The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry provides assessment tools and solutions for seven common obstacles to building effective small groups. Based on the authors' experience consulting with over 200 churches and training church leaders in a variety of conferences and seminars around the world, they have found these issues fall into seven categories. These obstacles, which they creatively describe as "seven deadly sins," are:
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Unclear ministry objectives
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Lack of point leadership
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Inadequate coaching structures
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Closed group mindset
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Neglecting ongoing leadership development
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Having too narrow a definition of small groups
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Ignoring assimilation strategies
The book provides an assessment for each area and proposes solutions and "next steps" for church leaders to take to overcome them.
Bill Donahue is executive director of small group ministries for the Willow Creek Association. He is primary author of
Leading Life-Changing Small Groups, and has edited or contributed to many Willow Creek small group resources.
Russ Robinson is executive director of small groups at Willow Creek Community Church and serves on the management team. Bill and Russ are co-authors of Building a
Church of Small Groups.
