I don’t think I have THE answer to this question. This post is a handful of observations and reflections about long-term Growth Groups. How do these groups promote and hinder evangelism? I’m keen to hear your observations and critique of the ones I’ve mentioned here.
What is a long-term Growth Group? This is a group that has met together long enough without changes in membership that no one really remembers not being in this group. Nor is there an expectation of belonging to any other group in the future. Some groups might reach this stage after 5 years. Other groups may take 25 years to feel like this.
Some groups set out to create a long-term commitment to one another. Some just evolve.
Most of us (young guys) are aware of the benefits of periodic changes in Growth Group membership. But I can also appreciate there are definite strengths to long-term Growth Groups. What about in relation to evangelism?
Benefits: How does the long-term Growth Group promote evangelism?
1. Strong and settled base. Well-established Growth Groups can be better placed for concentrated effort on praying for evangelistic opportunities and consistently encouraging individual members in their evangelism across the years.
2. Deeper involvement in one another’s lives and lives of unbelieving contacts. As Growth Group members grow in relationships with one another members can be more aware of the contact group members have with unbelievers. Through sharing life together (including outside the group meetings) there is opportunity to be in occasional (even regular) contact with these unbelievers.
3. Harvesting in new paddocks. An established Growth Group might make a decision to seek out new contact with unbelievers as a group. The group might join a club or organisation together with the purpose of sharing in new relationships with unbelievers for the purpose of evangelism.
Difficulties: How does the long-term Growth Group hinder evangelism?
1. Exhausted contact with unbelievers. As the years pass, a Growth Group may feel like they have exhausted evangelistic endeavours with the unbelievers group members are in contact with. This may lead to complacency about evangelism in the group and unhelpfully discourage the individual from persistent prayer for salvation and speaking about Jesus. Changes in Growth Group membership gives new opportunity to hear about ‘old’ contacts. Hopefully this encourages group members to persevere in personal evangelism and may create fresh options for evangelism around the edges of the group.
2. Jargon. There is a danger in long-term Growth Groups that such familiarity with one another evolves that groups are no longer accessible to new members (believers or unbelievers). The way group members relate to one another becomes the norm for how they think about relationships in general. They are marked by a particular set of values, language (jargon) and history. Over time individuals become less and less able to speak with unbelievers about the gospel in an engaging way.
3. Closed membership. The Growth Group can become so settled in its membership they are no longer able to or willing to accept and welcome new members. New members threaten the stability of the group that members have known and loved. The group may not be opposed to evangelism. But evangelism has to happen outside the group and any new believers directed
Summing up. Any of the hindrances I have raised can be avoided if a group makes a deliberate effort to compensate for them. However the reality is that most of our Growth Groups (even the healthy ones) have enough to think about week to week. If we are are committed to determined gospeling in our ministries and the role that Growth Groups play… should we discourage long-term Growth Groups?
Given that you see both positives and negatives, perhaps it is best to simply be aware of the advantages and disadvantages, without prescribing an overarching position. Even within a church it might be good to work through these issues differently with different groups and different individuals. The important thing is that group members consciously determine their level of commitment to each other and to corporate evangelism.
Thanks Karl(?) for reading and adding a comment/suggestion.
I steered away from terms: advantages and disadvantages to avoid ‘prescribing an overarching position’. In my mind when I hear advantages/disadvantages I’m encouraged to weigh them up against one another and make a decision for one over the other. And that was not what I want to do (especially in this article). Benefits and difficulties are about recognising the reality/complexity of life and as you suggest being more conscious of the way forward.
You’ve raised a great point… that has sparked my thinking about working through the issues in a Growth Group to maximise the benefits I mentioned (see reply to Dave).
I want to push some boundaries and ask hard questions (of myself): If the normal pattern for long term Growth Groups in a particular church is not to be consciously engaged and concerned for evangelism is this a good enough reason to encourage Growth Group leaders to reorder their group membership.
