Chapter 4: 12 Tips on How to Lead a Sermon-Based Small Group

If you’re not involved in a mid-week Bible study group, you should be. If your church is so large that it’s difficult to be involved in genuine Christian fellowship at the public gathering on Sunday, or if the Lord’s Day is so crowded with other ministry activities, then you need to find another way to accomplish this. Mid-week gatherings are the way to go.

Often the only way to facilitate body-life and community is to join a small group. Your small group should be made up of people from your church so that you’re all being impacted by the same biblical truths, and overseen by shepherds who all have the same basic biblical convictions. That doesn’t mean that you’ll agree on everything, but it does mean that you have the same foundational theological convictions and are all contending for the same faith. It makes no sense to be doing regular Bible studies with a Roman Catholic or a Mormon who preaches “a different gospel, which is really not another” (Gal 1:6–7), believing this constitutes Christian fellowship. It doesn’t.

Some study groups have an evangelistic purpose and that’s fine, but that’s not what I am describing here. I am referring to Christians meeting with Christians for mutual edification. I don’t wish to undermine the need for evangelistic pursuits and I encourage you to do all you can to expose the lost to the gospel by loving unbelievers and spending time with them just as Jesus did. But in order to do this effectively, you need to be sure you’re both hearing and acting on God’s Word yourself in the context of biblical fellowship. In fact, to the extent that you are living the gospel yourself, your gospel ministry will be invigorated and biblically enabled.

Regarding the necessity of being involved in small fellowship groups, C. J. Mahaney writes,

[God] will of course use teachers of the word through sermons, books, and tapes. But he will also use the regular guy in your small group—and there’s the rub. We can ignore teachers, close books, and turn off tapes. When we do pay attention, we can conveniently misapply teachings. But the people closest to us, if they’re doing their job in fellowship, are not likely to let us ignore God’s urgings so easily.[1]

Some mid-week small groups choose to focus on an area of study that’s different to the subject of the Sunday sermon. Many of these studies are helpful, aid Christian growth, and facilitate Christian fellowship, but they don’t maximize the impact of a church-wide focus that the Sunday sermon brings. Rather than allowing that corporate focus to come and go without significant effect, we should mold our mid-week small group ministry around the shared sermon experience. It’s better to have a singular spiritual focus that is actually being fleshed out in practical personal application, than to have multiple spiritual inputs that don’t have the opportunity to affect real change.

Pastor Larry Osborne of North Coast Church in northern San Diego County introduced the church to sermon-based small groups. He and his elders made the decision that this would be the main ministry focus which would be promoted to the entire church even at the expense of some other long-established ministries. As a result of their purposeful efforts, 80 percent of the average weekend adult attendance are involved in sermon-based small groups. Osborne soon noticed the following benefits: increased attentiveness during the sermon, increased note-taking during the sermon, spirited discussion after the sermon, single-minded church-wide focus, and Bible knowledge that extended beyond mere familiarity.[2]

At Faith Bible Church, we have several sermon-based study groups that meet on weekday evenings to discuss and apply the previous Sunday’s sermon. The effectiveness of these groups is proven. The people involved in these groups want to maximize the outcomes of the corporate sermon event. They’re not willing to let the experience come and go without reflection and prayer. They want to challenge one another to apply the truths of the preached passage. They want to pray for and encourage one another in the process. It’s been an effective way to build community and facilitate body-life.

Colin Marshall writes,

In a sermon, the whole congregation can be challenged to make application in certain areas. In small groups, however, each member can think through personal applications in more detail. Struggles in applying the Bible can be shared and there is time for prayer for each other. Small groups can provide a sense of accountability where members help each other act upon decisions to change.[3]

Of course, it’s important to not let these sermon-based study groups devolve into preacher-critiques. You’re not there to talk about the pastor or the pros and cons of his preaching style. Rather, you’re there to discuss God’s Word and its effect on your life.

I suggest the following tips for undertaking a sermon-based small group.[4]

First, plan ahead. Before meeting with your group, read your sermon notes and reflect on your personal points of application. Remember what questions you had and make mental notes of how you might contribute to your group’s discussion. Pray ahead of time, asking the Lord to make your study group the most profitable time of fellowship ever.

Second, agree to meet in comfortable surroundings that promote easy discussion. Sit in a circle rather than in a classroom format. Make sure each person can have eye-contact with everyone else. Start with tea and coffee. The informal atmosphere will break down the nervous feelings that those who are not accustomed to such settings invariably experience. Do everything you can to make people feel comfortable and at ease. As the group gets to know each other more intimately, this will happen naturally.

