Thursday, May 21, 2009

Book Recommendation: Simple Small Groups


Bill Search writes a simple (not simplistic) book on the fundamental principles that cut across models, methods, and demographics to make small groups successful.

Title: Simple Small Groups: A User-Friendly Guide for Small Group Leaders
Author: Bill Search, Team Leader for Community Groups at Southeast Christian Church
Reader Target: Small Group Leaders, Point Leaders searching for simple but solid training materials
Page Count: 169
Exploring Further: Check out Bill's Simple Small Groups Blog

Heather's Reflections
This book is not about a small group model or philosophy; it's about the fundamental practices and principles that make any small group successful. It's painfully practical (that's positive in my book) and stems from the experience of a practitioner in the trenches. It's raw, honest, and direct. Bill does not try to sell us a fail-safe system with over-promised and under-delivered results. Instead, he encourages us to foster 3 patterns- Connecting (the relational pattern), Changing (the growth pattern), and Cultivating (the missional pattern). Each pattern is granted two chapters- an introduction and exploration of the pattern and a practical guide on implementing it. One of my favorite parts of the book is the synthesis- Harmony. Not balance amongst the three. But harmony.

The next time I look for a book to give all of my leaders, this will probably be it. And I'm stealing some of Bill's stuff for my next Leadership Summit.

4 Comments:

At 9:07 AM, Blogger Brian said...

This is a great book. I think its biggest strength is it's simplicity. The concepts are so simple and memorable. I can see this becoming an easy-to-grasp way for my small group leaders to understand what a healthy small group looks like.

 
At 11:58 PM, Anonymous John Dobbs said...

Reading your post more than a year later... do you still regard this as one of the best books to share with small group leaders?

 
At 8:22 AM, Blogger Heather Z said...

Yep! I gave it to all of our small group leaders this year.

 
At 11:16 PM, Anonymous John Dobbs said...

Thanks for the input! I may do the same.

 

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