sticky church group blogging project
Smallgroups.com is the hub for the “Sticky Church” blog tour! They havet 18 blogs lined up to tackled the different chapters of Larry Osborne’s book Sticky Church, with each blog author tackling a different chapter. Leave a comment below on how you “slam the back door shut” and you might win a copy of Sticky Church. I’ll pick 5 random commentors this week and send them a copy of the book – so leave your email address or twitter handle as well so i can contact you.
Here is the schedule and the bloggers participating in the project:
August 17
Chapter 1: Sticky Church
Post written by Alan Danielson on AlanDanielson.TV.
Chapter 2: Who Are These Guys?
Post written by Tim Avery on Off the Agenda.
Chapter 3: How I Learned about the Importance and Power of Stickiness
Post written by Todd Rhoades on Monday Morning Insight.
Chapter 4: Why Stickier Churches Are Healthier Churches
Post written by Jesse Phillips on the Catablog.
August 18
Chapter 5: Velcroed for Growth
Post written by Dave Treat on Thinking Small.
Chapter 6: How Small Groups Change Everything
Post written by Reid Smith on 2orMore.
Chapter 7: Still More Ways That Small Groups Change Everything
Post written by Rick Howerton on The Gypsy Road.
Chapter 8: How Sermon-Based Small Groups Made Me a Better Preacher
Post written by Brian Lowery on The Preaching Today Blog.
August 19
Chapter 9: How Sermon-Based Small Groups Made Us a Better Church
Post written by Greg Bowman on Group Life.
Chapter 10: Why Some Groups Jell and Some Don’t
Post written by Mark Howell on Mark Howell Live.
Chapter 11: What Happens When a Sermon-Based Small Group Meets
Post written by Sam O’Neal on Small Group Dynamics.
Chapter 12: Overcoming the Time Crunch
Post written by Heather Zempel on Wineskins for Discipleship.
Chapter 13: Determining Your Primary Purpose
Post written by Kem Meyer on Less Clutter, Less Noise.
August 20
Chapter 14: Entry Points and Escape Routes
Post written by Chad Estes on the Captain’s Blog.
Chapter 16: Finding and Developing Leaders
Post written by Eric Nygren on Returned Sheep.
August 21
Chapter 15: Why Dividing Groups Is a Dumb Idea
Post written by Pat J. Sikora on Why Didn’t You Warn Me?
Chapter 17: Training Leaders
Post written by Caryn Rivadeneira on Gifted for Leadership.
Chapter 19: Before You Start: Five Key Questions
Post written by Zach Nielsen on Take Your Vitamin Z.
One key in closing the back door, in addition to serving people well and caring for them, is to let them know they’re valued and needed as well. For example, in small groups, does the leader do everything, or does he share the blessing of leading with others – different people can host, facilitate the discussion, make dessert, take prayer requests, call/email folks to see how things are going, etc. Give people a fun, relational, easy on-ramp way to plug in as soon as possible.
Love this idea. We’re kicking off our small groups for the fall soon, getting people into relationships makes them much less likely to split, when they have made those connections. Also, we love to get them plugged in to the work. The response you then get is that if I am responsible for something, I feel that responsibility, and want to do my best to uphold my duties, and so, I keep coming back. @gary_alexander