There are a myriad reasons why a system of small groups may not be working in your church.
I talk to leaders all of the time who are struggling because their church just will not buy into the concept of community outside of Sunday morning. Most of the time as I start drilling down with a few questions, some of the same reasons start popping up.
Here are a few those reasons why small groups may not be working in your church:
1. The senior pastor does not believe in small groups.
This will kill a small groups system before it can even start. Pastors know that their church should offer intentional paths to discipleship, but they struggle with knowing how to implement a healthy groups system. The lead pastor has to be the head cheerleader for developing disciples within the framework of community.
2. Small groups are "just another program."
When competing for resources, groups are going to lose every time. If a church is offering 100 different programs during the week and groups are just one of them, people will choose the easiest, quickest item on the menu. Investing time into other people's lives is not quick and easy. Intentional discipleship requires focus.
3. Small groups aren’t the entry point to the church.
How hard is it to get in a group? How many levels down on the website are they? If groups are not offered as an entry point to the church, they will have less of an impact to the community. If your small groups system is going to reach beyond the core to the crowd, there has to be easy on-ramps for everyone.
4. No one takes the lead.
Building and maintaining a healthy small group system is not easy and in many cases, small groups are just a small subset of one church staff member’s job. Someone who is passionate about seeing people grow spiritually should be thinking about this every day.
5. There is no vision.
Small group leaders need to know that what they are doing every week is making an eternal difference. Cleaning your house for group every week gets old. Hearing about other people's issues can drag you down.
We all need to be consistently reminded of the reason we do this is because we are called to carry out the Gospel by discipling other believers.