The more I think about it, the less enamored I am by the definitions of a healthy group that contain verbiage about group multiplication. Sure, groups need to remain small for intimacy and so the group can be a team to reach the lost. But telling a group of people who are passionately missional (to the point of great personal sacrifice) that they should form a group, become deep friends, then separate from one another in a year or less is just counterproductive!
You’ll get so much push back that group life will never get off the ground and take off a life of its own. Describing a highly relational holistic small group ministry in terms of biological cell multiplication is just awful if you want my honest opinion. I avoid it like the plague and so should you.
I keep reminding churches with whom I consult to envision potential group leaders with a familial approach to group life. Groups are comprised of spiritual children, young people, and fathers and mothers. The goal for everyone is to pursue spiritual growth and personal transformation, and show others the way to the cross. When the spiritual young men and women reach friends for Christ and disciple them, they’re ready to move out of the group and start a spiritual family of their own.
Has the group multiplied? Yes! One group has birthed one or more groups, and they’ll probably do the same if they are supported properly and they maintained the same missional life focuses.
Yet the way the vision for healthy small group ministry is shared remains highly relational and functional. It’s a family where the kids grow up and move out of the house to start families of their own.
I recommend instilling a passion to generate a spiritual legacy of passionate leadership instead of multiplying groups. You’ll gain far more leaders this way.
If you tell everyone a home-run for their small group is splitting up inside a calendar year, don’t expect much enthusiasm from anyone except the divorce lawyers in your congregation.