Third, encourage everyone to be prompt. Time is as valuable to many people as money. If the group runs late (because of a late start), these people will feel as robbed as if you had picked their pockets. So, unless you have a mutual agreement, begin and end on time.

Fourth, ensure the group size doesn’t grow beyond a number that makes personal interaction impossible. If people feel like there was no opportunity to contribute due to too many overly talkative people they’ll become frustrated and eventually leave. If there are too many silent moments created by the fact that there were not enough people present, the introverts will become quite uncomfortable and they’ll eventually leave too. Larry Osborne believes “the ideal size for a group of married couples is usually twelve to fourteen people. For singles, eight to twelve can be ideal. That’s because a group of six couples has a radically different dynamic than one with a dozen singles.”[5] Each group will be different, so you’ll need to evaluate from time to time to ensure discussions are going well and intimacy is actually happening.

Fifth, start the discussion by re-reading the sermon passage. This will orient the ensuing conversation around the text. Keep your Bibles open throughout the meeting so that your focus always returns back to the text whenever there is a transition in thought.

Sixth, involve everyone. Group learning works best if everyone participates more or less equally. If you’re a natural talker, pause before you enter the conversation. Maybe you could ask others what they think. If you’re a natural listener, try to contribute more to the discussion. Introverts are typically satisfied to go home having been ministered to, but need to learn that they also have much to contribute to the lives of others. No one person should dominate the session, so be careful to measure your contribution after each meeting and adjust next time if necessary.

Seventh, make sure the church leaders appoint or affirm a leader for your group. The leader must be apt to teach but mustn’t see his role as the sole teacher in this particular setting. Instead, he’s to facilitate group learning. The leader should help group members to make their own discoveries. If you’re the leader, ask the folk:

·      What personally challenged you in the sermon?

·      What are areas of agreement or disagreement?

·      What questions did the sermon leave unanswered?

·      What new thoughts about God or the gospel were impactful?

·      What areas of change do you/we need to implement now?

·      What hindrances to personal change do you foresee?

·      How can we pray for one another in these things?

Everyone needs to understand that there are no silly questions. Each person should feel secure to share, and the leader will need to work toward this kind of openness in the group.

Eighth, there’s a lot to accomplish, so the leader (and the group) will need to pace the discussion to get through as much as possible. The areas of discussion should include observations of the Bible passage, interpretation, church-wide implications, personal application, specific changes that each person will make in their thinking and/or actions, and prayer for one another. Theology and Bible interpretation are important, but do not get so bogged down in these early discussions that you run out of time later. Remember the whole point of the small group is to ‘get personal’ about Christian living.

It’s far better to have people leave the meeting wishing it’d been longer, than to have them leave wishing it’d been shorter. If people believe there was so much more ground to cover in the meeting but feel that it wasn’t achieved, then their fellowship will continue in personal relationships throughout the week. This is a good thing. The study group has achieved its purpose—namely, to promote spiritual partnership beyond mere attendance.

Ninth, finish the sermon-based discussion by offering at least one prayer request each. The request can be about anything, but it’s best if it has originated from the discussion itself. Then pray for one another.

Tenth, the last five minutes of the meeting should be used to preview the next Sunday sermon. Read the upcoming passage and encourage people to attend Sunday services so they can be ready to contribute at the next small group meeting. Make sure you end on time so that those who have arranged for babysitters can get home to relieve the sitter as planned. If others want to stay longer and the host agrees, offer more refreshments and encourage further interaction.

Eleventh, commit to take breaks over the summer period and for other public holidays. This helps people to plan for other activities and not feel guilty that they are abandoning the group. It also helps them to see what it’s like to remove regular weekly fellowship from the sermon experience. They’ll come back excited to re-engage with the family of God because they now understand its value for themselves and for others.

Lastly, how do you know if your sermon-based small group is serving its purpose? The measure of its success is faithful attendance—but only in part. The goal is certainly not to have people pass a group quiz at the end of each sermon series. Similarly, motivating greater evangelistic effort, committing to deeper theological studies, shepherding the flock, and developing future leaders are excellent results, but these are not the primary goals of small fellowship groups. Instead we need to measure the quality of Christian relationships. Are the group members loving one another? Are they serving one another? Are they both giving and receiving significant spiritual input to and from those around them? Larry Osborne says, “I look for stories of mortgages and rents being paid, meals provided, hospital visits, holidays and vacations spent together, encouragement, and tough confrontations. All in all, the same stuff I’d look for in a healthy extended family.”[6] We hope to see the kind of fellowship that existed in Acts 2 where both spiritual and physical needs were being met by loving church members. Osborne adds, “The best way to see the most people grow deeper in their walk with God is . . . by having lots of folks tightly velcroed to other Christians and the Scriptures for the long haul.”[7] Sermon-based study groups are one of the best ways to maximize both.

