As a small group leader and coach/ministry leader for small groups, I see so many distractions to successful community within the lives of God’s people.  Here are a few:

1. Sketchy Participation
 We have a really good number of people participating in groups, BUT – the impact of the participation is diminished by sporadic attendance.  Life gets busy, yes.  Kids have activities.  Work gets stressful.  Skipping group doesn’t help the situation, it only disconnects us from the community that wants to be there to prop us up when there is no strength to prop up ourselves.  When we skip group opportunities we play right into Satan’s hands and let ourselves get isolated from God’s community.  When that happens we are at risk to fall into old sin or find new vices.

2. Leaky Vision
I know I talk about leaky vision a lot, but there is something to be said for plumbers.  Leaders are the spiritual plumbers.  We evaluate where the vision in leaking and we fix the leaks and turn the water back on.  Sometimes it is as simple as the realization that for whatever reason the water has been off this whole time and that is OUR FAULT.  Other times, we realize only after the floor is rotten beneath our feet that we have had a slow leak this whole time.  Sometimes groups get to doing what they do without a realization as to why they are doing it.  OR – they become to self consumed and forget that groups are all about living beyond ourselves.  Stop and take a spiritual plumbing inspection of your group pipes and check for leaks and do the work necessary to fix the problem, no Band-Aids here folks.  Sometimes you can tighten the joint, sometimes you have to cut the pipe and literally fuse a new, functioning one in its place.

3. Lid-On Leadership
As leaders, whether we are ministry leaders or lay leaders, we sometimes limit our potential to lead.  I believe in small group leadership, this can manifest itself in groups that become internally focused.  When a leader and a group forget about the spiritual family tree they have a chance to build for God with their group, they have put the lid on their ability to be effective.  I believe there is a direct correlation between this type of action and the struggle that the group becomes.  Everything suffers when we refuse to follow the call of God.  This isn’t just true in our personal lives, it is especially true in community groups.  Leaders need to be willing to call their group to becoming spiritual pioneers for future groups.  Imagine the spiritual genealogy that can be created by groups willing to be used by God to reach others to this type of care and community.

More later…What do you think?  Share…we’d love to hear your thoughts.