People want community.
Look no further than the host of social networks we hear about seemingly on a daily basis and you’ll see that people want to be with other people. People are searching for community and what it brings in to their life. The truth is, it’s a godly thing to want community. God created Adam and said it wasn’t good for him to be alone. He knew that when Adam was alone, he was more vulnerable and less productive than he’d be if He put him in community.
This idea of community must be fostered and grown within the local church. We need to focus on Sunday mornings and worship services. We need to prepare great sermons and have great music. But…
If we sacrifice community on the altar of a good service, we’ll find an unstable church.
Community is the backbone of the church. Community is the thing that not only keeps people growing but also people coming to church. It’s the other side of the church “coin.”
Unfortunately, many churches do not do a good job of fostering groups so that community can happen. While most churches have a program to promote community, many make silly, easily correctable mistakes, that kill their community-building ability.
Here are 4 ways to kill community in your church…
Have “closed” groups
So often, groups that have been together for a while and have reached a certain number of people will consider themselves “closed.” What they mean is that they have no room for anyone else. The problem with this is that they have no room for anyone else (see what I mean?). What we have to do instead of closing groups is multiply them. Sometimes this looks like splitting the group in half, but more often, it means we rotate a potential leader out of this group and reproduce it as another “open” group. Yes, places fill to capacity, but we have to always make room.
Value deep study over deep community
Community groups should include 2 different things: community and Bible study. The problem is when one of these overwhelms the time. I’ve been around groups that were striving so much to “go deep” that they abandoned community. Yes, study scripture, discuss it openly but don’t miss the casual conversation that happens from just being together.
Force groups to break up each semester/year
I’ve been around churches that insisted community groups not repeat the next semester with the same members. In other words, they’d ask people to create community and then break them up and reorganize them every time community actually happened. Instead, let leaders recreate their group as long as they’re willing to add more people to it. Let community happen, don’t destroy it in the name of creating more groups. Can a group be closed? No. Should it be together? Yes.
Don’t support them from the stage
It’s understood in most church staffs that what is said from the stage is what gets the most attention from the congregation. This is understood seemingly universally for a reason: it’s true. If we never talk about community or community groups when we have everyone together on Sunday morning, we’ll never get the buy-in from the people that these groups need. Discuss it. Cast vision for it.
Community matters. We, as church leaders, have to be intentional about fostering community and helping it grow. Make it a central part of your church’s vision and plan for reaching your community.
Jonathan Pearson is the Connections Pastor at SpringWell Church in Taylors, S.C. Jonathan is the co-host of the Next Up Podcast and author of Next Up: 8 Shifts Great Young Leaders Make (June 2014) and the upcoming book Be the Switch. He is married to Melissa and has a son named Riley. They live in Greenville, S.C. Find Jonathan online at JonathanPearson.net.
