This is Kerrick Thomas – I’m the Executive Pastor at The Journey Church and the co-author of “Activate” with Nelson. Just a while back, Nelson asked me to answer the following question and then to share my answer with you:

Q: Our leadership team has asked me to have a “pastor’s small group” with new people.

We are seeing new people at church every week now and we’re really trying to do a better job of connecting them.

Any suggestions on what to do or how many to have? We think that after this, I may be able to direct them into other small groups.

A: Thanks for your question. Let me first say this: having new people attending your church is a good “problem” to have.

As far as having a “Pastor’s Small Group” for new people, of course you can do that – and you might have some success with early sign-ups. But that has not been our strategy or philosophy at The Journey.

Our goal is to get new people into a small group where they can develop relationships within the church as quickly as possible.

We really believe that a regular small group with regular people from your church has the potential to connect a new person to your church just as effectively if not more effectively than a group led by the lead pastor.

We have faith that our Sunday service is the front door of the church and that our small groups close the back door.

If there is a reason why a regular small group wouldn’t be effective in connecting a new person to the church, introducing them to the church culture and assimilating them, that might be an indication that something is not quite right in your current small groups system.

The only advantage I can think of to the lead pastor leading such a group is that it might draw a crowd of people to it. But that purpose is served just as effectively by having a monthly or every two month Newcomers Reception for those new to the church hosted by the lead pastor after a Sunday service. Then you can encourage the newcomers at that event to sign up for a small group.

Another question to consider is this – is that where your energies are best served? As lead pastor are there other groups that you could lead that no one else could lead? Is this really where you want to spend your energies every semester? And is it really a scalable model as your church grows if it’s built on you leading it?

Yes – you could lead the small group for newcomers – and it might work. But we believe that it’s better to get newcomers integrated into our regular small groups immediately with our members and regular attenders so that they can naturally get involved in the life of the church.

Those are just my initial thoughts – I hope they are helpful!

God bless…

Kerrick

P.S. For an all-inclusive look at how to implement an effective Small Groups System at your church, check out The Small Groups Intensive.