Introduction
Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson, executive directors of small groups at Willow Creek Community Church, have written a text in order to explain the journey to become a church where over 18,000 people connect in 2,700 small groups. The main purpose of the book is to tell how anyone’s church, no matter its size and circumstances, can become a place where men and women, adults and children, can experience powerful, transforming community. The information on the dust cover summarizes the text by saying that “Our hearts were made for community.  We hunger for the deep, authentic relationships Jesus had in mind when he prayed that his followers would be one.  Yet in many churches, the connection we crave is lacking.  How can church become a place where nobody stands alone?” Thus, the book seeks to answer this most important question. The underlying assumption is that “Through small groups, like nothing else, they provide the kind of life-giving community that builds and empowers the body of Christ and impacts the world.  At Willow Creek Community Church, small groups are so important that they define the organizational strategy.”

In short, Donahue and Robinson wrote Building a Church of Small Groups in order to share the trek of the Willow Creek Community Church as that church plunged headlong into the small group paradigm. Though it is a book with many particulars as the authors reflect on their own experiences, it presents those particulars not as imperatives for those who would follow, but rather as examples from which to learn. A great strength of this book is its humility of presentation, seeking less to make converts to its point of view (though that is certainly an aim) than to encourage readers thoughtfully to apply what it has to say to their own contexts. One might also be tempted to classify this as a weakness of the book: it is a book born out of particulars and thus is far from comprehensive. The authors communicate that which
they set out to communicate, only occasionally offering references to other resources which would add depth to their argument. In the end, though, one must applaud their focus and discipline and be content with a book that is less a textbook than a biography (ecclesiography?).

Making the Case for Community

Building a Church is divided into four sections with two appendices:
1. Making the Case for Community
2. Pursuing Community in Small Groups
3. Developing Leaders in Small Groups
4. Leading a Church of Small Groups

Appendix 1: Willow Creek Small Group Facts at a Glance
Appendix 2: Kinds of Small Groups at Willow Creek

The book properly begins with a discussion of the “why’s” behind small group ministry. Though the study is cursory, it hits a number of high points which would be useful for more thorough exploration later. Change is, by definition, painful. It sometimes involves profit; it always involves loss. What institution is more leery of change than the cultural church, people’s connection to their past and bulwark against the future? Donahue and Robinson offer some encouragement for those who are worried about change and wondering whether the extraordinary change contemplated in this book is really worth the pain it will inevitably involve.

Pursuing Community in Small Groups

In the second section, Donahue and Russ discuss the nature and functions of small groups.
Recognizing the wide variety of small groups to be found (even within a single church when it is
the size of Willow Creek), they try to articulate some of the basic ideas which characterize all
small groups that are effective in encouraging community. “Spiritual community” is the goal of a
small group. Is not that another way one could translate the word _______? Yet the authors’
whole point is the search for a “spiritual community” which is superior to the diluted substitute
so many are willing to settle for in churches of today (and in every century past). Each of the four main points dealt with across these four chapters is very appropriate, but the second one,
concerning the idea of “truth meets life” is striking. A church best known for its “seeker-sensitive” methodology is not the place where one expects to be challenged with ideas about
“speaking the truth” and self-disclosure. Yet these are held up as important core values for an
effective small group. This is an element of community which is particularly frightening for
many people, yet is essential if one hopes to encounter the deepest levels of healing and growth
in a life which would be transformed by Christ.

Developing Leaders of Small Groups

The third section of the book is where the authors really begin treading on new ground. While
most people, especially those in churches, have experienced small group interaction (e.g., family,
Sunday school, etc.) at some level and of some quality, the intentional development of new
leaders is an idea to which many might have more difficulty relating. In business, if one worries
about job-security, one might seek to emphasize that which makes one unique. In the church,
however, there is a perennial scarcity of leadership which is not likely to be solved before the return of Christ. Without intentional and effective means to prepare, deploy and support new
leaders, a small group structure may quickly find itself with too many people, leading to out-sized groups which discourage intimacy and negate many of the benefits of small group ministry.

Donahue and Robinson make effective use of Carl George’s “span of care” concept in this
section.

Part 3, “Developing Leaders in Small Groups,” as mentioned above, is the most valuable section of the book. Here the authors offer some practical insight into the difficulty associated with “Enlisting Small Group Leaders,” “Training Small Group Leaders,” and “Couching and Supporting Leaders.” The discussion regarding “A.R.E.” is beneficial because it helps one identify those characteristics that are needed when considering small group leaders: Affections, Reputation, Expectations. One good example biblical use is found in the discussion concerning Moses as a reluctant leader (pp. 129-131). Here Donahue and Robinson agree that one is not leader if he uniquely thinks he is.

Leading a Church of Small Groups

Finally, Donahue and Robinson turn to the retooling of “clergy” who are responsible to equip, empower and lead a church composed of small groups. One sub-heading effectively sums up the trajectory of the entire unit: “Championships Depend on a Choice.” In other words, these three chapters communicate, church leaders must choose a path and commit to it whole-heartedly. To “do” small groups or not to do them. Which model of small groups to pursue. How to prepare, how to begin, how to sustain. The specific answers to these and many other questions are less important than the simple fact that they are asked – and answered.

Conclusion

Again, while not comprehensive, this book provides an excellent, anecdotal introduction to one Church’s experience with small groups. The discussion is specific enough to have the ring of real life. Yet from those specifics, concepts are drawn out which point the way to appropriation for new and different contexts. The book advocates small group ministry but does not come across as a piece of propaganda primarily concerned with paradigm-evangelism. Rather, it makes its points and encourages its readers to discern for themselves what makes sense in their own worlds and what God’s call might be for them.

Dane Boyles
28 June 2004

Mar 24th by admin