Someone may yet raise the wonderful possibility that the evangelising long term growth group might grow, under God and be the core from which new members/believers are welcomed in and new groups planted. But then… I don’t think this group(s) fit my definition of the long term Growth Group (i.e. settled/effectively closed membership).
Thanks again for your comments. Please keep them coming… for the glory of God and service of Christ.
Hey mate. Thanks for face to face chat this week.
Hey Russ,
Lots of great reflections that have got me thinking. I appreciate the positives towards long term groups in respect to evangelism especially the potential for deep involvement in other peoples lives. However, I do lean more towards groups splitting up after a period of time (not sure how long this should be, prob each group leader needs to have enough guts to say split or stay?) especially if they are groups that are not growing or are just plain unhealthy. Another reason is that it gives people a fresh start to a group which normally brings with it a new found enthusiasm and the opportunity to rethink and set a new direction. Long term groups can easily get stuck in a rut, even groups going for a year can do it as well, I know I have run them
Another factor that comes into play is training of leaders in evangelism (whatever that looks like in your context). How many leaders in their regular leading of the group talk about, pray about, encourage, do together evangelism? My guess is not heaps and I think we who run the training need to have it front and centre on every agenda.
Training of Growth Group leaders in evangelism is already on my list for future blog articles. I agree it is important and we need to keep at it.
I was trying to stay fairly neutral in the article as to whether I was for or against long term Growth Groups. You’ve rightly identified the too-frequent occurrence of unhealthy groups (even in the short term) for reasons other than their evangelism endeavours. I can see there are some strengths for evangelism through growth groups that only comes with being together for several years. Sure you’ve got to work against a tendency to familiarity and ‘same-old’. We have to do that in our Sunday gatherings too, don’t we? If long term Growth GRoups have the potential to promote evangelism and be centres of evangelism (Total Church guys might have something to say here) maybe we need to work through with greater determination the issues that bring short term unhealthy groups undone – instead of just wrapping up and going for the new?
Very much looking forward to that future article on training – sounds great! I could see you were gunning for neutrality and mine is a lean but very open to be shown my folly!
Working against the same old and familiarity is always a tough one for churches and yes, totally agree that it happens in Sunday gatherings as well. Often we start something and it never changes – I think we call it liturgy
Isn’t there a saying that ‘familiarity breads contempt’.
Good point about working through the issues that bring them unstuck rather than just shutting down and reopening. I was thinking that there is a helpfulness to having someone visit the group to see how it is travelling as often (but definitely not always) leaders find it hard to see there weak spots or issues that promote unhealthiness in the group.
Thankfully the long term growth groups of which I am aware are promoting evangelism along the lines of the positive points in the article. Most if not all of the members work with non-Christians and have non-Christian contacts.
Single Christians need a Christian family and the long term growth group provides this. I guess a lot depends on the leader of the group too.
Nice to hear from you Helen! Thanks for making an important point. I’m encouraged to hear you know of long term Growth Groups living out the benefits they have for evangelism. Really my points there were mostly hypothetical possibilities… as I haven’t seen it happen a great deal. Praise God for what he’s doing in the groups you’ve seen!
There is a massive harvest field in the workplace… and Growth Groups (and Church as whole) needs to keep being deliberate in praying for and equipping workers for sharing Jesus with work colleagues. Every time I come in contact with the City Bible Forum I’m reminded of how much more I need to be persisting in doing this well.
This comment was sent to me by Wayne (pastor2pastor.org.au)
‘I don’t think long term or short term matters, as long as they are healthy: ie people are GROWING!
Sometimes new blood and change brings growth.
Sometimes letting people stay together long enough to irritate each other, get over the honeymoon, and get to the real issues brings growth.’
[...] (should be) low key and relational. And they can be long term (as discussed in my last article here). This makes them prime contexts for effective evangelism: low key, long term and relational. Are [...]