Our small groups at Grace Community Church recently transitioned their discussion/study time from a curriculum to being based on, and driven by, the Sunday morning sermon.
I recently had the chance to sit down with my good friends, Brett Eastman and Steve Gladen, and talk through how we go about producing our curriculum every week, and a couple of reasons why we made the switch. Brett and Steve produce The Small Group Show, a series of videos designed to resource and encourage small groups pastors and leaders.
Here’s the interview I did with them.
Question:
Are you a part of a sermon-driven small group, or a curriculum-driven one?
This is a 5-week study focusing (with 3 sharp, well-done, short, and helpful videos to go along with it) on the spiritual disciplines of Bible study, prayer, fasting, and service. The study concludes with a time to drive home the importance of practicing the disciplines in the context of community.
This is a typical Threads study, except for the fact that Jared’s dry wit makes an otherwise dry topic (I mean, who really thinks it’s thrilling to read a book about spiritual disciplines?) more enjoyable. And Jared gives a unique (ok, it’s probably not unique…I’m sure others have written stuff like this, so I’ll say that it’s, at the very least, refreshingly different than most) take on the disciplines, presenting them not as a “law” that we have to make sure we check off of our spiritual to-do lists every week, but rather as developing a rhythm that, over time, begins to feel natural…all in the midst of a culture that constantly pushes away from anything that slows us down.
The difference between this study and other works on spiritual disciplines is a sense of relief. Many of us grew up in church environments that stressed things like quiet times, service projects, and worship services – which are all good things – in such a way as to create holy homework for the Christian life. – p. 11
The key component, Wilson asserts, in creating Kingdom rhythms, is “abiding” in Christ. And I think he’s absolutely hit the nail on the head.
By “it’s a typical Threads study,” I mean that the book is loaded with extra information in the sidebars (which, in the chapter on prayer, because as I’m reading, I’m constantly distracted by the extra info on the side…which is quite funny since Jared is talking about removing distractions from your life). Which, for some people, is great. It gives access to additional resources, quotes, books, etc. But for others, it becomes a distraction. Sometimes, more is not better.
Which brings me to my second critique. And this is for all of the Threads studies I’ve gone through. There’s too much information to process in a normal small group meeting time. Sure, questions and sections can be skipped if the leader so decides. But the problem is that the lesson builds on itself. It’s structured so that, if you don’t read the opening couple of pages of the lesson, you won’t really understand the last couple of questions. So the reader is forced to read every section and answer every question. And that really squeezes discussion out of group time. Threads studies seem to be built around a small group time that will last close to 2 hours.
So my question to the Threads team: Are you really aiming for discussion? Or are you aiming for short, directed answers?
Because if you want more discussion, lighten up on the question load. And work to make them more open-ended.
Leaving the questions more open-ended leaves more room for heresy. I get that. But it also leaves more room for creativity. And discussion. And room for those people who don’t feel like they have “all the answers” to speak up (because when the questions are looking for that exact right answer, if you’re not certain you’ve got that answer in the bag, you’d better be quiet, else risk embarrassment).
That said, this study is solid. And compelling.
I think that Jared has laid out a system that can really help people develop rhythms when it comes to the spiritual disciplines. So this is a study that I’ll be recommending to the small group leaders at Grace. And I’ll recommend it much, much quicker than any other study on spiritual disciplines.
But here’s the caveat I’ll give each of them: Instead of spending the recommended 5 weeks, plan on spending 10.
