Life Groups: A new approach to groups at First Baptist

First Things First

Some of you may be asking “What are Life Groups anyway?”

• The short answer: gatherings of people pursuing Christian maturity together outside of Sunday worship services.
• Synonyms: small groups, community groups, cell groups, growth groups, affinity groups, connect groups, home groups, support groups, serving groups, discipleship groups, breakout groups, grace groups. This also includes groups like Sunday school classes, college group, women’s groups, singles ministry, and choir.
• Purpose: Whether you are a new Christian or someone who is mature in your faith, Life Groups provide a way for Christians to live out their faith instead of merely hearing God’s word on Sunday. 
• The Consequences:  You build friendships, grow spiritually, and learn more about God’s plan, experience transformation, learn to care more for others, receive care from others, and usually get to eat good food.

The Story So Far...

When we look back at our church history, we’ve seen many changes since our roots were planted in 1917 on the outskirts of Elk Grove. Beginning with a small group of church planters we’ve grown to see thousands of people walk through our doors every week. We’ve seen people believe and receive Christ, and get baptized. This is awesome stuff and God gets all the glory! However, sadly, we’ve also seen many people come to FBC and leave after a short stay because of a lack of connection. They came to a large church and found too many obstacles to building meaningful relationships. Sometimes this was due to a lack of effort on their part. Other times we’ve poorly communicated the pathways to intentionally pursue growth in Christian maturity. It even could have simply been we didn’t have the right place for them to feel at home. The numbers of people who have walked through our front door is impressive. Yet, at the same time too many are walking away for reasons that don’t have to exist. We believe we can do better.

For some time, the leadership of FBC has been working hard to discover new ways to help people get connected, and improve communication with those we serve. This process of getting the word out can be complex at times, especially with the ever changing ways we communicate. As a result of this hard work the Teleos Guide was created. It will serve to guide us in the many great opportunities of growth and connection at FBC. In addition to our challenge of communicating well, we need to make it easier to intentionally grow, connect with others, serve one another, and spread the Gospel. Leadership is working to bring the ministries of FBC into alignment with each other so we can better serve each other, our church body, our local community, and the world. We know that if we all work together in our planning and scheduling, we will make getting involved at FBC simpler. We will then see involvement increase and more people growing in their faith.

Currently, we have a small percentage of our average Sunday attendance involved in some kind of group such as bible study groups, service groups, or care ministry groups. We’re not content with that! We want to see100% of our average Sunday attendance involved in a group outside of Sunday services. Read that again. Yes, we’re serious. We want to see100% of our average Sunday attendance involved in a group outside of Sunday services. We know through God’s word that making connections with others makes such a difference in the spiritual walk of believers that no believer should be alone in this journey.  Imagine over 2000 people meeting in a group week to week; over 2000 people discussing the Bible and developing new friendships; over 2000 people’s lives being changed because they have found a place to be real about their faith and put it into action. That is an awesome vision.

Over the next year by re-energizing our group system and bringing alignment, the leadership believes we will see tremendous change in our near future. If our vision is going to be achieved, it will take a lot of people to rally behind it. We need you to be behind us in this. We need you to own this vision, to spread the word about this vision and we need many of you to be leaders in accomplishing this vision.

While we’ve told you that Life Groups are all groups that meet together to grow and/or serve in some way outside of Sunday services, we think it’s important to focus in on the typical group of no more than 16 people. These are the groups that many of us would call “small groups.” These Life Groups are central to our growth as believers. But first we need to take a hard look at why people don’t get involved in a small group. By understanding these obstacles and removing them, we think we’ll have a better chance of success in move towards our goal of 100% involvement.

Obstacles to Involvement 

We’ve determined there are five main obstacles to involvement that influence people who currently do not get involved.

1. “Will I have to be in this group until Jesus comes?!”  

Many people fear unending commitment.  Our current system is set up that way.  We won’t see many new people getting involved if they think that once they’re in the group there’s no easy way out.   We believe once they get in a group they will like it and stay, but people need to know the length of their commitment. This same obstacle applies to those who might consider leading a group.  Many don’t lead because they fear being stuck leading a group forever.  We’ve got to remove this obstacle for both those who might join a group and those who might lead a group.

2.  Inconsistent and Scattered Promotion

Small groups and groups in general have increased and decreased over the past few years. Part of this is due to some key church-wide series that we promoted. The Purpose Driven Life and the City Hope studies are great examples. However, there’s no rhythm in our current system to maintain a consistent promotion of groups for people to engage in. We want to provide consistent entry and exit points for people to engage in the group system and provide information through the Teleos Guide explaining all the studies and groups for each new session.

3.  Group Anonymity 

Currently we have many great groups that meet together on a consistent basis and are growing in Christ through their commitment to one another and service to others. Unfortunately, under the current structure it’s extremely difficult to plug new people into these groups. They keep their own schedule and may even move from place to place.

4. “What curriculum is the group studying?”  

In general people are more likely to join a group when they know what to expect.  Some fear difficult studies like Revelation.  Others need to have their interest piqued by a topic that a group is dealing with such as marriage building. Currently, we don’t track what many groups are doing, and different groups start and end topics at different times.  There’s also need to have a wider variety of studies that serves the many needs people have as they grow in Christ.

 5.  “Is the group open to new people?”  

