The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry

A Troubleshooting Guide for Church Leaders

Bill Donahue, Russ G. Robinson

• Publisher: Zondervan
• Year: 2009
• eBook ISBN:
  9780310864042
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Assessment and solution for seven commonobstacles to building small groups.It's one thing to start a small group ministry. It's another tokeep the groups in your church healthy and headed in thesame direction. Whatever your church's approach maybe—whether it is a church with groups or of groups—sooner or later, as a leader, you'll need to do sometroubleshooting. That's when the expert, to-the-pointguidance in this book will prove its worth.The beauty of this book lies in its unique diagnosticprocess. It allows you to assess, diagnose, and correctseven common "deadly sins" that can drain the life fromyour church's small group ministry.In The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry, whatwould take you years to learn through trial and error isdistilled into some of the most useful information you canfind. Drawing on the knowledge they've gleaned fromworking inside Willow Creek Community Church, fromconsulting with hundreds of churches, and fromconducting conferences and seminars worldwide, smallgroup experts Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson furnishyou with proven, real-life solutions to the toughestproblems in your small group ministry. This is not theory—it is hands-on material you can read and apply today.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Sin One: Unclear Ministry Objectives
• 2. Strategies and Tools for Developing Clear Ministry Objectives
• 3. Sin Two: Lack of Point Leadership
• 4. Strategies and Tools for Choosing Effective Point Leaders
• 5. Sin Three: Poor Coaching Structures
• 6. Strategies and Tools for Rebuilding Poor Coaching Structures
• 7. Sin Four: Neglect of Ongoing Leadership Development
• 8. Strategies and Tools for Developing Leaders
• 9. Sin Five: Closed Group Mind-Set
• 10. Strategies and Tools for Transforming Group Mind-Set
• 11. Sin Six: Narrow Definition of a Small Group
• 12. Strategies and Tools for Broadening the Range of Small Groups
• 13. Sin Seven: Neglect of the Assimilation Process
• 14. Strategies and Tools for Improving Assimilation
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1: Sample Ministry Plans
• Appendix 2: WCCC Director of Small Groups Job Profile
• Appendix 3: The Role of the Coach
• Appendix 4: The Centralized Training Components
• Appendix 5: Willow Creek Curriculum Series Profiles
• Appendix 6: Modified Definition of a Small Group
• Appendix 7: WCCC Assimilation Process
• Notes
• About the Publisher
• Share Your Thoughts