by Brett Eastman
Rick Warren taught the Purpose Driven Life to almost 40,000 people at Saddleback Easter services in 2005. I was one of the many that sat glued to the video monitor with couples and one single mom that got connected in a small group at Saddleback just this last year.
Where would they be had Pastor Rick not challenged 3200 people to open up their home and host a 6 week study on the Purpose Driven Life? Why not challenge your congregation in these next few weeks to consider stepping out in faith and giving the gift of Easter away to a few friends? What has worked at Saddleback Church can work in your church. I’ve seen this happen all across North America in churches of every size, denomination and tradition over the last couple of years. Let me show you how.
There are two ways to look at your Easter crowd. One way is to look down on the Easter lily/poinsettia crowd and to mentally ridicule their lack of faithfulness. The other way is to see how people are spiritually drawn to your church at Easter like no other time of the year. Not to mention reserved in growing in their walk with Christ. Granted, some folks are there to wear their new outfit, then go out to brunch. But, many are seeking a connection with the risen Christ. And the two weeks following Easter this year could be one of the greatest opportunities to connect them into a group like no other time in the year.
This Easter is unique because the date will allow you to start groups for a study they could finish before summer begins. Here are some keys to making this time a Spring of another kind.
Clarify the Vision. What are you trusting God for this Easter? What does God want to accomplish that you may have no idea how to pull off? What if you could connect another 25-50% of your average adult attendance in small groups? What does God want to do this Spring? In Matthew 9:36, we see how Jesus had compassion on the multitudes who were harassed and helpless, like a sheep without a shepherd. Our challenge is to develop a shepherd for every sheep. But, this vision is much larger than merely connecting the Body together. Christ’s vision is to reach the world and make disciples. What better place to gather a group of believers or non-believers together to study God’s Word than in the home of church members in order to fulfill the Great Commission.
The vision needs to first start with you and then cast to your congregation. God’s heart is for your members and Easter attenders to not just do their life alone but, to do their life together. The question is less a matter of “if” but more about “when” and with “whom” to do it. Click Here to join us for a teleconference on how you can Create Your Own Church-wide Campaign after Easter.
Connect Your Series with a Service. If you’ve done a 40 Days campaign with Purpose-Driven™, then you understand the dynamic that is created with everyone in a small group doing a study that goes along with the Sunday morning message. There’s a great sense of unity. You can easily create this dynamic in your church by selecting a small group study from our Experiencing Christ Together Curriculum, then creating a message series that focuses on each theme of the study.
If you would like a list of sermon resources that could accompany these studies, please email us and we’ll send it out to you. By aligning your weekend message with a small group study, you can easily launch a large number of groups two Sundays after Easter. This is an excellent series after Easter. First because people are reminded of the work Jesus did on the cross and second that every Christ follower and even seeker wants to know Him better.
Sometimes you want to not just link the sermon and a study but even your worship in the “big house” with worship in the “small house” (including Sunday School). The Lifetogether Worship series is a breakthrough Small Group Worship experience delivered right into the living room or class room. This new resource could be used and encouraged in the weekend music during worship and expanded in the homes during the week. This new series collaborated with Maranthana Music provides a great way to enlarge the heart of worship in your church.
Catalyze Unlimited Leaders. Believe it or not, there are mature, knowledgeable followers of Christ sitting in your church that are more than able to facilitate a Bible discussion with a DVD-based curriculum. I talked with a church today that recruited 300 new hosts in one weekend. Charlie Robinson, a pastor in a small church of 300, recruited 52 new hosts to lead a 6 week Doing Life Together Series last Easter and 37 of those groups are still growing and going strong. Don’t underestimate what God can do. Read the article “Blockbuster Video” to see for yourself and read Connecting 100% article by Allen White.
The only reason that they’re not leading a group is that they’ve never been asked. We have seen many senior pastors invite their members to get into the game from the pulpit right in the middle of their Sunday morning message. All you need to do is let your people know that if they will open up their hearts and their homes to a circle of friends that you will support them in starting a group. This invitation could be just as simple as putting a card in your bulletin and asking folks to fill it out and place it in the offering. Follow this up with a brief orientation to get them started. The “Hosting Lifetogether” is a perfect new leader training series to get them going on the right foot.
Now, if you have groups that have been in the game for a while, this is the time to challenge them to branch out. Invite your established groups to take a 6-week vacation from their current group to lead a new group.
Jesus went to the cross on Easter for them, are they willing to create a community for Him. All you ask for is six weeks – no more or less. At the end of those six weeks, they are more than welcome to return to their groups. At Saddleback we saw 30% of our groups (leaders and members) volunteer for a 6-week vacation. The net effect of that exponentially multiplied the number of hosts that could lead a group for just a few weeks.
