Here's a small piece of "Fifth Church" thinking relating to the size and longevity of small groups and their potential to change the world. I wrote it this morning in response to a question from the Easum/Bandy Coaching Seminar I'm doing this week.
Fourth Church: Group Size
Jesus had his small group three years before he sent them out. That's a good model. (Although it wasn't really a small group... they all ran away and let him die.)
I like groups of 3 to six for the depth of fellowship, accountability and commitment.
Why at least three? Biblically, three cords aren't easily broken. Jesus taught the multitudes, but when he really wanted to get away he took three with him. (And they fell asleep.)
Practically, Peter Senge in "The Fifth Discipline" says "if you are alone in changing a system, you'll be a marytr. If you have one other person, you at least have someone to complain with, but you won't change anything. You need three to make a conspiracy."
Why no more than six? You can get lost in the crowd. This isn't about getting lost. This is about getting found. Six people will die for each other. Seven won't. In a larger group it doesn't matter if you miss. You aren't missed. In a smaller group, you are vital and will be missed.
Do you notice what happens when you have six people over to the house? They are all in on the conversation. When you have seven, it often becomes two small groups (the women in the kitchen doing all the work, the men in the garage eating the food they didn't prepare.)
Maybe the best size is five. Notice that the thumb can easily touch the other four fingers. Notice that when you "huddle up" shoulder to shoulder in prayer with five, everyone has a hand on everyone. (That's a Faith Inkubators "safe touch" prayer technique.)
Group Longevity
How long should Fourth Church groups stay together? You have to ask yourself, "What are we trying to accomplish?" before answering this question.
If your goal is like Carl George at Fuller with his Metachurch model, you begin with a leader and an apprentice leader and plan to split up from the start.
I tried this in a 5000 member church full of lonely Lutherans in Minnesota (we have the densest Lutherans there) and it was a disaster. After a year we tried to split the groups and we had a mutiny on our hands. (To the point that some of them were ready to quit the church if we split them up.)
It seems that some folks are so hungry for true in-depth fellowship that the first time you expose them to it, it's just too good to split.
Now, if you are an evangelical with a fervant kingdom building mentality and passion, and if you are told from the start that "this is about fishing with a net, not a pole," and you come into it with the sense of call to expand the kingdom exponentially/muliplicatively (how do you like that word), you might be able to start groups with the very DNA to split in a year.
However, if you are a mainliner with a love for Christ but your people have no experience at all in true koinonia, you might want to start by saying "let's try it for a year and if you find it meaningful, re-up for a second year..." (Asking Lutherans and Methodists and Presbyterians and Episcopalians to sign up for anything for more than a year is deadly. Asking for a shorter commitment, then getting them hooked might be the better way to do. Notice I said "hooked." That's a fishing pole method.)
There's a third consideration here that gets back to the question: "What are you trying to accomplish?"
In my first parish, I was in a men's small group for eight years with a lawyer, the Young Life director, an opthomologist and a teacher. This was a significant experience for me. These men became my brothers. I found the level of trust in sharing takes a while to build. These guys grew from acquaintences to friends to true brothers. They are my friends to this day. I've been gone from that church for 15 years, but the lawyer is currently helping me set up a non-profit (pro bono), and I'm heading to the wedding of the teacher's youngest son in Minnesota this week, even though it is inconvenient. See, you do things for your brothers - you go out of your way - things that you might not do. They are family.
Dr. Tony Campolo of Eastern College, one of my mentors, tells of the men's group that meets in the back of a diner near his home. He's been meeting with those guys for decades. He says, "I tell them things I wouldn't even tell to my wife..."
You don't get that level of trust in a year and start over.
So, what's better? Short term and split or long term and sink the roots? I guess it all comes down to what you are trying to accomplish in your Fourth Church.
Evangelism Entry Points
If you are looking for systemic evangelism, rather than an evangelism program and an evangelism committee, you might want to build evengelism into the DNA of your entire Fifth Church system.
If you are doing anything like the Fifth Church model that I will wrap up tomorrow, there will be entry points and evangelism opportunities at every step of the way at every level.
A heart on fire for Christ will attract other hearts. (First Church)
A home dedicated to "every night in every home" highs and lows, scripture, talk, prayer, and blessing will attract neighbors. ("You're praying and blessing and talking with your kid every night? How do you accomplish that?") (Second Church)
An intergenerational surrogate adoptive faith family playing, praying, learning and serving together will attract attention. ("I'm leaving my bridge club early to pick up my adopted grandchildren...")(Third Church)
A small group of men, women, youth, etc., will get noticed.
Americans are moving every 3.2 years and pastors every 5 years. A church that builds this kind of ourtreach into families, friends groups and intergenerational faith families will be a contageon. Because of the mobility of Americans, that church will be spawning small groups all across the land. People will move, and their First, Second, Third and Fourth Churches will move with them. Why? People who have been deeply and profoundly touched by the love of God at every level of their relationships can't be silenced. When they move to a new place they will either gravitate to the same "Fifth Church" kind of church, or they will create their own great experience in their new place all over again.
Miosis and Mytosis
I can't give you a hard and fast rule because every situation is different. You know your people better contextually and will have to pray for the discernmnet to know how to proceed. However, here's my best design and advice.
If you're going to start with the intention of creating a fishing net rather than a fishing pole, and your people can be recruited, trained, and motivated into being a true Great Commission movement, consider this:
Start with the plan to grow, but start slow.
Maybe you begin with a small group with the three and spend a half year together bonding, praying, sharing, deepening the trust, and seeking out God's will. After the group has bonded sufficiently, each person brings one other person by design and by invitation. At the end of a year (or some prescribed and agreed-upon time frame), when this group feels the time is right you have each of the six start their own groups (with two more) but they stay going to the original group so they can grow deep, deep, deep with their initial band of brothers/sisters.
I haven't thought that through enough. I'd enjoy your comments on the math of it if three become six (one year), and six become 36 (year two), and 36 become 216 (year three), and 216 become 1896 (year four), and 1896 become 11,376 (year five), and 11,376 become 68,256 (year six), and 68,256 become 409,536 (year seven) and 409,536 becomes 2,457,216 (year eight), and 2,457,216 becomes 20,743,296 (year nine), and 20,743,296 becomes three fourths of the population of the United States - 184,459,776 small Bible study and fellowship groups - within ten years.
Now there's a statistic for you to ponder.
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I've been thinking about this lately. will be thinking more after reading this post. Thanks
Posted by: Sivin Kit | February 11, 2005 at 10:58 AM