"Small Groups Made Easy" (Ryan Lokkesmoe)

TITLE: Small Groups Made Easy: Practical and Biblical Starting Points to Lead Your Gathering
AUTHOR: Ryan Lokkesmoe
PUBLISHER: Bloomington, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2019, (160 pages).

As the saying goes, "No man is an island." We all need community. Whether it is a family related community, or having a group with people of common interest, it is the very nature of human beings to connect and be connected to one another. Sometimes, when the desire is there but the know-how is not, it can be crippling. This book is written to address that very need. How do we start a small group? What are the logistics and practical challenges? How do we go about addressing the personal and spiritual aspects? Four chapters of this book summarize the principles behind the need for small groups. Here, author Lokkesmoe talks about the need for leadership to be like Jesus. It is less about competence or knowledge; more about serving and relying on God. This is indeed a good reminder for us as leading small groups is a spiritual calling. He has good pointers for logistical matters as well, helping us think through factors for attendance; appropriate communications; raising up co-leaders; timing and place; and other practical matters to help make small group meetings a fruitful one. He then guides us through some sticky matters such as managing conflicts; gossip; and the four types of people (needy; monopolizers; silent; and the disinterested) that present unique challenges to a successful small group.


The rest of the book contain twelve starter Bible studies to give the starting torque for pioneering small groups. The questions alone ought to spike various levels of interest:

• What is God like?
• What is Grace?
• How does God View Me?
• What does it mean to have faith in God?
• How do I grow spiritually?
• What is sin and how does it affect my life?
• How should I pray?
• Where is God when I suffer?
• How can I repair broken relationships?
• How should I view my money and possessions?
• What should I think about people who don't share my beliefs?
• What if I have doubts about God or something the Bible says?

These questions are some of the very fundamental questions about the Christian faith. Not limited to mature believers, it is meant for both young Christians as well as non-Christians. 

My Thoughts
Nowadays we call it community groups. During Wesley's time, it was called societies. Methodists like to call it small groups. Ever since the first century, small groups have been a key mark of the Church. It remains so throughout the ages. Small groups are not just a significant part of any Church, they are critical to the life and vitality of the faith. Many people have been blessed through the presence of small groups. When people come together, they combine their resources and are able to use their gifts for the edification of the body. For both large and small churches, small groups do find their niche one way or another. For large churches, it is essential to make Church going more personal. In smaller churches, the whole church may look like a small group already, but the principle remains the same: Small groups form the main life of any Christian community. For that reason, I would highly recommend this book to be a part of the trainer's resource library. Training new leaders will always be needed.

The strength of this book lies in its ready-to-use pointers to kick-start any small group. Lokkesmoe does a good job in showing us the initial steps. He helps to put our fears and replaces them with how-to instructions that are not difficult to implement. That is his purpose in the first place. Having said that, the bigger problem is not methodology. Neither is it knowledge. It is the desire of the heart to overcome any fears. If one does not have the conviction, no amount of coaxing, training, or equipping is going to work. If one has the conviction and is convinced about personally getting involved in starting a small group, he or she will find ways to go about doing that. This book is meant for this type of people.

Ryan Lokkesmoe is the Lead Pastor of Real Hope Community Church in Houston. He has a Masters degree in New Testament from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a doctorate in New Testament from the University of Denver.

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of Graf-Martin Communications and Bethany House Publishers via NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.