Having had the privilege of leading one church I served to grow its Sunday School from 4o members to over 24oo members in just 10 years taught me a lot about the importance of starting new groups.  If a church is not intentional about starting new groups it will soon find itself in trouble.  For every new group you start, you can figure you’ll increase average attendance by approximately 10 people.   From my experience, you know it’s time to start a new group when…

1)  A group has been together for at least 2 years.  It’s really hard for guests to break into groups that have been together for longer than 24 months.  Relationships have been formed and life has been shared.  When a group approaches its second birthday, it’s time  to think “start a new group.”

2)  A group doesn’t see a steady stream of guests.  It’s true…groups “cool off” after a time and will often turn inward.  Sunday mornings become “all about them,” not people who don’t yet know Christ.  If you can recruit people to leave the group and start a new one, it’s almost a guarantee they will reach more people for Christ and demonstrate an excitement for kingdom growth the mother group hasn’t known in years.  Who knows, maybe that excitement will rub off and inspire the mother group to move to new heights of evangelism.

3)  A group has ceased to grow.  When a group no longer adds people to its ministry role, it’s time to start a new group.  The group may have done a good job in the past of reaching new people, but over time the growth may have cooled off.  It’s possible that the influx of newer group members has frustrated the charter members of the group and therefore they are resistant to reaching any more new people.

4)  A group fills their meeting space beyond 80% of capacity.  The 80/20 rule is real, and it simply states that groups will struggle to grow beyond 80% of their meeting room’s capacity.  When a group exceeds 80% of its seating capacity, the room is visually full to guests.  A group can certainly exceed 80% of its seating capacity (it’s actually pretty fun to have a full room with no empty seats) but any group that does exceed 80% of its seating capacity for very long will almost always drop to an attendance rate less than the 80% it once exceeded.  People like elbow room, so think about square footage standards that recommend adults each have 15 square feet of space.  A group that averages 15 adults needs at least 225 square feet of space.

5)  The fall comes around.  Most churches experience a boost in Bible study attendance every fall.  It normally begins in August with back-to-school.  People begin settling into routines again after a long summer of rest and relaxation.  August/September is a great time to launch new groups – every year.  If a church was averaging 150 people in Sunday School and started one new group in its preschool, children, student, and adult ministries, it should grow by 40 people. Within one year it will average 190 people (new groups tend to add 10 people on average). The hard part is to be intentional every year and have a game plan to start new groups.

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