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Q & A

Q & A Discussion: Eric Metcalf

What’s the best way to multiply the number of small groups in my church?

Eric Metcalf responds in our Q & A discussion.

Topics:	Birthing groups, Division of groups, Growing, Infrastructure, Multiplication, New groups, Starting groups
Filters:	Apprentice, Coach, Director, Train
Purpose:	Discipleship
References:	Acts 16:5
Date Added:	November 03, 2008

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There are lots of ways to multiply small groups. At Community Christian Church, we do it through apprenticeship with an existing leader, coach, or staff person. We also use turbo groups and church campaigns. After someone goes through one of those experiences, we lead them towards multiplication.

Let's take each scenario listed above:

An existing leader. We multiply groups based upon the readiness of the potential group leader, as opposed to the readiness of the group. Why? Because a small group is rarely ready to divide itself for multiplication.
A coach. An apprentice leader meets with a coach one-on-one to prepare him or her for leadership, and then to launch a new small group.
A staff person. An apprentice leader would meet with a staff person one-on-one to prepare him or her for leadership.
A turbo group. This is a six-week experience we provide for small-group apprentices that equips them to launch new small groups. Not everyone will step into leadership after this experience, but it's a great way to discern who is ready. Small-group coaches, staff, or veteran leaders can lead these turbo groups.
A church campaign. We utilize our Big Idea curriculum and a DVD message to launch these groups. We ask people to simply host a meeting at their home, play the DVD, and discuss the curriculum. We also recruit coaches who will meet hosts and see if the group would like to continue after the allotted time (usually 6 weeks). If they'd like to continue, the coach identifies an apprentice from each group and then starts a turbo group to develop them.

All of these methods are quite effective in multiplying small groups. Some will give you massive results; others will help you build towards results. We prefer to do all give methods throughout the year, because we believe all are effective. Basically, all of our group's have apprentices, and it's through our apprenticeship process that we prepare our leaders for 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation reproduction.