Nearly every church is trying to help their congregants build relationships with others, grow as disciples, and/or engage in meaningful service through small groups. Many have argued that these small groups are the preferred vehicle for relationship building, disciple making, and membership assimilation in the local church, especially in large, multisite churches. Leading Small Groups That Thrive shows small group leaders, step by step, how to plan for, launch, build, sustain, and multiply highly effective, transformational, healthy small group experiences where people grow spiritually together. Based on a large-scale research study of small group pastors, leaders, and members, Leading Small Groups That Thrive gives church leaders both what they want--practical, straightforward, actual small group member voices and experiences, and compelling guidance on how to build transformational groups complemented with real-life examples and data of successful small groups--and what they need--substantial, challenging insights and a data-driven model grounded in the latest research on church small groups.

Community within the church today is hemorrhaging. Attention spans are dwindling, noise levels are increasing, and we can't seem to find time for real relationships. The answer to such social fragmentation can be found in small groups, and yet the majority of small groups—at least in the traditional sense—are often not the intentional, transformational community we really want and need. Somehow we need to get our groups off life support and into authentic community. Pastor Brad House helps us to re-imagine what gospel-centered community looks like and shares from his experience leading and reproducing healthy small groups. With wisdom and candor, House challenges us to think carefully about our own groups and to take steps toward cultivating communities that are able to glorify Jesus, bless one another, and participate in the mission of God.

Leading a small group can literally change the world. We have been commissioned to make disciples who make disciples, and Jesus showed us that the best way to carry that out is through small groups of believers. Just like the first-century church, small groups form the foundation to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Chris Surratt, Discipleship and Small Groups Specialist for Lifeway Christian Resources, and author of Small Groups for the Rest of Us, wants to help you get from here to there. Regardless of whether you have never lead a small group or have been leading one for years, all of us want to know how to create environments where spiritual growth takes place and communities are changed. Leading Small Groups walks the reader through the stages of gathering, launching, leading, and multiplying a gospel-centered small group. There are also follow-up questions for discussion and reflection at the end of each section, and practical resources that can be implemented immediately by the small group leader. Jesus left his followers with a task—the Great Commission. This book will help small group leaders and churches in their obedience to this task.

Like nothing else, small groups have the power to change lives. They are the ideal route to discipleship—a place where the rubber of biblical truth meets the road of human relationships. However, church leaders often feel at a loss when it comes to assessing the strengths and weaknesses of group life in a church, and they struggle with understanding and solving the root causes of problems. Group Life resources provide, in ebook format, the practical tools and training resources needed to develop life-changing small group leaders, coaches to shepherd group leaders, and ultimately, a thriving church-wide small group ministry. These resources include the updated and revised versions of the best-selling Leading Life-Changing Small Groups and Coaching Life-Changing Small Group Leaders, the new Building a Life-Changing Small Group Ministry and the supplemental Group Life Training DVD. Appropriate for individual or group study, the books function as manuals and workbooks that teach and allow readers to process and record information as they learn. Downloadable web-based vision clips and supplemental videos in the DVD help readers explore and discuss topics further. Group Life Resources conveniently integrate with the ReGroupTM curriculum, giving trainers the option to use them together. Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson’s Building a Life-Changing Small Group Ministry presents a broad introduction for pastors and point leaders to use as they navigate through the process of establish-ing and developing independent groups or a church-wide ministry of small groups.

This is a book for pacesetters -- church leaders who desire to help their churches break free of the things that turn them in on themselves. It is a masterly mix of biblical principle, objective analysis, and personal experience.

Over the past two decades, small groups have gone from spontaneous gatherings among friends to a major and elaborate phenomenon in the church. Many evangelical churches have some form of small groups ministry in place. But there's just one problem, says Bill Search--what started as a simple get-together has become a complicated process, especially for small group leaders. They are often not sure what is expected of them or what to expect from their groups as a result of their efforts. In Simple Small Groups, Search lays out the three C's of small groups--connecting, changing, and cultivating. This paradigm helps to simplify leading small groups in a way that is helpful, rewarding, and life changing. Unlike many other books geared toward small group leaders, Simple Small Groups does not require a church-wide adoption of an intricately designed system of assimilation, making it useful to any small group leader looking for guidance.

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.