From Dave

When I became a pastor the ‘shoes were on the other foot’. I was no longer a community worker in outreach. I had members to lead – and being in a larger church ( by NZ standards) in Singapore, the also the likely possibility of needing many church small groups to care for and disciple people through if we saw growth.  The goal that undergirded my eventual approach to small group leadership came from a belief that Christian leaders are supposed to be ‘intentional disciple-makers‘. Disciples are made, not born. The goal was therefore that small group leaders (with busy personal lives plus work or school/education to balance) be helped to deliver results by way of (a) measurable growth in individuals each year and (b) numerical growth by way of friends who come to faith. The approach therefore needed to be clear-thinking and yet also very simple – valuing people first. To achieve this, numerous dynamics needed to be within the CULTURE and VALUES of the groups to have health (which creates growth) – but also in their practice and management of groups, without which the values are not sustained. This speaks to the need for matching HABITS and also specific SKILLS in what we do. I became a student of church small group practice. With multiple groups to ‘practice’ on – including the experience of 4 small groups becoming 23, I had a rare opportunity to test theories written about in books or taught about in the seminars/courses I intentionally sought out and attended. My application as a leader was then adjusted by experience in the pursuit of RESULTS (not just busyness and the existence of groups). I didn’t get success in all areas – and this included a difficult decision to walk away from (request to be released from) one area of the work because it became clear to me I wasn’t actually released with authority to lead in it.  The below is what resulted for our ‘core leader training’. I point out that there are 50 things that could be taught as ‘core teaching’ for small group leaders. My question, from observation of various groups, was, ‘What did this leader need to know when they started to avoid those pitfalls, to thrive better?” It’s like observing faults in a particular model of a car – and then going back to the factory to fix it at the ‘assembly’ stage for those cars. This led to just 8 topics in the core training (beyond a general introduction to small groups from the Bible and history – which I suggest is a core discipleship topic for discussing with everyone) . Most surprising to some – the 8 topics are all very PRACTICAL – rather than being ‘spiritual’, but I suggest that together they undergird spiritual and leadership principles that are vital to health – and therefore growth. Put differently, if the principles behind these practical skills are neglected, it will be to the detriment of health. Aka, they are about ‘more than meets the eye’.  E.g. ‘3 types of questions’ is about (a) the human dynamic of knowing how people work/tick, while (b)  also the reality that, without specific application, our biblical teachings will deliver few actual results. It’s not therefore actually the nice teaching about ‘3 types of questions’ that it might feel to be when first heard. It’s about principles that, if violated, will undermine the enjoyment and fruitfulness of the work. It’s about principles that we need to pull our leaders up on when we see them violating the ‘natural order of life’ – or the necessary intentionality of disciple-making!  The training therefore covers core skills I found that, if leaders didn’t have them, would undermine their ability to become fruitful as disciple-makers, within which are weaved a body of values that I observed (in our application of them) to create a culture of health, balance and resulting growth. These values are best summarised by the statements, “God before goals; people before projects; team before task” – with awareness that ‘disciples are made, not born’, and ‘with God, all things are possible’. To grow there needed to be health in both values and also leadership practice.

Once the simple lessons were taught, my role as pastor was to sustain their application. I worked out that intentionality in this was needed – even though some of these areas are ‘common sense’. Changing the values of existing leaders is also very hard! Clarity in the leader, and consistency, is therefore needed to establish new CULTURE. However, once established, that culture can deliver results – and also become self-sustaining to a level. To this day I am more excited about what we experienced in this brief season than anything else I’ve done in ministry – ‘Hope Project’ here in NZ included. It took 5 years to establish the ‘culture’. Culture delivers results in a way the ‘programmes’ never can. However, if the values and boundaries that ‘couch’ or protect the culture are lost or violated, it can also be lost. I hope this helps.