Many churches that aren't experiencing growth are still getting a decent flow of new people in the front door. The problem is that those people are continuing to flow out the back door.

Church-growth consultant Thom Rainer says there are four key factors to assimilating those people before they find their way out the back door -- having high expectations for people, getting them involved in small groups, getting them involved in ministry, and building relational connections. In his words, "if a church improves in all four of these areas, assimilation will likely improve, and often dramatically improve."

What strikes me about Rainer's words is that all four of the areas he mentions are addressed naturally in a church with a healthy lay equipping ministry! Why not start thinking of your ministry teams as small groups, then, and grow them in both directions?

People today want their lives to be significant. A good equipping church can provide lots of ways for newcomers to get involved in activities that are of real value without requiring spiritual depth. For example, Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana, has their classrooms in a basement level. When parents arrive in the main lobby, they take their kids to different slides based on the age group. The kids go down different slides directly to their classrooms! At the bottom of each slide they have people stationed to help kids to their feet and welcome them. They refer to this as the ministry of kid catchers!

Taken by itself, this is a fun way to help with Rainer's third point -- getting people involved in ministry -- without requiring that they already have spiritual depth. But there's more to it. These people don't just show up, do their jobs, and go. They meet together as a team and get involved in each other's lives.

Equipping churches do as much ministry as possible in teams. This allows more people to be involved, and lets each of them focus more on their areas of giftedness rather than having to try to cover too much -- including areas they’re not particularly good at. So where is it written that a ministry team can't be a small group?

The characteristics that make small groups so helpful -- things like praying together, sharing meals, growing closer through personal sharing, and so on -- are exactly the things that help ministry teams grow stronger! Encourage your ministry leaders to see team meetings as more than a time to discuss ministry tasks. They should also be a time when people grow closer to each other personally and grow closer to God spiritually.

You already know that small groups are a key to helping people feel part of your church family. If you begin setting up entry-level ministry teams to function as small groups, you’ll be able to reach many more people who don't see what they're looking for in traditional small groups.

Brian Proffit brings experience as senior pastor, discipleship pastor, and small group director to his role as senior editor of Group’s Church Volunteer Central.