connecting with me through the content on this blog! You made these the top posts from this last month. If you missed out on any of them, here they are all in one place for your convenience!

10 Insider Focused Ministry Names

Yea, so even though this was written in 2013, this post continues to be one of the most visited on my blog. The language we choose to use is important because it both reflects and builds culture at the same time. And one of the most obvious ways to tell if a church is insider focused or outsider focused is the language that they choose to use. It either says that the church is “inclusive” or “exclusive.”

10 Indicators You’re Leading an Outsider-Focused Church

If you haven’t noticed, helping churches become outsider-focused and on mission with Jesus really matters to me. There is a tension that exists in most churches in America, a tension between being outsider-focused and insider-focused. The majority of churches I’ve worked with would affirm in principle that the bible teaches us that the Church should be focused on what Jesus is focused on, and that’s people who are outside of the faith meeting and following Him. However in practice most churches focus the majority of their budgets, staffing, energy and efforts not on reaching outsiders but keeping insiders happy. This leads to churches being insider-focused and missing the mission that Jesus has called His Church to.

8 Reasons Why People don’t Volunteer at your Church

I’ve never worked with a church that has said they don’t need more volunteers. But I’ve worked with a bunch of churches that have trouble getting people to volunteer and stay engaged volunteering. This is a critical issue for churches to figure out. The reason why this has to be a front-burner issue is because at the heart of it, volunteering is an essential component of the discipleship process in someone’s life. Plainly put, volunteering is discipleship. Understanding that, here are 8 reasons people aren’t volunteering in your church…and subsequently aren’t growing in their relationship with God.

The 5 Most Common Core Issues Facing the Church Today

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Tony Morgan to discuss one of the Top 5 Core Issues Facing the Church Today. We discussed both internal and external communications. You see at The Unstuck Group we’ve worked with a lot of churches in the last couple of years, and we’ve started seeing some trends in the core issues that keep coming up. So, we conducted a small research project to identify the top five most common core issues of the churches we’ve worked with in the last year.

5 Symptoms your Church Needs more Volunteers

Through our research at the Unstuck Group we’ve discovered that the average church in America has 43% of their adults and students volunteering somewhere in the church. Follow this link if you’re interested in learning if your church is healthy in this area and others. While a lot of churches need more volunteers, most don’t know why they need more volunteers, or why it’s difficult for them to enlist and keep new volunteers.

How Many People Should Your Church have on Staff?

Before you buy into the idea that you need another staff person at your church, think again. That just may be the worst decision you make at your church this year. It’s not uncommon in churches that I work with to hear them say, “We need to add more staff.” After all if there are problems or areas where the church is stuck then throwing staff at that problem will surely fix it…right? Well, not always. In fact the opposite may be true. In fact the most effective churches that I see have a tendency to hire fewer staff not more staff. They hire more competent team members who have the ability to turn attenders into volunteers, volunteers into leaders, and build teams. Instead of paying people to do ministry they pay people to lead others to do ministry.

5 Ways to Help Your Small Groups be Successful

Whether you are starting from scratch at a brand-new church plant or blowing up a large system at an existing church, there are some principles that can help set up your new plan for success down the road. Here are five guidelines to think through.

Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit 2015

If you missed the 2015 Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit, then you missed some great content, great speakers, and incredible ideas that have the potential to shift your thinking when it comes to leadership. But no worries! Now you’ve got all the notes to every session right here at your fingertips for free! Hope you enjoy!

Ministry Health Assessment: Discover the True Health of your Church

I am really excited to let you know about a brand new tool from the Unstuck Group that will help you discover the true health of your church! For the first time ever you can actually take an online version of our Health Assessment tool and benchmark the health of your Church. You respond to the online survey; our team will analyze the responses and send you a customized report benchmarking your data against churches across the country. The report will give you unbiased data on your church’s health that you can use to inform your strategic priorities related to outreach, finances, connections, family ministry, serving, staffing and more!

Why Nice People Kill Churches

For the last 12 years I’ve had the incredible opportunity to serve on the Sr. Leadership Teams of some of the nations fastest growing and leading churches. Over that time I’ve observed time and time again one of the most destructive inclinations to church growth and the advancement of the Gospel is the simple fact that people on staff at most churches are simply too nice to each other.

Photo Credit: justin fain via Compfight cc

Posted in Leadership

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Five Ways to Help Your Small Groups be Successful

Sunday, September 27, 2015

The following is a guest post by Chris Surratt. Chris is a ministry consultant with the Unstuck Group and has over twenty-two years of experience serving the local church. Most recently, Chris served on the Executive Team at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN. Before coming to Cross Point in 2009, Chris was on staff at Seacoast Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Chris’s first book, Small Groups For The Rest Of Us: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes, will be released by Thomas Nelson on September 29, 2015. You can find Chris blogging regularly at www.chrissurratt.com on the subjects of community, discipleship and leadership.

Whether you are starting from scratch at a brand-new church plant or blowing up a large system at an existing church, there are some principles that can help set up your new plan for success down the road. Here are five guidelines to think through.

1. Define the Win

Every ministry has to decide what its win looks like, and this is especially true for groups. If you don’t know what success looks like, how can you celebrate it? As you dream about what groups could look like at your church, start with the end in mind. What results would you like to see if your system works perfectly? Andy Stanley says, “Your system is perfectly designed to get the results you’re getting.” If my church is not producing disciples, there’s probably a systems problem. If only a small percentage of the congregation is involved in groups, it’s probably a systems issue. If we are not developing enough leaders to keep up with our growth, it probably has something to do with our leadership development system.

2. Choose a Champion

I talk to a lot of small-group pastors who cannot get any traction with groups at their churches. The first question I ask is, Is your senior pastor in a small group? Almost every time the answer is “no.”

It’s not impossible to build a successful groups system without the senior leader being fully on board, but it’s extremely difficult. The congregation is going to take its cues from the leaders, and if the senior pastor is not engaged in community, they will follow his lead. It does not matter how much he talks about the importance of groups from the pulpit if there are not consistent stories circulating from his own small group.

3. Put It in the Budget

When it comes down to budgeting for small groups, a lot of churches follow the example of Pharaoh in Exodus:

That same day the king gave a command to the slave masters and foremen. He said, “Don’t give the people straw to make bricks as you used to do. Let them gather their own straw. But they must still make the same number of bricks as they did before. Do not accept fewer.” (Exodus 5:6–8)

We are asking our point people for groups to build a successful system without the necessary straw but still expecting big results. As much as we want to believe community happens organically, it still takes resources for them to be strategic and effective.

4. Make It Scalable

Your church may never triple in size overnight (although it could), but now is the time to start planning for God to do the unexpected. What happens when you activate your first all-church campaign and suddenly need to triple the number of current groups to meet the demand? Do you have enough coaches? How difficult is it to become a small-group leader? Can you fast-track the vetting of new leaders? You should always be ready to go when God moves.

5. Make It Replicable

Think through not only what could be replicable across different locations, but also what do small groups look like in different layers of your church? The heart of student and kids ministries are small groups, and those ministries can benefit from partnering with the adult groups system for training, leadership development, and structure ideas. What if the same team that develops Sunday message studies works with the student leaders on theirs? What if a few adult group leaders mentor small-group leaders in the kid’s ministry? Replicating successful systems will help break down silos within a church.

Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation
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