A few months ago I was discouraged and struggling as a small group leader. I love leading groups and have led many over the last 36 years. But the one that my wife and I launched last fall has been our most challenging in all those years. Not too long ago the group seemed dead in the […]
Author Archive | Jim Egli
The 4 Levels of Relationship in Jesus’ Ministry & Yours
Jesus’ ministered to people at four relational levels. Understanding these levels is pivotal to having the same impact that he had. The four levels can be illustrated by concentric circles. The Four Levels of Relationship In the widest circle, Jesus’ ministered to the crowds—preaching, teaching, healing, casting out demons, contending with opponents, etc. Within that […]
4 Keys to Great Communication in a Multisite Church
Communication is challenging in any church or organization. It’s especially challenging in the matrixed organizational system of a multisite church, which has lines of communication and accountability running vertically from top to bottom—from senior leadership down to the campuses—and horizontally across ministries. Things are further complicated by the geographic distance separating campuses and team members. […]
You Need Wisdom, Not Strength
What you most often need is wisdom not strength. Last Thursday when I started my five-mile bike to work it was 2° Fahrenheit (-17° Celsius). This is a new record for me. But it wasn’t hard to do. I did not get cold. It made me think that so often in life what we need […]
How Long Should Your Small Group Meeting Be? (I think you will be surprised by the research results on this one!)
By Jim Egli on December 7, 2013 in Care, Children in Groups, Eating Together, Small Group Meetings, Small Groups
Over the years I’ve surveyed over 4000 small group leaders to uncover the key elements that produce vital, growing groups. I’ve consistently asked the leaders how long their meetings are. But I’ve been too busy looking at other things and actually never analyzed how the length of small group meetings impacts their growth. I finally […]
Quit Being a Cry-Baby Small Group Pastor and Focus on the 2 Key Things that Produce Results
I’ve talked with small group pastors across the country and one thing many of them say is: “Our church’s small group ministry is not doing well and it’s the senior pastor’s fault. If they would emphasize groups more in their messages, in our membership classes, and in our church communication, our groups would really take […]
The 4 Keys to Growing Your (American) Small Group
What makes an American small group grow? Some of you are familiar with the groundbreaking research that Dwight Marable and I did on small group growth that was published in our 2011 book Small Groups, Big Impact. (If you don’t have time to read that short book, you can find a free summary of our […]
Your Three Multisite Video Options: One-Week, One-Day, One-Minute Delay
If you are using video to deliver messages in your multisite strategy as our church does, you have three options. We’ve used all three over the last four and a half years of our multisite journey. Let me tell you our story and the advantages and disadvantages of each of these three methods. Of course […]
4 Surprising Discoveries about Small Group Growth
Realizing that small groups make the most difference in a church’s quantitative and qualitative growth (Schwarz, Natural Church Development, p. 32), Dwight Marable and I have done extensive research to discover the key ingredients for small group health and growth. Statistical analysis of over 3000 small group leaders in more than 200 churches revealed these […]
Four Reasons Why Seminaries are Ineffective (And What We Can Do About It)
Today’s seminaries are largely ineffective. We know this objectively and subjectively, but it’s hard to put our fingers on why they are ineffective. What do I mean when I say that we know this objectively and subjectively? Objectively, we can see that there is a significant negative correlation between seminary education and both church health […]