Customer Reviews

Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry, The

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I have read other books from Donahue and Robinson and heard them speak at several small groups conference, so the information in this book was relatively familiar to me. Nonetheless, "The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry" is a valuable resources in which these small group gurus share their experiences and failures in the hopes that others involved in small group ministry within the local church can avoid those same missteps.

One thing that I appreciate about this book is its straightforward format. The seven deadly sins of small group ministry, as assessed by the authors, each occupy two chapters. The first chapter on each sin describes the problem, and the second chapter provides some solutions. This allows the reader to pick and choose a particular issue and read about it in some detail without having to read the entire book. I appreciated the experience of reading it straight through but look forward to referring to it in the future on one or more specific topics, and the simple format makes that notion feasible.

The second thing that I appreciated most about this book was the author's experience and wisdom. It is clear that they have gathered insight from years of small group ministry, and they are honest in stating that they have actually committed almost all of the sins at one point or another. That humility (and the almost playful writing style throughout the book) makes the information very accessible. The suggestions are not coming from some perfect small group geniuses, but instead come from real people who have made real mistakes and can offer real solutions.

My primary criticism of the book is that a somewhat limited perspective is provided. It only makes sense that they would write from the framework of Willow Creek, where they both spent much of their ministry lives. However, they seem unable to extract themselves from the Willow way of doing things. Quite frankly, the assimilation structure that they suggest is nothing if not overwhelming. In fact, the entire book is rather formidable. Again, it is formidable because they have so much important information to share, but it might be more useful if they had eliminated some of the painstaking detail and emphasized the main ideas.

I am glad that I read this book, and I know that it will shape how I proceed in my role in leadership over the small groups at our church. We are actually committing several of these deadly sins right now, and I now have the ammunition to make some necessary adjustments. If you are willing to dive into the thick of Willow Creek's learning from groups, this is a great book. I highly recommend it.

Our church is on it's second try when it comes to Smalll Groups. The first try was about ten years ago and in about 18 months they came apart. After reading The Seven Sins of Small Group Ministry, I realized that we had commited all seven of the sins or mistakes. This is an excellent book which is straight to the point and very easy to read.

thanks, Ed Covert

Why waste a year or two in your congregation's spiritual journey? Why drive blind into dangerous, program-breaking potholes if they are, in fact, already identified? This book is a great resource reflecting some gifted teachers who have looked back and debriefed about what could have been done better "if only they'd known". Well, now they do and their feedback is available here. It has been referred to actively by our leadership group frequently in our 18 months of planning pre-launch. Now we use it to check our status relative to potholes. Our eyes are open to the Deceiver's obstacles and there are many. Plus, ol' Mischief Maker wants us to think good things aren't and so makes good decisions seem dangerous, like: embracing Holy Spirit-driven movement when a group comes together in an unexpected way. Sometimes there is fear of the unplanned. Sometimes there is confidence in something which generally hasn't worked elsewhere. So when is an idea constructive? When might it be destructive? This book addresses the 7 'sins' Willow uncovered; the flip side is knowing how to avoid them or fix them right out of the chute. Thank you, Willow.

I gave it to a church staff member who was floundering as to what to do with small groups. He was heading toward burnout. This book clearly showed the major flaws in the small group program he had inherited. He is building a viable program, studying in those areas that were anemic. Fruit will come in two more months!

I highly recommend this guide. The author does not tell you exactly how you must run your small group ministry, but he does describe some pitfalls to avoid. This was the best book on small groups I've purchased from Amazon (out of 5).

Being new to small group ministry I had many questions as to what, how, who, when and why? A local small groups pastor recommended that I begin reading this book first before researching into different models and ideas found on establing small groups in your church.

The result was learning what has destroyed and weakened many congregations as they introduced small groups within their ministry. The book is not the ultimate guide to fixing or making your small group "work" but rather as a troubleshoot guide for asking the hard questions and figuring out what works best in your ministry. Great read!

Blessings