This is likely the biggest obstacle in the current Life Group system.  People fear joining a group that has been meeting for a long time, who know each other intimately, and who may not really be open for new people to join in.  It’s a big obstacle.  If there was some way we could say, “on this date we have 100 new groups starting and are looking for new people to get involved,” we would reduce this fear of not fitting in.

So, if we’re going to move forward, we’ve got to address these obstacles by forming a new vision for Life Group.

Five Steps to Achieve the Vision

1. Groups meet for trimesters of 12 weeks

This is the main change that brings alignment and short-term commitment.  The year is split into three trimesters of 12 weeks each, with a month (or more) off in between.  People would only commit to be in a group for 12 weeks at a time.  During the group breaks the members of the group are welcome to re-sign up to join the same group again, join a different group, or take a break.  This allows people to commit to just 12 weeks, and at the same time allows groups to continue meeting every trimester. It also brings alignment to every group in the system. The 12 weeks when groups meet are strategically calendared to allow time off for major holidays and follows the local school schedule. We’re removing many obstacles through this change.

2.  Promotion Weeks  

We’ve designed our trimester system to include time to strategically promote the next trimester.   Ideally we would like groups to meet for about 2 months and then be off 4 to 6 weeks (groups are still welcome to meet if they choose too though).  Having time off would not only be a break for leaders and members of the group, but it also allows us a time to communicate and promote Life Groups.  So three times a year, consistently and strategically, we are saying, “Groups are starting!” No more inconsistent promotion, but a strategic, momentum building system which will increase involvement.

3.  Easy sign-ups

Those signing up will easily be able to sign up online or at the Life Group table in the foyer. Once signed up in a group you will be contacted with all the details to get started on the right foot.

To communicate the choices clearly, we’ll update the Teleos Guide detailing all the groups starting the next trimester. On-going groups or classes such as Sunday school will also be included in the Teleos Guide. This information will be distributed to everyone coming through our doors on a Sunday during the promotion month.

4.  All groups fall under one umbrella….“Life Groups”

This step means that every group, whether a bible study, care group, or servant group meeting in a home or at the church will all fit under one unifying name, “Life Groups.”  This name emphasizes the purpose of these groups – Living life together toward spiritual growth – rather than the size of them “small groups”.    This also brings unity and alignment.  Groups won’t lose their particular names either such as Dorcas Circle, Pastor Silva’s Bible study, etc. They will also continue to have the same ministry leader connections in the staff.  Communicating about joining a group becomes much easier if they’re unified together but still have their own identity.

5.  Training Leaders

Finally, we need to see more leaders getting involved.  We’re suggesting we need to be training new leaders all the time. So, not only will we have classes to facilitate leadership growth, but we’re suggesting that Life Groups establish a pattern for investing in new leaders. We want each group to have a co-leader and coordinator. These people will share in the responsibility in serving the group alongside the leader. For example, coordinators will email the group about up-coming meetings and co-leaders will keep everyone up to date on prayer requests Co-leaders will also facilitate the group meetings a few times during the trimester.  This person, after one or several trimesters, would come to the point of leading a group himself/herself.

Some More Details about Life Groups of 16 or less people (Small Groups)

In these groups we will be asked to do four things each trimester.

1. The group will meet weekly or bi-weekly

2. Once a trimester they will have a party together
Whether as part of their 12 meetings or a separate meeting, the group is required to engage in fellowship!

3. Once a trimester they will serve in an outreach project together.
This might mean serving at Love INC, the EG Food Bank, or it may be a project that the group comes up with themselves.

4. Once a trimester the group will celebrate communion together. Groups will find this time very meaningful as they share in this spiritual practice together.

Many Existing groups will continue just as they are.

We have many fantastic groups that are already experiencing what it means to move towards Teleos. These groups have people that are growing as individuals, serving one another, and serving others in a meaningful way. We don’t want to stop a great thing. In fact, we will be supporting these groups by establishing resources for all groups to utilize. We also hope that these groups will adopt the new trimester schedule so they come into alignment and are able to participate with the rest of the church as we do church wide studies together.

Some existing groups may decide they want to transition to this new system.  

Most groups have a season of growth that at some point wanes. For these groups a new beginning is just what they need. The new system will help them move intentionality towards growth again. Some groups may even transition because the leaders need a break.

Existing groups that are full of leaders need to lead the way.

We need leaders to step up and help us in this new endeavor to spur on growth in others. We know that there are many groups filled with capable leaders at FBC. We want to challenge these groups to consider taking a break for a season and using your gifts to help build new Life Groups.  We are all called to use our gifts to further God’s kingdom as he’s equipped us. We pray you will answer this call and make this investment in the growth of others.  

Contact Mike Harding at mharding@fbceg.org if you are willing to lead a new group. Remember, this is only for a season.

In Conclusion

We’ve explained the basics of Life Groups and we realize change is not easy and we often resist it.  But we feel this change has great potential…it allows us to become more aligned as ONE BODY of believers.  And, if we are serious about “turning people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ,” then Life Groups should be a priority. They’re the best place to spur one another on to love God and love others.

A question for you to consider:
Perhaps as you’ve read this and you’ve thought you might like to try out group leadership for a trimester. If so, let us know. You are free to choose your day, time and location.   If you are interested in giving this a try, contact Mike Harding (see contact details below).

Most of all, we ask that you pray about this new chapter at FBC, consider it, and ask questions.  We pray you would own this and spread the word about it.  There are great days ahead!

Questions? Contact a Life Group Coordinator Mike Harding at (916) 685-4821 x106 or mharding@fbceg.org.