-
Answering Your Small Group Questions - Question #1 - What About Childcare?
Hi Everyone. Kerrick Thomas here. I’m the Exeuctive Pastor at The Journey Church and Co-Author of Launch and Activate with Nelson. Today, Thursday and Friday, I’m going to be answering some of the most common questions we get about small groups. Tomorrow (Wednesday), Nelson will be back with the weekly Slack = Lack post, which will be centered on the Small Groups System. Lots to learn about small
groups this week! Let’s dive in:Question #1: What do you do about childcare for small groups?
When it comes to small groups, you should stay out of the childcare business, no matter how much pressure you get to take on the responsibility. Believe me when I tell you that, if you don’t make this decision on the front end, childcare will become a growth barrier and logistical nightmare as your number of small groups grows.
The best solution is to empower each small group to be responsible for its own childcare needs. Be prepared to give your groups some creative and workable options:
1 – Have everyone in the group who has children pitch in financially to hire a baby sitter or two every week. When all of the parents give a little the cost is surprisingly minimal.
2 – Set up a rotation where a different couple in the group baby sits the children each week. Make sure no one has to baby sit more that once or twice during the semester.
3 – Challenge every couple with children to find a solution before coming to group (baby sitter, relative, etc.). After all, they have to find childcare when they go out on a date or have a work function. Most parents have several childcare options.
4 – Create a child-friendly group where parents are encouraged to bring their children. This works best with moms’ groups who meet during the day and plan their group around activities for the children.
These are just a few of the many options available to you. The big point is: Don’t get roped into providing the childcare solutions for your groups. Let the groups come up with creative solutions themselves, with some helpful input from you.
Take a few minutes to brainstorm other potential childcare options. What have you seen work? What would you like to try? Get some other people involved in this conversation and see where it leads.
Kerrick
P.S. If you want to dig deeper into what it takes to have successful groups, make sure you check out the new book Nelson and I just released, Activate: An Entirely New Approach To Small Groups.
-
Learn to Break Your Next Growth Barrier at My New Webinar
My new webinar on Breaking the Top 3 Growth Barriers Every Church Faces is less than 24 hours away…but there’s still room for you! All you need to participate in this webinar is internet access, a phone and a desire to grow your church! Click here to register now.
The webinar is tomorrow, July 17, from 1:00pm - 3:00pm Eastern Daylight Time.
During this two hour live webinar, which is based on my bestselling Growth Barriers resources, you’ll learn:
- Why God gives us time to break growth barriers
- The top two decisions you must make to break the next barrier
- The right questions to ask in breaking barriers
- What is a growth barrier
- What is keeping your church from growing the way God desires
- How to identify and break the three most common barriers blocking your growth
- The 70% rule of church growth
- How to mobilize your people for evangelism
- How to cooperate with God to see your church growth
- The principle of spiritual readiness
- Plus much moreI can promise you that this webinar will be worth your time and investment. I’ve taught these principles to hundreds of pastors in church of 65 and 6500 and they’ve all told me they walked away with something that would help them grow.
You can get a sneak peak at what I will cover by downloading the webinar notes by clicking here.
So, click here to sign up now. I can’t wait to be with you on via telephone and webinar on Thursday.
Nelson
P.S. In case you are wondering, ‘what in the world is a webinar,‘ I answered that question here when we did our first one. Click here to read it.
-
Do You Feel Stuck?
Have you ever felt like your attendance was just stuck? Like you haven’t grown in eons and don’t know how to? Believe me, I have! Most churches face growth barriers at five points – when their attendance hits 65, 125, 250, 500, and/or 1000. When you feel like you are on the edge of getting stuck, the first thing you need to do is make sure you are asking the right question about growth:
The Wrong Question: How do I get my church to grow? Your job is not to force growth. When you think growth is your responsibility, you will inevitably make bad decisions.
The Right Question: What is keeping my church from growing? Healthy organisms grow. If you feel stagnation setting in, understand that there are barriers inhibiting your growth and put a plan in place to remove them.
Once you have started asking the right question, remember:
God Wants Your Church To Grow - Your church is an essential part of God’s redemptive plan. Of course He wants it to grow. Just take a look at 2 Peter 3:9. Growth signals repentance and life change.
You Want Your Church To Grow - Sometimes thinking about the next phase of growth can scare us into inactivity. Don’t get discouraged or let doubt set in. God never gives you a vision without supplying what you need to fulfill it.
When you are asking the right question, and you know in your core that both you and God want your church to go to the next level, you will be on your way to meaningful, Kingdom-building growth.
- Nelson
P.S. - Do you know what the most common growth barriers are and how to break them? If not, check out these growth barrier downloads.
Recent: Growth Barriers
Church Leader Insights is a bi-weekly publication sent via email that focuses on effective leadership, church growth, church planting evangelism and much more.
My Books
Activate: A Totally New Approach to Small Groups
