Small Group – Brian Brunke

The Remaining Key Traits for a Small Groups Pastor – Part 7 of the Changing Nature of the Small Group Pastor’s Role

Published on July 22, 2014 by bbrunkeLeave a comment

Yesterday I described what I believe to be two of the four ‘core competencies’ that are needed to be a successful Small Groups Pastor. Today I will give you the remaining two.

3) Strategic Orientation

Intellectual curiosity supplied the trait to ask the ‘why’ question and strategic orientation takes the knowledge gained into how to fix the problem. When this is applied to Small Groups, it enables the point leader for groups to align vision with a strategy for accomplishing that vision. Of all the competencies that have been discussed, this one area is the most crucial to being successful as a Small Groups Pastor. Donahue and Robinson speak to this fact when they write[1] ‘Due to the decentralized nature of a groups ministry, creating a “together outcome” from independent leaders who are being empowered to shepherd their little flocks requires a point leader with a strategic orientation competency.’

From my experience, this one area is where group’s ministry is seeing the biggest change. When churches are small and their group system is only reaching 10% – 40% of their average attendance, the groups pastor or point person can afford to not be strategic because the system that is being used is not exceeding the parameters of what it was intended. When a church starts to reach and average attendance of between 500 – 1000 people a week and their groups ministry begins to average 50% – 75% involvement in groups, then that pastor will be forced to take a look at whatever system is in place and begin to evaluate the whole lot. This is because the existing small groups ‘system’ will have or will shortly be exceeding it’s intended parameters. This is where having a strategic orientation is crucial because it allows the groups pastor to look at the entire system and ask the crucial question of ‘how are we going to get from here to there’?

4) ‘Others Focus’

In the business world this would be known as a ‘customer service orientation’ but in world of ministry it is being able to look at every program, decision, initiative, or announcement through the eyes of the people who it affects; the church congregation. Because small group ministry is very decentralized, it is easy to lose touch with people when making a policy change or decision. This competency keeps the groups pastor from making a decision without first considering how it will affect the ‘average Joe” attending a particular group.

Question: If you were making a list of the key traits that are needed to be a Small Group Pastor, what would you include?

[1] Donahue, Bill & Robinson, Russ. Building a Life-Changing Small Group Ministry. (2012).

The Gifting of a Small Group Pastor – Part 5 of the Changing Nature of the Small Group Pastor’s Role

Published on July 16, 2014 by bbrunke1 Comment

Bill Donahue & Russ Robinson wrote in their book “Building a Life-Changing Small Group Ministry” that they believe there are two essential Spiritual Gifts that must be present in the Small Group point person: Leadership & Administration[1]. A point person for small groups with the gift of leadership is able to motivate and paint a picture of the church of the urgency of small group ministry. The gift of leadership is crucial to the church in fulfilling it’s potential to be a church of small groups and not just a church with small group because of the vision component of this gift and its ability to ‘rally’ others to a cause. The administration gift, which at first seems out-of-place in a ministry such as small groups, is crucial for the small group point person. Whereas the leadership gift will get a church excited and motivated to get into small groups at the onset, it will be the gift of administration that will allow the ministry to continue over the long haul. Donahue & Robinson rightly observe[2] about the importance of the gift of administration,

“The gift of administration is essential for the small group champion because of the nature of the ministry. The requirements of structuring small group ministry, making tactical decisions, and organizing the support systems demand something more than just a leadership gift. When a gifted leader can exercise great management capabilities, small group ministry will flourish, season after season, as an expanding network of communities that meets needs, develops disciples, and strengthen the fabric of relationships with the church. Everybody gets the benefit of a strong infrastructure, so their efforts become easier due to how it all fits together.“

Filling this role on a church staff with a candidate who possess these characteristics can be a challenge. Many churches have opted instead to build a ‘team’ of people who each posses each of the individual gifts (leadership, administration, shepherding) so that collectively they can accomplish the mission of their respective ministry. Still others have ignored gifting completely and just tried to find to fill the role with a person who was maybe passionate about small groups but really did not have the right make-up for the role.

Question: what gifting is ideal or essential for someone to be a good Small Group Pastor?

[1] Donahue, Bill & Robinson, Russ. Building a Life-Changing Small Group Ministry. (2012). 50.

[2] ibid.

How did we get here? – Part 2 of the Changing Nature of the Small Group Pastor’s Role

Published on July 10, 2014 by bbrunke1 Comment

In the early days of small groups ministry, much of its structure and organization was borrowed from the ‘Sunday-school’ model.’ The Sunday-school teacher became the small group leader and the Sunday-school Superintendent became the de-facto small group pastor. If the church was fortunate to have a Minister or Pastor of Education on their staff then they may step into this new role of the Small Group Pastor, otherwise the Sunday-School Superintendent, who was usually a volunteer, would left to assume the leadership of this new system. This approach was functional for a small group system of 1 – 125 people, as it does not fall outside of the person at the top’s ‘span of care’ which, at it’s limit, would be 10 leaders with 12 people in them. Using these parameters still factors in a highly organized person who can ‘coach’ ten leaders at one time but the more realistic number is one pastor coaching 3 -5 leaders.

Under this system, small group ministry largely flourished, as the organizational ability of the Small Group Pastor was never pushed to a point where they were forced to address the problem of ‘span of care’ on a large-scale. This all changed in 1991 when Carl George published his first book ‘Prepare Your Church for the Future’ which introduced the concept of the ‘Meta-Model’. Using this model, churches like Willow Creek, Saddleback, and The Cincinnati Vineyard have been able to establish an effective group’s system that can accommodate more than 16,000 in weekly attendance[1]. This was a game changer for the small group ministry system because for the first time, the Small Group Pastor had to grapple with ‘span of care’ challenges that where beyond his individual ability to handle. For the relational gifted Small Group Pastor, this would provide a major challenge and would cause most of them to shrink away from wanting to grow beyond their ability to provide coaching to the leaders under their care. But for the systems thinking Small Groups Pastor, the prospect of a large ministry that exceeded their own abilities was obviously viewed as a challenge but was not a prospect that they would not throw themselves into taming. This was due to the fact that they would approach this challenge by relying on their ability to think and organize in systems whereas the relational small group pastor would feel utterly lost and unable to design such a system. Thus we see the shift in role of the Small Group Pastor as more churches are eclipsing the 1,000-member mark and becoming classified as a ‘mega-church.’

At what point do you think a Small Group system requires someone with an organizational and systems mindset needs to be hired to be a part of the leadership?

[1] George, Carl. The Coming Church Revolution. (1994). 9-10