Jesus instructed us to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers. The harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. But, the workers are there. If you invite your members to try a 6-week study, you will be amazed at the number of people who will step up to do this. You will be more amazed at the number who will continue. I have seen first hand the number of churches in our coaching programs get well over 30% of their average adult attendance hosting a group. This is no longer an anomaly but a dream come true straight from the heart of Christ the Shepherd.
Challenge Everyone to Participate. The key is that the more folks you get into the game on the host/leader side virtually guarantees a larger harvest on the participant side. As the senior pastor leads the way by not only promoting groups, but in leading a group, themselves, others will catch the vision for groups. Every new host has a circle of friends: neighbors, co-workers, family, friends. If each new host would put 2 or 3 names in each of those categories, then you have more than enough for a group. But, a group doesn’t have to be 12. A group could be two or three with Christ in their midst.
Easter Sunday is over but the next two Sundays are critical. There isn’t much time to put this in place, but there are some key things to maximize the impact of Easter unique to this year. Something as simple as selecting an easy to use, DVD-based curriculum and putting a sign up form in the bulletin, can take your church to places of connection in groups that you have never seen before. If you don’t feel like you can pull off a full-blown launch this week, then run a pilot. In a Sunday School class, from one service, a few small groups or just trust us on this one and play a 90 second preview (on every Lifetogether series) and see what God does. Trust me – He won’t be as surprised as you!
Create Healthy Balanced Groups. The curriculum your group uses is really the key. Both the Doing Life Together series and the Experiencing Christ Together series or any Saddleback curriculum series, balance the five biblical purposes in each lesson. The curriculum provides the balance for groups to connect with each other, dig into God’s Word, act on God’s Word, focus on outreach and surrender to God. The curriculum is structured so that each person in the group can facilitate the discussion. This puts everyone in the role to need to trust God before the lesson. Sweaty palms are a great incentive to get into God’s Word and to seek God’s face before each meeting.
Coach and Train your Leaders for Life. Training your new and even your existing leaders can be difficult. I have sat many times in near empty rooms praying for more than a few leaders to attend. One rainy night even at Saddleback I had two leaders show up. I went home early discouraged and committed to do something about it. The new DVD small group leader training series Leading/Hosting Lifetogether is just the solution. Flexible in delivery, transferable for anybody and honestly almost sold at my cost. I just don’t want leaders to go untrained and small group champions to struggle like I did so much. We recommend ordering one journal and DVD for each leader at $9.95 you can’t go wrong.
Many pastors are tempted to lecture their potential leaders for weeks on end before they release them for leadership. The problem is that after weeks and weeks of training, you still really don’t know that person or what they might do in their group. The best way to know what’s happening in a group is to get to know the leader really well. Now, if your group launch is successful, then you will immediately have more groups than the typical senior pastor or small group champion can touch base with. What we’ve found is that if you start your new hosts off in the right direction with an orientation and introduce each host to an experienced leader who will walk alongside them for six weeks, you can easily deliver the training that each host needs when they need it and personally get to know each host.
This simple concept is a breakthrough in the traditional coaching model that honestly doesn’t work very well. No other strategy works better at getting to know hosts this well in such a short period of time. Call them “buddies” or “small group mentors” for simply helping a “new host” or leader survive the first 12 weeks. Your existing leaders are the key to building the support structure that your new hosts will need. By simply calling the new host each week after their meeting, answering their questions, encouraging them and praying for them, new hosts will have the support to keep going and to keep on the right track. Coaching Lifetogether is an excellent tool to help first time coaches to build into the lives of brand new hosts. It provides the equivalent of Leading Lifetogether for small group supervisors and mentors.
Create Connecting Campaigns Multiple Times. What’s better than doing one large campaign per year is to launch groups in sequential campaigns throughout the year. We’ve found that the best times of year to launch groups are Fall, New Year’s and Spring. Each campaign builds on the next. Something as simple as announcing a Fall series in late April or early May will sustain your groups over the summer. Some groups might want to get together for social times and service opportunities during the summer. Other groups might get out their calendars and find six dates where they can fit in a summertime series. Either way, groups that like each other just need an excuse to continue.
What is God’s vision for your Easter? Why not try something new? You may feel like you are risking it all- maybe your life. Nothing less than Jesus did. I’d suggest you give it a try. You can make it an Spring of another kind. If you would like to join a FREE conference call on this topic click here and join the adventure. It might just change your life and bring new life to your congregation.