Small Groups vs. Sunday School - The Main Event

Hey All,

Just heard about this debate between Rick Howerton, Small Groups Expert & David Francis, National Sunday School Director.  You can find it here:  http://www.lifeway.com/sundayschoolvssmallgroups/?CID=SSVSSG-LWCMain-UpcomingEvent-20090502 .

Rick recently sent me an email asking for my thoughts on the subject.  Here is the email interview:

HI Rick,

Thanks for contacting me.

I'll be happy to give you my answers to your questions, but I do need to say that some of these decisions took place before I got here three years ago, so I'll give you my best guess for those that preceded me, as well as our current thinking.  Since I've served in several churches (Wheaton EFC, church plant, old traditional church, etc.), some of these comments are based on combined experiences...

1) What brought you to the point of deciding to switch from Sunday School to Small Groups? 

Crossroads is 13 years old and from day one made the decision to only do small groups.  Part of that was necessity, because for the first 8 years they had no building.  After it was built they decided to continue their small groups focus by hiring a small groups director.

2) Has your church grown since you made the change? Do you think switching from Sunday School to Small Groups was key in the growth of your church? If so, why? 

Since we didn't switch it's a little tough to answer this, but I will say that participation in a small group is definitely a major factor in our retention rate.  Those who join a group (small group, Ministry Team, men's/women's group) stick around.  Most of those who do not, don't stay.  

My guess is that participation in a sunday school, or ABF, would also help retention, but not as much.  And the reason for this is two-fold, which are the two problems I have with SS/ABF's.  First, they are often large enough that if someone is missing they are not noticed, or it is not perceived as a big deal.  Whereas if someone misses a small group, the question is always asked, 'Where are they?' and 'Why are they missing?'  

Second problem with SS/ABFs is that the DNA or prime purpose of those groups is in most cases just content dumping; learn more.  Unless you have a very focused outreach/group/assimilation orientation which is constantly taught to all SS/ABF leaders, they are just there to teach, so if someone is missing, it doesn't interfere the with true purpose of the group.  Whereas in a small group a key purpose is fellowship, so if someone is missing, it impinges upon your very reason for being.

So that's my case for why participation in small groups is going to have a better impact on growth than participation in a SS/ABF.

3) How has the environment at your church changed since you have become a Small Group church? 

We have always been a small group church, but what I think is interesting and a little scary is the constant gravitational pull to become a SS/ABF church.  We constantly have people who want to teach in a SS/ABF context.  And their motivation for this is not so that we can grow the church; it is so that they can teach something.   We will have the occasional Sunday morning or Saturday night class, but we make sure that they are always short-lived, and focused on a key subject.  We don't want people to replace their small group with a  class.

4) What would you tell other churches who were considering switching from Sunday School to Small Groups? 

It is a major cultural shift, not to be under-estimated if you make such a change.  Besides the good reasons people have for wanting to be in a medium to large SS/ABF, you must also be aware of darker motives such as people who would rather sit semi-autonomously in a SS/ABF and absorb, than do the hard work of being in a small group which will hold them accountable for attendance and personal growth.  

God's best to you Rick.  Hope you win the big boxing match!

FYI, I'm currently working on a piece of software to help churches track people in both small groups and discipleship classes.  It's called "Shepherd Care" and I hope to release it soon.

God bless,

b