Exponential Groups: Unleashing Your Church's Potential

by Allen White

This book brims with effective strategies for recruiting leaders, connecting members into groups, coaching groups for success, and giving people something to say yes to, even when they have rejected church-wide campaigns previously offered by their churches. Keys to effective, ongoing groups include leadership training, ongoing coaching, appropriate recordkeeping, as well as a sequence of aligned series rather than just a single occasional campaign. This book provides fundamentals that will insure ongoing success―proven principles used effectively in hundreds of churches across North America.

Listeners of Exponential Groups will learn how to connect their “unconnected” members into community, recruit the group leaders needed to connect and grow their congregation, coach group leaders for a sustainable group structure that will serve their church for years to come, understand how to maintain current discipleship strategies, and implement new strategies without alienating their members or derailing their current systems.

Audible Audio

Published June 23, 2022

About the author

Allen White coaches churches in launching exponential groups. In over 25 years of ministry, he has served on staff at two churches: New Life Christian Center, Turlock, CA (nondenominational) and Brookwood Church, Simpsonville, SC (Southern Baptist) as well as coaching over 1,500 churches across North America. Allen teaches workshops for various churches and organizations as well as workshops for Saddleback Church's conferences and Willow Creek Canada, and is part of the Small Group Network out of Saddleback Church, which has chapters in all 50 states and many other countries. He holds a B.A. in Biblical Studies and Missions and a M.Div, in Christian Education from Evangel University, Springfield, MO.

Reviews

[Adam Tomlinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is fine. It falls victim to the same problem (almost) every small groups book I've ever read does: it claims to be the answer. Allen certainly has years of experience, and a resume that defends his books superiority, but it is often unhelpful to a small groups pastor like myself where I am not interested in overhauling my system.

That said, he offers some very good advice:
1. Don't be afraid of messy. Low control, high chaos systems will allow more people to be involved in groups than you've ever thought possible
2. When people don't say "yes" to something you're offering, find a different thing to offer them
3. Training that is centralized, and early will not help a leader. The best training for anyone is training that comes when it is needed.
4. Don't aim for a number of people in groups, or even a number of groups. Aim for a percentage of your church leading groups--the first benchmark is 16%.

I recommend this book, but it was not as helpful as I would have liked.