Five Stages of a Healthy Small Group

FIVE STAGES OF A HEALTHY SMALL GROUP
WRITTEN BY DeAntwan Fitts
EDITED BY Nicky Pittman, Jeremy Wight & Richard Jarman

Healthy small groups do not just happen. They are the result of the leader being INTENTIONAL about moving the group through the four important stages of a healthy small group. Prayer and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit are essential to you developing a healthy small group.

We are exited about having a small group ministry at Peace Chapel, because healthy small groups play an integral role in the overall goal of producing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. It takes more than Bible study to help a person become like Christ. People need to be engaging in community with others who are traveling in the same direction as they are. Small groups are a place were people can develop friendships, be transparent, cultivate community and become more like Christ. The key to a healthy life changing small group, is being INTENTIONAL. Below are healthy stages of a small group and intentional approaches to moving people to the next stage.

STAGE 1
“THE FRIENDLY STAGE”

The friendly stage is generally what will happen when the group first starts meeting. During the first two to three meetings, you will notice for the most part people will be friendly with one another. This means your group is off to a good start. Your group must move from being friendly to developing friendships.

Groups that never get past the friendly stage will not cause transformation and will eventually die off.

There are a few intentional approaches for moving your group to the next stage of friendship.

1. Encourage prayer partners (female with female & male with male),
2. Partner assignments such as two group members meeting to pick up supplies for the group.
3. Friendships can also develop by encouraging group members to find an accountability partner within the group that they meet with over the phone or in person once a week (female with female & male with male).

STAGE 2
“THE FRIENDSHIP STAGE”

Not everyone in your group will find a close friend but with an INTENTIONAL approach you should see some friendships developing between the fourth and fifth small group meeting. This is confirmation that your group is moving along well. Your group must continue to move towards community by moving from making friends in your group to being transparent.

Transparency is not easy, but it is necessary if you want to have a healthy small group. This is undoubtedly the toughest obstacle to a healthy Small group because this does not happen unless people take risk. This means letting people see the real you. This is the stage where a good small group leader is very important. The small group leader must must must create an environment where people are safe to open up. It is equally important that the leader first model this attitude of authenticity and transparency. If you as a leader are not open, you cannot expect it from those who are in your group.

The intentional approach for this stage is for you as the leader to give honest and open testimonies. You must be honest about your own frailties. Be open with your group about things that you struggle with. Being honest about our issues is extremely important in getting past our issues.

One point of caution with transparency: being transparent does not mean being graphic. You can open up about your struggles without giving all of the details of your struggles.

Below are some intentional things that can promote transparency in your small group

1. Go over Small group guidelines before every group meeting stressing the importance of confidentiality
2. During prayer time, ask them to pray for you in the area of your struggle.
3. During prayer time ask them is there anything that you can pray for them about
4. Break the group up into groups of two during prayer time.
5. Get help from others in the group who are comfortable with opening up and ask them to give testimonies (ask them prior to the group meeting).

STAGE 3
“THE TRANSPARENCY STAGE”

Once your group makes it to this stage, you should start to see life-transformation taking place. Many groups never make it to this stage because of the challenges associated with being authentic. If your group makes it to this stage, that means they are ready for the very important stage of maturity or discipleship.

Small Group Discipleship happens when the members of your group start to take on more of the character and qualities of Jesus Christ and grow in intimacy with Him. This is an important step towards the overall goal at Peace Chapel, which is to develop fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

The intentional approach for this stage is:

1. A group mission project, where you take the principles you are learning and put them into practice
2. Provide your group members with a daily devotional plan such as the “Daily Bread”, one from the small group study or one that you put together based on the subject matter of the lesson.
3. Give out homework assignments that require a study partner for accountability
4. Have all group members set discipleship goals such as reading through the Bible in a year, praying and daily quiet time with God.
5. Set a goal as a group for each member to spend 15 min alone with God everyday and share the impact with the group.
6. Share prayer request
7. Recognizing a need the group can fulfill and doing it as a team
8. Helping people to find there place to serve
9. Encourage volunteering at the church
10. Encourage accountability partners
11. Regularly pass out study tools and study guides at your small group meetings
12. Memorizing versus of the Bible as a group

STAGE 4
“THE MATURITY STAGE”

When Discipleship is taking place within your small group that means that lives are being transformed. If you get your group to this stage, you have a mature group of believers that is now ready to reproduce transformation. This is where it is important for you as a leader to stress the importance of reaching out.

Stage 5
“Building Community”

Now that you have established an environment that is intentional about producing growth, it is time to bring others in to experience the power of community and send others out to reproduce community.

The intentional approach for building community is:

1. State the goal of the group often
2. Encourage group members to invite people to your small group
3. Encourage acceptance
4. Expect people to serve within the Small group (including the opportunity to host the group from time to time)
5. Develop a group mission statement that includes outreach

Unless you have an INTENTIONAL approach for moving members through the above-mentioned stages, you should not expect to see growth as individuals or as a group. There are tons of small groups meeting but not all groups are healthy groups. You can have a healthy small group, but it will not happen by accident. Remember the key word is INTENTIONAL. You must be intentional about moving your small group towards healthy community.

“We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” Colossians 1:28