Have you ever been to a farmers' market? It seems to be one of the new trends, at least in this part of the world. Instead of going to a monster chain supermarket, you get what you can from local farmers that pitch a tent in a parking lot somewhere. Our family tries to go at least once a month, as we enjoy the natural food and the great conversations that arise with the people there. No one's in a hurry, and everyone is willing to share stories and swap ideas.

In addition to getting great food, it's a place where one can feel comfortable just "being." It's organic both naturally and culturally; which is quite different than walking into a 10,000-square-foot building to get whatever you need, but also wanting to leave as quickly as possible.

As a small-group leader, you've probably heard one of the recent buzz words around churchianity: "Organic." Now I don't want to jump on the buzzword bandwagon or beat the dead horse that's pulling it, but let's generalize a bunch of small-group ministry experiences I've run across and create one brief story out of them. My guess is that you'll relate to at least some of the experiences here.

The Vision

You're a pastor named Kelly. You realize that small groups have a lot to offer your community and your church, and feel that this is the direction God is leading you. So after some prayer and discussion with fellow leaders you decide to kick off a small-group ministry. You recruit some people you think would be good small-group leaders. You know and trust these people so you can be a bit "hands off," although you still stipulate that all leaders will meet once a month for training and debriefing. This in effect, is your personal small group. You are now a small-group leader of small-group leaders.

You put together flyers, make announcements, and even put together a cool video clip of people being touched because of small groups. For the most part it works. You set the date to launch, and people sign up to join a group. There's a variety of entry points to choose from, from "Board Gamers" and "Vegetable Growers" to "The Book of Genesis" and "What Is Grace?" Although you were hoping for more people, you are pleased with the results, figuring you have a great chance to re-energize it all over again in a few months.

Sometime later...

Your leadership meetings go fairly well. Some of your leaders can't make it from time to time, but with some rare exceptions everyone seems okay and there is no crisis to deal with. The groups are fairly small and over the past few months some have joined up, while others have dropped out. But most groups are at least stable and moving forward.

So now it's time to re-energize again with a new wave of small groups.

The Wall

More flyers, more videos, more announcements, and you even include real stories from your own church to get people excited. But this time, the results are... different. In short: It bombed. You have only two people wanting to lead groups this time around: "Mountain Biking" and "Flag Football." There's another leader who wants to go through the book of Revelation, but you're not sure if they are cut out for that yet. Now you might encourage them to do it, just to add another group.

Many of your leaders who were gracious enough to last the first run have now bowed out due to schedules, kids, work, and overall busyness.

This can't be what God intended -- can it?

The Reality

This is not uncommon. I've seen some form of this in every church I've been involved in for the past 15 years. We see an idea that makes both human and godly sense, we try our hardest, and sometimes it works -- but sometimes it doesn't, and most of the time we find ourselves pulling out our hair just trying to keep it going.

So here's my humble advice: Instead of building a supermarket; a one-stop shop for every spiritual need (and then some), pitch your tent in a parking lot and share what you grew "back on the farm."

In an age of information and globalization, anybody can play board games online or read about how to grow vegetables. They can even decipher the book of Genesis or learn about grace. But what people desperately desire is a place to belong. Not a program to go to, but community to share life with.

And they are scared to death of it!

So if you want a small-group ministry that gives the greatest impact to your church and community, go "organic."

If you're not sure how to do this, think of your college days, or even high school. When I was in college, my greatest friendships were birthed from just hanging... being organic. Out of that came a Bible study of men who met once a week in the early evening for about an hour. Then came a prayer group where we met once or twice a week in the afternoon -- just to pray. Twelve years later, I still am in contact with these people although we're geographically far apart. They were the farmer's-market small groups that changed my life. We overcame our fears and suspicions and through time built relationships that will literally last forever.

The programs, the projects, and the promotions, I don't remember. But I remember the people.

Cultivating the Soil

The answer is so simple it's complicated: Just go meet people. I'm assuming you read this because you are, or want to be, involved in small group ministry leadership. I also suspect this means that you love people, and want to see them grow in faith and in love toward each other and God. That's scary. That's vulnerable. And it's what people want. You can't put a program on that or turn it into a supermarket.

So GO. Find out what your small-group leaders are interested in and do it with them. Spend time with them. Love them. Laugh with them. Be afraid with them. Press through the fear with them. Throw out the structure. Enjoy life with them. Then teach them to do the same with others that they can reach. Out of that will come the X's and O's of training, but it's so much easier to teach a person about zucchini when you are the farmer in the tent, rather than the employee stocking the zucchini in the produce section.

It's not a free-for-all. Structure will come, but don't let the project of small-group ministry replace the people in small-group ministry. With the right resources, building projects can happen quickly, but building people takes time -- a lot of time. But in doing so, you won't create a place that people simply go to because they feel obligated; they will go because they enjoy each other and they are not afraid of connecting. In fact, it becomes a refreshing organic nectarine in the middle of the information desert (a dessert in the desert!).

If you start with the project, it's nearly impossible to get people to stay unless you keep building bigger projects. If you start with the people, you won't get projects - you'll get movement, and ministry.

If you've ever tried organic fruit from a fruit stand, you know how much sweeter --and messier -- they can be! So yes, it will be messy, and scary, and appear a bit unorganized, but people are messy and scary and bit unorganized. So take a walk through your own small group's "farmers' market" sometime, and stop to enjoy the crop God's given you.

David Fisher and his wife Makeesha lead the missional community "Revolution" in Fort Collins, Colorado.