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[1] C. J. Mahaney, Why Small Groups? Together toward Maturity (Gaithersburg, MD: Sovereign Grace Ministries, 1996), 21.

[2] Larry W. Osborne, Sticky Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 2008), 60–63.

[3] Colin Marshall, Growth Groups: A Training Course in How to Lead Small Groups (Kingsford, N.S.W.: Matthias Media, 1995), 21.

[4] These suggestions are derived in part from John MacArthur, Jr., The Body Dynamic (Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1996), 135–36.

[5] Larry Osborne, Sticky Church, 77.

[6] Ibid., 106.

[7] Ibid.

Chapter 3: Community Activity After Every Sermon

It’s possible that God’s presence is not felt in a local church. Why is that? Keith Drury offers one answer: “The people have, as a group, quit responding to His Word. They may attend to see if others respond, and they might even pray that someone else will come and respond; but they no longer respond to preaching themselves. As a body, they do nothing upon hearing God’s Word.”[1] Friends, let’s not make that mistake. Together, let’s do everything we can to maximize our sermon-listening. The following suggestions will enhance your community sermon-listening after the sermon is done.

Our first commitment is that we should never rush off after the church service is finished. Plan after-church-events so that you still have time to hang around after the sermon to fellowship and enjoy the church family. It’s okay if lunch is delayed thirty minutes—your family will survive the hunger pains. Spiritual interaction is far more important, especially while the Word of God is still fresh on your minds. So consider this time an integral part of your public worship experience.

Ask people about the sermon. Tell them how you were challenged and what you plan to do as a result of the preached message from God. You may be able to pray for someone before you leave or ask someone to pray for you. Jonathan Leeman says, “The Word should reverberate back and forth, from mouth to mouth and heart to heart.”[2] Remember James’s warning: “If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was” (Jas 1:23–24). We can’t afford to walk away from that intense exposure to the Word of God—namely, the sermon—our spiritual mirror—and fail to make the appropriate adjustments to our thinking and behavior. So do it immediately and involve others in the process.

Joel Beeke provides an appropriate warning: “Do not engage in frivolous, worldly conversation after a sermon. Shallow talk about politics, people, sports, or news events is Satan’s way of sending his vultures to pluck away the good seed of the Word.”[3] Instead, discuss how the Bible passage should shape the church. Pray together for the work of God's Spirit to shape both you as an individual and the church as a body of Christians together.

In the same way, Christopher Ash writes

Why not make an effort to say something about how you hope to respond to the Bible truths in the sermon? (“I was really challenged to . . . Were you?” or, “I was really encouraged by . . . How about you?” or, “It was so helpful to be reminded of . . . Don’t you think?”). Or perhaps there is still something in the Bible passage that really puzzles you; how about asking someone: “Can you help me understand what . . . means?”[4]

These encouragements are simply practical ways in which you can live out the “one anothers” of the New Testament in response to the sermon.

Not only should we share with one another in the congregation, but we must also respond to our pastor. Paul said, “Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches” (Gal 6:6). Your pastor worked hard to prepare and preach a sermon that will both accurately explain the Scriptures and faithfully prompt you to action. You should thank him. But don’t thank him with the typical “great sermon, pastor” comment. After a while these kinds of sentiments only pay lip service to your pastor. Instead, give him some detail that explains why the sermon was good. How were you challenged specifically? What do you intend to do as a result of the message? These are the kinds of things that will really encourage your preacher because then he gets to share in the fruit of his ministry.

Maybe your pastor didn’t answer all your questions about the passage or its application. That’s okay. The Bible is so deep that it’s almost impossible to cover every aspect of a particular passage in one sitting. Let’s be realistic concerning what our pastor can achieve in forty-five minutes. Instead of complaining, take the opportunity to discuss with one another your questions. Let these discussions form the basis of your fellowship. You should also approach your pastor to ask him your questions. He’ll be encouraged by your interaction over the text of Scripture.

