~ by Pastor Rob Krause

Often, when a writer or speaker approaches the subject of small groups they generate a fair amount of interest. Some guys are interested in small groups as if they were a novelty; the "all-new" approach. Other guys are caught in the mythological search for the quick-fix, magic-bullet program that will bring-in lots of people and make their Church "the place" where people want to stay. And there are some who have a genuine interest in knowing what small groups are all about because they sense deep in their spirits that "there’s gotta’ be something more out here to this community thing."^{[1] 1}

First Ask "Why?"

However, it’s at this point that I think most guys start to ask the wrong questions. The questions regularly start with "What are you doing… ?"  or  "How do you do this… ?"  These aren’t bad questions, but their timing is off. Instead of asking what or how, we need to first ask why?  The why questions will keep you thirsty after the core principles that will later bring healthy forms to fruition.

If you don’t ask why? on a regular basis, here is what will happen. You will begin to treat many of the rich promises throughout Scripture of what the Church can really be as cheap, try-on and cast-off programs. Instead of being guided by the Vision, you will hunger for gimmicks and begin to see people as numbers — numbers that build bigger buildings and bigger programs.^{[2] 2}

Another important reason for the why? questions is that when the going gets tough and impatient people begin to criticize your biblical community-building efforts as not being fast enough, you need to know "the why" to what you’re doing or you’ll walk away from the Vision.

I spoke with a pastor from Florida once who said, "Boy, I’m sure glad to see small groups are working for you, we tried them out and they didn’t go anywhere after the first eight months — so we don’t do them anymore."  I felt really sad for this guy. He had jettisoned countless opportunities to develop strong servants of the Lord because he had reduced everything to a set little formula.

My Goal in the coming posts is to share with you some of the strongest answers to the why? questions that I have found over the last fifteen years of this journey. I can truly say that these reasons have exhilarated my Christian life and ministry in one of the hardest fields on the planet (Italia).

1. I might mention that this first post of the series is directed more toward pastors and small group leaders, but the principles that will follow will be more for everybody. [[3] back]
2. I hear a number of guys using the punchy little phrase "nickels & noses" to speak of spiritual success referring to attendance and finances in or around their ministries. This, in my opinion, is a hollowed-out approach to people. Most likely in these cases, it will be hard to find authentic, accountable community-life around these ministries. Again, in my opinion, this is equal to sour grapes; you get the skin and the flesh - but the sweetness and rich flavor of the grape just doesn’t taste right because something’s missing. [[4] back]