So this stuff has got a bit of momentum behind it:
They're talking about focusing mission on the groups around 12-70 people, because both celebration events and small groups tend to lose their evangelistic focus very easily.
As someone who doesn't particularly enjoy the small group, this strategy suits me to a tea. And yes, from my experience, it is very very hard for a group of 6-12 people to really be more than a community group and Bible study. 6-12 random people from church struggle to have an outgoing mission I've found.
This is more or less what we have done at Crossroads with our satellite services, House and Toilet Block Tuesdays. It has helped us a lot, especially in coming out of a period of transition and recovery. It is also what was did in 2001-2005 with iChurch and Hobart Central. One of the mistakes we made the first time was setting them up as autonomous churches (with all the burdens associated with that) rather than being a little looser with it all.
I have definitely found that this approach means more of your church growth is through conversion rather than transfer and also more leaders are raised up.
"A mid-sized community is small enough to have a shared vision but big enough to do something about it"
They're talking about focusing mission on the groups around 12-70 people, because both celebration events and small groups tend to lose their evangelistic focus very easily.
As someone who doesn't particularly enjoy the small group, this strategy suits me to a tea. And yes, from my experience, it is very very hard for a group of 6-12 people to really be more than a community group and Bible study. 6-12 random people from church struggle to have an outgoing mission I've found.
This is more or less what we have done at Crossroads with our satellite services, House and Toilet Block Tuesdays. It has helped us a lot, especially in coming out of a period of transition and recovery. It is also what was did in 2001-2005 with iChurch and Hobart Central. One of the mistakes we made the first time was setting them up as autonomous churches (with all the burdens associated with that) rather than being a little looser with it all.
I have definitely found that this approach means more of your church growth is through conversion rather than transfer and also more leaders are raised up.
