Why aren’t more people in your groups? A gap analysis.

Most churches have some gaps when it comes to groups. Many church leaders are troubled by these gaps. If you’re not yet, allow me to help you get troubled!

An assimilation gap. There is a gap in almost every church. You might label it an assimilation gap. It is a gap that can be measured, or at least estimated with reasonable precision. The gap is the difference between the numerator and denominator of a ratio. The denominator is the number of people who attend your church’s primary worship experience. There is a lot of focus on that number and rightfully so, since it is generally the measure of the first step in the discipleship process of most churches.  The numerator is the number of people involved in the second step of the discipleship process. In most churches, that is participation in groups. Few churches are satisfied with the gap in their assimilation ratio.

A mathematical gap. In a lot of churches, the gap is greater than acknowledged. It’s not a deliberate deception. It’s just a math error, like using different measures for the two numbers in the ratio. The most common is to use a number like average attendance for the denominator (worship) and an enrollment number in the numerator (number of people signed up for groups). That will always give you a brighter picture. It’s just not reality.

A perception gap. In a webcast May 8, Simple Church author Eric Geiger reported on some LifeWay Research findings to be published soon about transformational small communities. One finding points to a gap between what pastors and members perceive about the importance of groups. Leaders say groups are important in their church. Members aren’t so sure. There is a gap.

A connection gap. In the same webcast, Pete Wilson challenged fellow pastors to get serious about connecting the unconnected—especially those who attend worship services but have yet to connect through a small group. Wilson provided a compelling description of what can happen in a small group—one that creates “Velcro moments.” He claimed that people who attend his church are 10 times more likely to stick if they connect to a small group.

A family gap.  Pastor and popular leadership blogger Ron Edmondson followed Wilson, and exhorted viewers to leverage groups to strengthen families. He provided some ideas for helping adults live out Deuteronomy 6 with their kids as an overflow of their own group Bible study experiences.

 A content gap. One of the findings from the aforementioned research is that a large majority of church leaders report that small group leaders themselves choose the content their groups will study. So in most churches, the content plan is that we don’t have one. During the webcast, pastor Ronnie Floyd exhorted viewers to disciple people with wisdom. A key to that, said Floyd, is to have an intentional, systematic, research-validated plan for Bible study. He said that having such a plan helps him sleep better at night!

 You can watch the 30-minute webcast here: http://biblestudiesforlife.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html. Maybe it can help you think about your gaps—and offer some tools for closing them!