This is installment #14, and the last post (for now) in my series on Commitment and Small Groups. Andrew Mason, founder of SmallGroupChurches.com, and I recently discussed this question via video: “Why do you think we often do not see commitment from the people in our small groups?” I think it’s a pretty good summary for this series: By the …

In yesterday’s post, I discussed what you as a leader can do when group members resist making a commitment to grow spiritually. How can you help them grow, and, even first, want to grow, without pushing them, judging them, or being legalistic about it? How can you shepherd them, leading them to the places where they can best drink of the Living …

Why don’t very many small groups in America reproduce themselves? I’ll mention three main reasons, and discuss the third in a bit more detail today. One reason I’ve mentioned often is that many groups simply are not healthy. Healthy things grow, produce fruit, and multiply. Unhealthy things don’t. In my ministry, I’ve prodded, rewarded, celebrated, shamed, urged, and manipulated, but none …

I’m on a personal mission to communicate the vitality of Commitment in Small Groups. Commitment is the key to authentic community, real discipleship, the bearing of lasting fruit, carrying out Christ’s mission, and multiplication. One of the places I see this lack of commitment most obviously inflicting small groups is in the frequency of group meetings. This being said, I believe …

“If you make disciples, you will always get the church. But if you try to build the church, you will rarely get disciples.” -Mike Breen, “Why the Missional Movement Will Fail” Breen makes some great points in his post I reference above. Definitely worth a read. I can see church leaders all over the country discussing this in staff meetings. …

I received a question on another site to the first post in this Commitment and Small Groups series.   QUESTION: Just was reading about the group that got tattoos, wow! I wish that symbolism transferred to the heart. Discipleship is a tough tackle. … That particular group probably has the right people in if they were all willing to ink up …

Your personal commitment to Christ has a tremendous effect on everyone else in your group. When you are not growing in your own faith, your fellow group members lose something: your influence on them. But when you are committed to Christ, when you put yourself into a position where he can pour his love and grace and wisdom and strength …

I’m writing currently about commitment in groups and I believe this is vital. Groups that are committed to one another, despite the costs involved, are the ones in which people grow and develop into disciplemaking disciples. They are also the groups that grow in numbers. bear fruit, and reproduce themselves. Commitment always comes with a cost, however. Jesus required surrender …

If you could ask Jesus’ original disciples to describe discipleship, they would talk about someone who was totally committed to a particular rabbi. Usually, disciples literally lived with their rabbi and followed him everywhere he went. Communal living was absolutely necessary for living as a true disciple. Teaching happened more by example than by words as you lived with the …

1. Make your group all about you. When you first looked for a small group, you may have done so in the same way you shopped for a new car or a new refrigerator. You looked for features you wanted, features like the right people, the right location, the right day or time, and the right kind of study or …