In the age of super growth and Megachurches, are Small Groups still important?  According to a survey, Small Groups remain a central component of Spiritual Formation.  This recently published survey, completed in August 2008, contained various sections researched from the Megachurch and its current attendees.  The survey showed research on topics such as politics, student and children’s ministry, financial reports, and even minister’s activities.  The one section that caught my attention was the research between current Megachurches and Small Groups.  Here is what the survey concluded from its research:

• Small groups. Another aspect of congregational life that has dramatically changed in the past 8 years is the increasing emphasis on small groups. While small groups have always been seen as important to megachurches, they haven’t always been central to how many of these large churches function. In 2000, just half (50%) of the megachurches said small groups were central to their strategy for Christian nurture and spiritual formation. In 2008, that number had risen to 84% of megachurches affirming the centrality of a small group strategy.

This shift in emphasis by the leadership did not appear to have a corresponding significant change in involvement (or the perception of it by the survey informant) in small groups among congregational participants. When survey respondents were asked to estimate the percentage of persons in their churches that participated in small groups in 2005 and 2008, there is slight evidence of change but nothing that would correspond to the 34% increase in churches making small groups a central component of their Christian nurture and spiritual formation efforts.

SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH:

Megachurches – Protestant congregations that draw 2,000 or more adults and children in a typical weekend (attendance not membership) – show considerable consistency over the past eight years. They continue to:

• Grow in size,

• Lead the way as America’s most multi-ethnic class of church,

• Show a strong bias toward contemporary worship, and

• Remain minimally involved in politics. 

However, they also are institutions in transition. They are now:

• Offering more worship services and expanding to multiple-locations,

• Shifting to playing a greater role in community service,

• Decreasing their use of radio and television, and

• Putting greater emphasis on the role of small groups. 

These are some of the most salient findings of a national study of America’s roughly 1,200 megachurches with approximately one third returning a usable response to an eight-page, 150-question survey that was fielded between February and August, 2008, with comparison given to similar (but non-longitudinal) national studies in 2000 and 2005.

So what do you think?  Has your church shown growth and an increased emphasis on Small Groups? Are Small Groups a central component of Spiritual Formation at your church?  And if it is central, what is your current percentage of attendees that are connected in some type of Small Group?

To see the rest of the survey, click here.