| |||||||||||||||
![]() Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in Building a Church of Small Groups: A Place Where Nobody Stands Alone for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Product details
|
Through small groups. Like nothing else, they provide the kind of life-giving community that builds and empowers the body of Christ and impacts the world. At Willow Creek Community Church, small groups are so important that they define the core organizational strategy. Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson write, "We have gone from a church with small groups . . . to being a church of small groups."
Donahue and Robinson share revealing glimpses of Willow Creeks journey to becoming a church where over 18,000 people connect in 2,700 small groups. And they tell how your church--whatever its size and circumstances--can become a place where men and women, adults and children, can experience powerful, transforming community.
Building a Church of Small Groups unpacks the vision, values, and strategies required to integrate small groups into your entire ministry. Part one presents the theological, sociological, and organizational underpinnings of small groups. Youll discover why small groups, as reflections of Gods communal nature, are so vital to church health.
Part two moves you from vision to practice. Here is how to develop thriving small groups based on authentic relationships, where truth and life intersect, conflict leads to growth, and skilled leaders help group members mature into fully devoted followers of Christ.
Part three shows you how to identify, recruit, and train group leaders and provide them with long-term coaching and support. Finally, in part four, youll learn how to deal with the critical process of change as your church develops its small group ministry.
Written by two of todays top authorities on small group ministry, Building a Church of Small Groups is a proven blueprint for health and spiritual vitality in your church. Here is thorough, seasoned guidance for helping people grow together in faith, heart, and lives through closely knit small group communities. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
However, for those churches that are contemplating beginning small groups in their churches, I can't think of a better resource. The authors cover all the bases. The section titles of the book are:
Part 1 - Making the Case for Community
Part 2 - Pursuing Community in Small Groups
Part 3 - Developing Leaders of Small Groups
Part 4 - Leading a Church of Small Groups
These sections provide the rationale for small groups and the basic mechanics of launching and maintaining small groups. I particularly like the practical emphasis of the book. It gives you help on building relationships, resolving conflict, and shepherding small groups. Among other things, it encourages you to have "open" groups with an "empty chair" to emphasize the outreach aspect of small group life.
It covers all aspects of leadership training - although it doesn't give you an exact curriculum it gives you a process for leadership training. The authors focus more on apprenticeship and what one could call "on the job training" for leadership development than classroom training.
The section on "Leading a Church of Small Groups" is especially helpful. You don't just decide one day to "do small groups." Launching takes time and is best done in steps, phasing in over time.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a good, thorough overview of what small groups can be and do in a church.
Whether or not the reader is in agreement with the Willow Creek philosophy of ministry or not this book has great value. The principles are expressed in a manner that is not context specific. In other words I can use the principles of community-building, leadership training, etc. in a variety of contexts and apply them successfully.
The authors acknowledge throughout the pages of the book that "simply copying a model is ill-fated (191)." This honest approach to small groups is what seems to be lacking in a number of similar resources. Donahue and Robinson face the readers with real-life examples displaying the diversity of methods used by churches across the nation to develop leadership and conduct small groups in accordance with biblical community.
"Building a Church of Small Groups," is an excellent resource for any pastor or lay-leader interested in understanding small group dynamics from a balanced philosophical and practical perspective.
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
|