Many congregations that want to grow get stuck small because they don’t have the relational structures in place to allow for growth.
That’s why my March Leading Congregations Monthly live training is focused on small group growth strategies. If you want to grow your congregation, I hope you’ll join us.
Family-sized congregations (up to around 50 people) are often kept small by their close relationships, with members not wanting to disrupt intimacy. They like knowing everyone, they like being a family.
Pastoral-sized congregations (up to around 150 people) tend to stay small because the minister serves as the hub of everything. If you draw a map of relationships in one of these congregations, it looks like a hairball. I have colleagues who call this the “hairball ministry” model.
You can want to grow, but unless you change the structure, after a certain point, there just isn’t the capacity to grow. That’s where growth oriented small group ministry comes in.
Small group ministry, when designed and implemented correctly, offers the vision, leadership, and relational capacity congregations need to grow.
That’s what we’re discussing in next week’s Leading Congregations Monthly live training: Small Group Growth Strategies. Learn More.
Some of you might not know that small groups are how I got into working with our congregations nationally.
After successfully using small group ministry with youth, young adults in my home congregation, I launched the UU Small Group Ministry Network in 2001 and in 2004 relaunched it with colleagues as a nonprofit and affiliate organization of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
That effort helped establish the popular approach to small group ministry used in Unitarian Universalist congregations.
While small group ministry is common now, what isn’t as widely known is what you need to do to grow small groups and use small groups as engines for congregational growth.
After helping to popularize small group ministry, I stepped away for a time to help pioneer our use of social media in our congregations. Both are ways to connect people with our congregations, which is my passion.
I have led weekend retreats in which I’ve shared the deeper growth strategies, but I haven’t offered this content through online training.
But that’s changed thanks to Leading Congregations Monthly which is helping more leaders access my training.
This month I’m going to share core strategies you can use to grow your group leaders, grow your groups, and grow your congregation.
This is a 90-minute live training happening Wednesday, March 13th at 7pm EST.
All of our Leading Congregations Monthly trainings are RECORDED with video recordings with CLOSED CAPTIONING and HANDOUTS available in the program MEMBER AREA.
If you’re committed to growing your congregation and don’t have a thriving small group system actively supporting the health and growth of your ministry, this is an important training for you.
Click here to get all the details about Leading Congregations Monthly including the benefits, how you can include teams, and bonuses if you join. Bonuses will be available in your library immediately after you join Leading Congregations Monthly.
This month’s bonuses are:
• Relational Volunteer Recruitment with Peter Bowden (mini-course)
• Social Media and Membership Growth with Peter Bowden (full course)
Thank you for your leadership and let me know if you have questions.
In cooperation,
Peter
UU PLANET 