Natural Church Development
Holistic
Small Groups
and
Traditional Adult Sunday School Classes:
Key
Distinctions:
| The
Sunday School Small Group Model |
The
NCD Holistic Small Group Model |
- Focus on Internal Outreach to Members
- Meeting at the Church Building
- Maintaining the Flock
- Teacher and/or Facilitator
- Low Expectations and Accountability
- TLC—Keep Members Attached to
the Class
- Substitute/Co-Teachers That Tend to
Remain with The Class
- Function Centered Ministry
- Social Fellowship/Friendship-Building
- Sunday School Classes are open to new
members. Small Groups Are Usually Closed
Discipleship Groups
- A Sunday School Model is Usually a
Church with Small Groups.
- Sunday School Doesn’t Major on
Discipleship Development but on Friendship/Fellowship
and TLC.
- Time Allotted to Groups Dictated by
Church Sunday/Wednesday Schedules
- Leadership Enlisted and Elected by
the Congregation
|
- Focus on Outreach Outside of the Church
- Meeting in Homes and Businesses
- Promote Multiplication of Groups
- Voluntary Pastor of the Group
- High Expectation and Accountability
- Build and Nurture Community
- A Leader with Apprentices
- Who’s Purpose Is To Leave The
Group To Start a New Group
- Gifted Ministry
- Supportive, Mutually Accountable Relationships
- Small Groups Bridge The Functions of
the Adult Sunday School Class and the
Discipleship Groups and are Open Groups.
- A NCD Model is Intended to Be a Church
of Small Groups .
- NCD Holistic Small Groups Merge the
Traditional Sunday School Functions with
Traditional Discipleship Functions.
- Time Allotted to Holistic Small Groups
Dictated by the Group and the Group Purpose
- Leadership called out from the group
|
Points for Consideration
Adult Sunday School Classes can be useful for
transitioning attendees from worship where they
are essentially anonymous to small discipleship
groups with strong emphasis on sharing and intimacy.
The Sunday School Church Model: The “Front
Door” to the church is usually the worship
service. Bible Study, Fellowship and TLC usually
takes place in Sunday School. Discipleship is
accomplished in closed small groups meeting primarily
on the church campus.
The NCD Holistic Small Group Model: The “Front
Door” is the small group. All of the traditional
Sunday School and Discipleship functions take
place in the small group usually off campus.
The traditional church model tends to be a church
with small groups. If a traditional church chooses
to adopt the NCD Holistic Small Group model for
growing the church, it usually requires a church
operate parallel organization structures. (The
traditional Baptist church model often utilizes
institutional organizations and structures that
are church campus oriented rather than a network
of small groups meeting in homes.)
|