Once you’ve departed the church service, you should try to continue this interaction over the sermon. Instead of using digital media to avoid church attendance, use social media to enhance it. Use Facebook and other online mediums to engage in theological and implicational discussions after the sermon. Highlight your prayer requests in a personal e-mail. Get people talking about sermon application. You can do this online and in your own home. Alexander Strauch comments personally: “To me,” he says, “hospitality is a fitting conclusion to worship. In fact, it is a needed continuation of our short time together as God’s family. It is also an opportune time to meet new people, encourage the weak, minister to the needy, and care for the new babies in Christ.”[5]

Post-sermon fellowship is the best time to take advantage of the people in the church who can invest into your life. Joel Beeke advises, “Ask older, more experienced Christians for advice. Talk to people who are spiritually mature about how to live as a Christian.”[6] In addition, find those Christians who are newer in their spiritual journey than you are and get them started on spiritual discussion that will continue the biblical nourishment that was started in the sermon.

Why not purpose to make a phone call during the week to follow up with a person whom you know was listening to the same sermon as you? The following is a list of text-related questions. You could consider these before you make the call and allow them to guide your discussion:[7]
1.              What examples can we follow?

2.              What commands should we obey?

3.              What errors must we avoid?

4.              What sins must we forsake?

5.              What promise can we claim?

6.              What new thoughts about God should we employ?

7.              What biblical principles should we live by?

These are wonderful discussion questions that should become part of the fabric of our fellowship culture. Remember, we’re trying to do things differently than we have in the past. We’re developing honesty and transparency in our relationships. We’re in devoted partnerships with teammates who are working together to accomplish eternal goals.

Sometimes the impact of such community-wide transformation is such that an entire congregation recognizes a culture of sin that has previously been allowed to exist without correction. When this kind of church-wide revival takes place and is led by the shepherds of the church, corporate confession is needed. In Nehemiah 8 and 9 the nation of Israel opened the Book of the Law for the first time in many years. Ezra the scribe read the Law and explained it for an entire week while the people listened. On the twenty-fourth day of the month “the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dirt upon them. And the descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers” (Neh 9:1–2). Such public confession of sin is a wonderful expression of God’s grace to a community. Your church elders may lead the congregation in times of public confession like this. When that happens, follow their lead and listen to their counsel. Sometimes an entire church can slip into a culture of blatant idolatry, immorality, or even stray away from preaching the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes there is a general acceptance of so-called “respectable sins”[8] such as gossip, spiritual pride, ungodliness, anxiety, selfishness, jealousy, and judgmentalism. When a church recognizes that these sins have become a part of its culture, determines to confess them publicly, and resolves to make necessary changes, testimonies are restored, families reunified, churches revitalized, cities transformed, and nations revived. May God open our eyes to see the need for the corporate confession of sin if it exists.

Another way to continue the impact of listening to sermons together is to be involved in a personal discipleship relationship. You could meet with a personal mentor once a week over coffee or in one another’s homes to reflect on the sermon and make plans for personal application. There are wonderful benefits of one-on-one discipleship—benefits to which you should avail yourself. Find a person in the church who can invest himself or herself into you and someone else into whom you can invest yourself. But realize this: No one discipler is the perfect mentor, and no one mentor has a corner on all necessary spiritual inputs.

The best kind of discipleship in the church is not one-on-one, but many-on-many. It’s a more balanced approach to community living. It better describes fellowship. It promotes balanced discernment. And it’s the context in which fellowship can rightly take place. So pursue one-on-one discipleship but not to the neglect of meeting in small groups around God’s Word. If you have to choose between the two options, then choose the small group setting.

Sermon-based small groups can greatly enhance the effect of the Sunday sermon experience. Next week, we’ll see how this kind of ministry involvement can maximize the preaching and fellowship combination that began with the Sunday sermon.

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[1] Keith W. Drury, There Is No I in Church: Moving Beyond Individual Spirituality to Experience God’s Power in the Church (Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2006), 65.

[2] Jonathan Leeman, Reverberation: How God’s Word Brings Light, Freedom, and Action to His People (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2011), 101.

[3] Joel Beeke, The Family at Church: Listening to Sermons and Attending Prayer Meetings (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2008), 27.

[4] Christopher Ash, Listen Up!: A Practical Guide to Listening to Sermons (New Maiden, Surrey, England: The Good Book Company, 2009), 14.

[5] Alexander Strauch, The Hospitality Commands: Building Loving Christian Community: Building Bridges to Friends and Neighbors (Littleton, CO: Lewis and Roth Publishers, 1993), 50.

[6] Joel Beeke, The Family at Church, 32.

[7] John MacArthur, “A Study Method for Expository Preaching,” in John MacArthur, Jr. and The Master’s Seminary Faculty, Rediscovering Expository Preaching (Dallas, TX: Word Publishing, 1992), 217–8.

[8] Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate (Colorado Springs, CO: Navpress, 2007).