TQM Church: Small Groups

If you had the Spirit of Gawd, you wouldn't be afraid of that snake!

So, you're sitting in a small group with a bunch of normal people, having a normal discussion... when all of the sudden you feel something slither against your leg. Then someone to your left starts praying out loud in gibberish while the one across from you just starts moaning and crying. [1]

Wanna get away? [2]

This has got to be the worst fear of any evangelical church leader. And, believe it or not, stuff like this does happen. And experiences like this can be extremely damaging if it happens to you. How do you prevent something like this from happening?

Most churches implement their quality control by micro-managing the small groups (for example, requiring everyone to use the same curriculum or the sermon notes) and by being picky and choosy about who can be a small group leader. In churches where I've seen this, you notice that the people who have been in the church for years, "aren't ready" to lead groups and ministries. But... new people who just joined the church are "an answer to prayer." That is, until a couple of years rolls by and we see their mistakes and imperfections. Their names quietly go to the 'D' list ('D' for damaged goods).

Why does this happen? New people are perfect. They've never made a mistake.

Micro-management and high standards will prevent embarrassing situations like snake handling and weird doctrines and such. However, they promote another atmosphere where information is spoon-fed to the masses. That's fine on Sunday morning, but small groups are where you can interact — even argue. But a spoon-fed curriculum and yes-man leader will continue the trend of lulling people to sleep. Nice. Safe. Nothing to see here.

Also, the number of groups is reduced because you can't find enough qualified leaders. As people make more and more mistakes (which people do), the standards get higher and the group count gets smaller.

So, how to you keep stuff like this from happening?

Well, for starters: give up. Let Jesus be responsible for his own quality control. It's his church, right? He's responsible for our discipleship and for the growth of the church.

And then... because we do have some responsibility in this area: be in relationship with your leaders. (What a concept!) In fact... erm... isn't this how Jesus does it? With the disciples... and with us. Try not to make it like a boss-employee relationship... but more like friends or a partnership.

Kudos to my home church which has done this for years. Yes, there are down-sides to having a networking model of organization/management... but the up-side is small groups that change lives — imperfect people seeking God together... creating an atmosphere of God's power. The down-side of a network model is that sometime, someone will drop the ball... and since the organization is built around relationships someone else gets hurt. Also, sometimes the snake-handling might happen. It won't be the end of the world.

[1] I stole this idea from Garrison Keillor (A Prairie Home Companion).

[2] Southwest Airlines commercial tag-line.