Making Small Groups Work (Paperback)

~ (Author), John Townsend (Author) "I will never forget the scene..." (more)
Key Phrases: redemptive time, late person, New Testament, Jesus Christ, Practice Obedience (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This book provides small-group leaders with everything they need to know to help their small group of any kind. It's an operating system for small groups. You'll get the most out of your group, no matter your topic, from divorce recovery to marriage enrichment, from grief recovery to spiritual formation—grow spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.

From the Back Cover

Lead small groups through astounding growth with principles from the best-selling books How People Grow and Boundaries

No matter what need brings a group of people together—from marriage enrichment to divorce recovery, from grief recovery to spiritual formation—members are part of a small group because they want to grow. This book by psychologists Henry Cloud and John Townsend provides small-group leaders with valuable guidance and information on how they can help their groups to grow spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.

With insights from their best-selling book How People Grow, Cloud and Townsend show how God’s plan for growth is made up of three key elements: grace plus truth plus time. When groups embrace those elements, they find God’s grace and forgiveness and learn how to handle their imperfections without shame as they model God’s love and support to one another.

In addition to describing what makes small groups work, Leading Small Groups That Help People Grow explains the roles and responsibilities of both leaders and group members. Employing tenets from the book How People Grow, this book equips leaders to understand the ins and outs of how to promote growth, and using principles from their best-selling book Boundaries, they show how to identify and find solutions for common problems such as boredom, noncompliance, passivity, aggression, narcissism, spiritualization, over-neediness, over-giving, and nonstop talking.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310250285
• ISBN-13: 978-0310250289
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #179,987 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource for Small Group Facilitating, August 14, 2003

By	Michael VandeKerkhof (Bothell, WA USA) - See all my reviews

After reading through this book, I foresee using it periodically to take the pulse of the groups I lead (and the groups where I'm a member). The chapters are short and to the point, so that I can jump to a particular area where I need guidance in my current situation. Each area provides a big picture vision and then some practical ways to work out that vision.

I enjoyed these books as well: How People Grow, Boundaries, and Safe People.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good for support groups, but not what I was looking for..., May 26, 2006

By	R. Martin "boblaura9" (Mauldin, sc United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book was not what I was looking for in regards to small groups. It seemed mostly about "support groups". By this I mean small groups where the focus is specifically about a certain area of needed support: divorce recovery, parenting teenagers, addiction recovery, etc. Because "support" seemed to be the focus, there was a lot of valuable info about leading a group where there will be a lot of personal sharing. There were practical ideas for setting group boundaries, dealing with "problem" participants (overly needy, too talkative...) and other issues when you are guiding a support group.

However, I was looking more for info about leading small group Bible study groups - where the focus is more on learning, study, and spiritual growth. And not specifically "support". I guess I was looking more for ideas on how to create a interactive learning environment with adults. Although I got a handful of helpful ideas from this book, it did not give me the guidance and ideas I was hoping for in this regard.

I give it 4 stars because it is a great guide if you are leading a support group. I think the title of the book should be changed to "Making support groups work". To me, there is a difference between a traditional small group and a support group..... I mean, I know that in ANY type of small group you want to foster close relationships where people can share. But I wasn't looking for "support" as being the PRIMARY focus of my group. Rather a secondary focus as we study the Bible.

I am not sure I have expressed myself the most clearly, but those are my thoughts.

18 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A great disappointment..., August 5, 2006

By	Chad Oberholtzer (Boalsburg, PA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Making Small Groups Work: What Every Small Group Leader Needs to Know (Audio Cassette)

I bought the unabridged audiotape version of this book, hoping to utilize some significant portions of road-trip time to learn more for my leadership role with our church's small group ministry. Though not normally a Cloud/Townsend fan, I was pleased to hear them introduce the book by indicating that they would discuss two questions that all church leaders are asking: how do we find more small group leaders and how do we train them. They proceeded to spend the next eight hours completely ignoring those key questions. I only wish they would have answered them.

Instead of offering strategic, visionary, thought-provoking advice for ministry leaders and small group leaders, Cloud and Townsend rambled on about how to deal with people's feelings and emotions. This type of book is exactly why I generally avoid books written by Christian counselors. I couldn't begin to count the number of times that they referred to feelings and emotions. While I know that emotional understanding is important to leading people in groups, there is so much more to it. I agree with an earlier reviewer who suggested that this book is primarily geared toward leading support groups. While important, that is only one type of legitimate group within the church. The title of this book presumes to be too broadly applicable, when their focus is very narrow.

I was also annoyed by their insistence on using the word "facilitator," rather than "leader." I think that every lousy group that I've attended resulted from the mindset of the leader that they wanted to facilitate and not lead. What groups need is passionate, committed, and competent leadership, not just facilitators.

As another irritation, despite the multitude of fantastic small group resources available, Cloud and Townsend did not refer to a single resource other than their own books. It's as if they feel specially enabled to speak with authority about small groups, and no one else in the world has anything to add. That's nothing if not arrogant.

Finally, they included innumerable scripts for precise wording that leaders should use within the group context. The suggestions that they offer are so wooden and trite that any leader who would actually say those things to people would yield nothing but laughter. It is so much more helpful to describe concepts and ideas, rather than pat one-liners.

The best part of the book came near the end, when they discussed the plague of spiritualization that often happens in Christian small groups. Those few minutes were very worthwhile, and I wished they had covered the topic more thoroughly (though they were kind enough to suggest that I read another one of their books on the topic!!).

Quite frankly, I would not recommend this book to anyone, with the possible exception of a support group leader. It was boring and lacked any substantive strategic help for church and small group leaders. Check out Donahue and Robinson's "Walking the Small Group Tightrope," Frazee's "The Connecting Church," or Willits' "Creating Community" instead.