26041 Cape Drive, Suite 233, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 (714) 582-6744

Reverend Dave Gilbert, Pastor to Growth Groups/Singles

The Value of Small Groups in Our Church: "Coast Hills grew from a small group of only four people three-and-a-half years ago. At present we have about nine hundred worshipping with us. We've had small groups from the beginning, although our specific group structure is about a year-and-a-half old.

"Our small groups are critical. We're trying to penetrate our culture here in Southern California, so we attract a lot of different people to our main worship service. People are looking for a place to be committed to—a place committed to them. We think that happens in our small groups. One of the first things we do with visitors is explain the ministry and ask whether they'd be interested in a small group. If they say yes we put them together with other couples, bring in a leader, and eventually start a new group.

"The small groups are where people begin to feel incorporated into the church—it's hard for them to get to know anybody when they meet in a large sanctuary for only one hour a week."

A Snapshot View:

•Weekly worship attendance: Roughly 900

•Number of small groups: 21 and growing

•Name for small groups: Growth Groups

•Average number of people per group: "The number varies. An average-sized group will have roughly 10-14 people, although the largest was 32. Most small group research says not to allow more than 12, so at first we started to worry when a group would grow larger than 12. But we found that groups smaller than 6 to 8 couples didn't go as well. We've learned that discussions stay more lively in a larger group setting."

•Frequency of meetings: Once a week from September through May, and occasional summer get-togethers.

•Content of meetings: "Every week our senior pastor puts together questions based on his sermon. We feel like his sermon is one-way communication; the Growth Groups can dig deeper into the same subject. This works well, and also tends to give new leaders more confidence as facilitators."

•Leadership training: "We recruit new leaders from within existing groups.

This provides us with leaders who have had a good group experience, which is critical. In fact, we insist that a leader has to have been part of a Growth Group for at least one nine-month session. Toward the end of the session, the current leaders identify likely people and let me know who they are. Then we try to get together with each individual and prayerfully make a decision.

"We put together a training manual, which we take new leaders through for four hours one Saturday morning Then we hold three one-hour follow-up sessions during the second service on Sunday mornings. These sessions cover group dynamics, how to handle conflict and chaos, and how to pastor the group. We look at our leaders as lay pastors, and show them how to care for their people and create community in the group."

Mistakes We've Made: "At first, we held the groups to three months. This was too short a time, because groups would be breaking up just as the members started to get to know each other. On the other hand, we found that a year was too long—people start to lose momentum and commitment drops off, especially during the summer. We finally decided group sessions should run for an academic year with a summer break, although we do have short-term summer groups.

"We also learned not to grab up just anyone to lead a group. When we started to expand the number of Growth Groups, we tended to stick people into fill the gaps. We ended up hurting both the people and the teacher, and most of these groups didn't make it.

"Finally, we learned the hard way that when a group is going well the entrance of new people can destroy that closeness. For this reason some groups are closed. At the first meeting the group decides upon a written covenant—when and where to meet, how to handle refreshments and babysitting, meeting cutoff time (an inviolable rule), and other details.

After the third week the group closes off to new members. Again, some groups prefer to remain open, and more often than not new groups multiply from these. So both styles work well for us."