The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry: A Troubleshooting Guide for Church Leaders

by Bill Donahue, Russ Robinson

Assessment and solution for seven common obstacles to building small groups. It’s one thing to start a small group ministry. It’s another to keep the groups in your church healthy and headed in the same direction. Whatever your church’s approach may be—whether it is a church with groups or of groups— sooner or later, as a leader, you’ll need to do some troubleshooting. That’s when the expert, to-the-point guidance in this book will prove its worth. The beauty of this book lies in its unique diagnostic process. It allows you to assess, diagnose, and correct seven common “deadly sins” that can drain the life from your church’s small group ministry. In The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry, what would take you years to learn through trial and error is distilled into some of the most useful information you can find. Drawing on the knowledge they’ve gleaned from working inside Willow Creek Community Church, from consulting with hundreds of churches, and from conducting conferences and seminars worldwide, small group experts Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson furnish you with proven, real-life solutions to the toughest problems in your small group ministry. This is not theory—it is hands-on material you can read and apply today.

Genres: Christianity, Christian

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Bill Donahue is an associate professor at Trinity International University and a popular conference speaker. The author of more than a dozen books with sales over 550,000 copies, he is former director of leadership development and group life for the Willow Creek Community Church and Association. He lives in Illinois.

Reviews

[David Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully helpful as a guide to building small groups in churches. Look to his other works to build on this concept and help grow that aspect of ministry in your Church.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow. Lots of information I don't quite need. This is geared more towards guys who are part of small group ministries in churches of hundreds of people (maybe), if not thousands of people (more like it).

We have a church of tens of people (upwards of 3 or 4 tens). A lot of "rules" this book give don't apply at this size. They can't. Like the "rule" about having a dedicated coaching staff to coach your small group leaders. We only have two small groups! And we have three leaders! I'm sure it would be applicable at some point in size, but I'm not sure our church ever wants to be big enough for this book to work.

On the other hand, a lot of good principles and hearts behind them, that I would not do well to forget.

[Andrew Barlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this bok an extremely helpful tool in thinking through small group principles and methods. Donahue and Robinson are both Willow Creek gurus and bring years of (sometimes painful) experience to the book. Though most reading this book will have a much smaller ministry scope than WIllow Creek, the principles nevertheless apply: (1) have clear ministry objectives, (2) Pick the right point man, (3) Develop a healthy coaching structure, (4) Develop new leaders constantly, (5) Open-group (this one is debated), (6) Broaden your definition of small group to connect with the most people (again, debatable), and (7) Think hard about assimilation and retention.

I learned a great deal from this book and will look back to it often!

[Peter Schott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book to read if your church is at any stage of using small groups. The seven most common problems are addressed and solutions proposed. I only wish there were some downloadable forms to help the church fill out some ideas as they work through the book or perhaps some questions to help evaluate.

There are more details about small groups in their other books so will likely pick up those to read in the future.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very helpful guide from the leaders of Willow Creek’s Small Group ministry. The authors honestly report the insights they have gained from the many years of the evolution of their church’s ministry through small groups. There’s a lot I agree with in their inclusive and realistic style of ministry.

[Tad Savoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book when I took the Small Groups Pastor position at my church. I found this book to be very insightful and helped me to wrap my mind around Small Group ministry. Donahue and Robinson helped me to prioritize my actions and made for a fairly smooth transition in the ministry. I highly recommend this book for any Small Group pastors.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty decent. Generally applicable.

[Brad Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really strikes me as a valuable resource for pastors/Christian leaders.

[Nathan Wesson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest Instruction and Helpful Testimony

Bill and Russ share through their own experiences the most important things to prepare for to build a healthy small groups centered community. There is great practical instruction and personal testimony from these leaders who have learned from their own mistakes and successes. Their passion for small groups and for a small groups champion in each church bleeds from every page!