Article
Why Church Plant Small Groups Should Be Sermon Based
The main and primary thing you must consider as you prepare to launch small groups is the purpose.
When you think of small groups in churches, they sound deceptively simple. A group of people gathers regularly outside of Sunday worship for fellowship and… what?
Are they Bible studies? If so, what book of the Bible should they study? How does one avoid doctrinal landmines or overburdening ill-equipped small group leaders?
Or do they function more like book clubs, where every couple of months the group picks a new Christian book to discuss together? In this case, how do you determine which books are recommended and which are forbidden? How do you keep crazy heresies (or just bad writing) from influencing your groups?
Or maybe you’re considering a format with more teaching? If so, is it a group leader doing the teaching, or is it from a video done by a more prominent teacher? And if this is the case, which teachers and teaching on what subjects?
Or are they prayer groups or maybe just social gatherings? Turns out small groups aren’t so simple after all. And we haven’t even touched on questions of where they should meet (home? church? 3rd place?), child care, age-and-stage groups vs. mixed-generation groups, gender-specific groups, and so on. All of these matters are worthy of consideration, but the main and primary thing you must consider as you prepare to launch small groups is the purpose. Why are you doing them?
I previously wrote about the benefits of having groups. And now I want you to consider how a sermon-based format for groups—what the group focuses on—aligns with those benefits.
Risky Models
All the formats I just listed have distinct strengths, and each serves certain kinds of churches and groups well (with the exception of social groups, since those offer little in the way of spiritual encouragement or discipleship). But all of them have particular weaknesses and carry risks, too.
- Groups that rely on teaching by group leaders and pick their own books of the Bible to go through place a heavy burden on those leaders for preparation and biblical skill. Often, groups, especially in small churches, are led by laypeople with no formal training. The leaders are more likely to be overwhelmed or discouraged at the weight of responsibility, and the risk is higher that they mishandle a text or a delicate theological issue, leading to confusion or even division.
- Groups that pick their own books or studies might all pick wonderful books or studies written or taught by godly authors and teachers. But they might all pick different books or studies, each emphasizing something different. This one is the book of Ecclesiastes, that one is doing a study on marriage, while another one is reading Mere Christianity. Imagine the questions you, pastor, might face from each group! “What is ‘vanity of vanities’ and why is this book so gloomy?” “What is the role of the husband in leadership and why doesn’t mine do a very good job of it?” “Wait, C.S. Lewis wasn’t a Baptist?” And all these will wait in your inbox while you prepare a sermon on your church plant’s doctrinal essentials.
- Whenever groups are each doing their own thing, even if those things are good and godly, the likelihood of confusion and division increases. This isn’t because the group wants to pick fights, but because they are investing in different things and pointing in different directions. In a very large church, the risk of friction is lower, but in a small church—especially a new one—a singular focus is vital.
Here are four distinct strengths of sermon-based small groups.
Strength 1: Unity and Continuity
When a church has established doctrinal essentials and a rooted culture, unity and continuity are measured according to those standards, so there is more room for groups to do different things without risk. When a church is seeking to establish its doctrine and culture, it is especially important for everyone to be focused on and invested in the same things.
The sermons are the foundational instruction and inspiration for the church, so when groups focus their discussion and application on the sermons, it is a reinforcement and further application. Sermon-based discussion multiplies the effect of the preaching and helps group members internalize and better understand it. Over time, this emphasis strengthens the foundation of church doctrine and culture.
Strength 2: Sets Leaders Up for Success
In every church, good group leaders are going beyond their daily responsibilities (work, family, school, etc.) to invest in their small group. In a church plant, this is often amplified because each member and core volunteer has such a key role. So it is a great benefit to ease the burden on a group leader. Sermon-based groups mean that all the homework a leader has to do is what he or she is likely already doing: attending church and receiving the preaching of the gospel attentively. To lead their group, they don’t need to be a formally trained teacher or theologian; they don’t need to study; they simply need to come ready to reflect, apply, and assist others in the same.
Strength 3: Majoring on the Majors
Sermon-based discussion in small groups provides a built-in set of theological priorities. What the sermon makes primary, the group makes primary. There is little room for “foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law” which are “unprofitable and worthless” (Titus 3:9). People have less opportunity to make their cultural or theological hobby horses into the agenda of the group or the church.
In short, groups will major on the majors and minor on—or avoid altogether—the minors.
Strength 4: Guided Discussion
One practical way sermon-based groups can accomplish the previously stated benefits is through guided discussion—a pastor providing discussion questions or points of reflection on the sermon. This is an easy step with significant benefits. It avoids the risk of misinterpretation by group members. It makes it easier for people who didn’t hear the sermon to be involved, because the questions can provide some clarity. It draws attention to the main points—the majors.
For a church plant, where everything feels fluid and fragile, healthy groups are a stabilizing and strengthening force. And sermon-based groups are one of the best ways to foster healthy groups because they take the hard, essential work of pulpit ministry into the homes and lives of the people.
