Christ

Seventeen years ago I died. Well, not literally I don’t think. I have shared my testimony several times over the years. It’s a story of unknown brokenness—a college student doing “normal college student” things. It’s also a story filled with overwhelming grace—God giving me a chance I didn’t deserve. I’m shocked to see that my story has been shared over 10,000 times on Facebook.

The “Good Old” Days

I remember those college days. Living for the weekends. Hitting “the store” for a package or two. I still run into classmates who knew the old John. What happened, John? In college you were…

Jesus happened. And I’m not talking about in the “I heard a message that changed my life one day in Church” kind of way. I’m talking about the “going in a completely different direction and getting the wake-up call of my life” kind of way. It’s amazing that God uses both these methods to call us to Himself.

The Night I Died

Below, I wanted to reproduce the brief testimony I shared with a Christian website almost ten years ago as a reminder of God’s grace. Who knows, you might discover something new about my Pentecostal/Charismatic beginnings:

On Sept. 30 this year I was at home studying for a test, not knowing that this would be the night that I would die to self. I was preparing to go out that night when I started drinking. Afterward, my roommate came home and told me that he had some marijuana. I never smoked it in my life. This was my first time and would definitely be my last. After drinking and smoking, I started feeling weird sitting on my couch. All of a sudden I looked at my roommate and told him that I loved him and to tell everyone else that I loved them and that I was “gone.”

The sequence of events that happened afterward was horrific and I would wish them on no one. I fell to the floor and passed out. During this time, my sinful life was passing before my eyes. The music I listened to, the girls I messed over, the times I partied, the material things I cherished, as well as other sins that I rendered to be “little sins.” I felt as if I were going through eternal torment. I was a Christian, but at that moment I realized that I had backslid in a major way. I began to scream but nothing would come out. I called out to God. I said, “just let me go back and be a living testimony.” I want to change people’s lives.

At that moment I felt a rush come through my body that isn’t humanly explicable. He basically snatched me out of the gates of hell and picked me up off of the floor. I jumped up ran out of the door and went to a neighbors apartment. As soon as she opened the door, I walked in burst into tears and told her that we needed to change our lives and start living right. That’s just the beginning of a journey in which I’ve become on fire for the Lord and have learned to put full faith in Him. Since then, I’ve received my Spirit baptism. Some people don’t really know what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and seek that filling daily. I didn’t know before that the Holy Spirit is a Comforter and dwells within and helps you in your walk. I was trying to do it alone before and that’s where I made the mistake. I seek God’s will in my life diligently and wherever I’m led to go or whatever I’m led to do I’ll do it.

Today, I might have written it differently. But I appreciate reading the raw emotion I felt in recounting that event early in my Christian walk. It was the night I died to myself. And I’ve been a dead man walking ever since.

Last week, I wrote about the myth that small groups won’t thrive in the Black church setting. I hope the post helped you realize small groups could work in the Black Church. But how? Here are five keys to thriving black church small groups that I gleaned from my research.

1. The Leadership is All In

Thriving black church small groups have pastors and leaders who participate in small groups. In the Black Church, congregants emulate the leaders. Especially the senior pastor. If a senior pastor of a black church is not part of a small group, many of the pastor’s congregants won’t be either.

Announcements and promotional videos help. Show the leadership team in their small group setting during morning announcements. Make it a point to let a leader come and share how small groups has impacted his/her life. Once congregants notice that the leadership is all in, they will follow suit.

2. Small Groups are Infused in the Mission/Vision

How do small groups fit into your overall mission and vision? Have you created goals that are simple to measure for your small groups?

Check out the vision of Concord Church, which has 50% of its congregants active in small groups: To see every member actively involved in the life of a Small Group. Concord has a simple measurable goal: Is every member actively involved in the life of a small group? If not, they have not succeeded. And they keep pressing to make that vision a reality.

Many black churches that attempt to implement small groups don’t make it part of the overall mission or vision of the church. It just becomes another program or initiative. Another option in the church buffet. Successful ministries implement small groups at the mission and vision level before implementation.

3. Small Groups are a Way of Life, Not a Ministry

Ministry menus can kill momentum in churches fast. Some black churches hold on to ministries far too long without doing an audit to assess their viability. Adding a small group ministry to that menu will cause it to get lost in the shuffle.

Concord Church had a different approach. “For us, small groups are not an initiative,” says Concord small groups pastor Jeremy Williams. “It’s our way of life, it’s how we grow people.” Like a restaurant that offers a limited menu (think Five Guys or Chipotle), Concord adopts the less is more approach to help focus on what the church feels is important.

4. Small Groups are “Space-Contextualized”

Successful black church small groups ministries pick where their small groups meet very carefully. Small groups come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some small groups meet in homes. Others meet in public spaces. Concord uses a model that includes a large group teaching, which then breaks into smaller groups. Whatever the case, a thriving Black small group ministry considers context before it settles on meeting locations.

5. Small Groups are Marketed Well

Marketing? In a church? What about Jesus driving out the money changers in the temple? Stop being so spiritual and let’s get practical. Many things compete for a congregant’s attention each week. Social media, sports, entertainment, and other activities take up a lot of their time. What if they committed a small amount of their time each week to spiritual growth with other believers? Unfortunately, that idea of community has to be sold (both theologically and psychologically).

Check out this spring brochure from Concord Church promoting its spring small groups offering. It’s clean, simple, easy on the eyes, and provides just enough information to get congregants plugged in.

Where have you placed your small group marketing material? If it’s in the back corner in a low traffic area, then you probably shouldn’t expect to garner much interest. If your church is really interested in thriving small groups, then invest time and resources in marketing the small groups on various platforms (including social media, print, and digital communications).

Did I miss anything? Do you know of any churches doing small groups well? What are they doing well that I could add to this list?