Customer Reviews

Small Group Leaders' Handbook: Developing Transformational Communities

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This is a good book! I doubt anyone would read it and disagree with what the authors wrote about small group ministry (all seven of them!). But you need to know three things before buying it:

1. It's written from a college campus ministry perspective. All the stories are based on college or university life and doing groups with college-aged students. I didn't realize this when I ordered the book, but it's from IVP (Intervarsity Press) and that should have been my first clue that it might not have a lot of stuff inside about working with older people, children, and so forth.

2. I did not discover anything new in it that I haven't read elsewhere, but the reinforcement was excellent.

3. This is evidently the third edition of the book, so you may have read it before with another title or cover. The copyright page did not specifically state when the other editions were released.

Throughout the book, the authors reiterate that small groups must be transformational for the members and the leader or it's a waste of time and energy. They highlight the need for the group to remain evangelistic (reaching friends for Christ through relationships and dialog about God) and missional (working as a group to selflessly minister to others in the community).

What it does not provide is information about integrating children into group life or how to motivate middle aged people to join a group from your church, etc. I do hope this review helps you make a decision on whether to buy the book or not. I don't think you'd be disappointed, but then again I don't think you'd say, "This is the most groundbreaking and profound book on small groups I've ever read!" (those are the kinds of books that earn five stars in my rating system).