My Small Group is too big!

Is there such thing as a small group that is too big? Before we answer that, let’s remember that a small group is 3 or more people who join together regularly to study and live out the five purposes! The five purposes (fellowship, discipleship, ministry, missions, and worship) are found in the Great Commandment and Great Commission. Now to answer our question, yes a small group can get too big. Let’s be clear that doesn’t mean you need to let people go but there are ways to ensure that everyone is still participating and feeling valued in the group. When a group grows large (no magic number) it is easy for members to sit back and not contribute, we don’t want this to happen! To prevent this from happening we suggest subgrouping!

Subgrouping is not as intimidating as it sounds. It simply means that you have to look at your group time from a new perspective. Here’s an easy roadmap to subgrouping: 

1. Start your group time together take this time catch up, snack and get comfortable.
2. Sub-group during your study/discussion time. We suggest breaking up by gender or in groups of two or three people, for greater participation and deeper discussion.
3. Stop together, come back together at the end of the discussion time and someone report from each group the highlights of their discussion.

Subgrouping is as easy as 1,2,3 while allowing everyone to contribute.

Feel free to send us a note at saddlebacksmallgroups@gmail.com if you want to chat more in depth!