Missional Small Groups/Communities - From Impersonal Outreach Events to Fun, Relational Parties and Gatherings

[James Nored]

In this video, a pastor talks about how he was in charge of putting on church events that people were supposed to invite their friends to come to, such as a concert. He planned on 1000 and had only 80 come. Then he discovered that tons of people came out to a local restaurant each week to hear a band. Then he tells how he started having a cookout in his small group outside, and neighbors came by and joined in.

Some missional folks are against all events. I am not. Christians do need to find ways to mix socially with non-Christians. However, I would make two points.

1. Some if not most events are best left undone by the church; instead, church members ought to go as a group to an event that is already happening. Some events if produced by the church take far too much time, money, and energy to pull off. What if this pastor had taken all of the time, money, and energy that he had put into a 1000 person event and instead put all of those hours in getting his members to invite people to the band that was already performing. And what if they met other Christians and their friends there? Not only would they save time, money, and energy, but they would be more likely to get their friends to come, they would potentially meet additional people, and they would not have had to cross the cultural barrier of going to a "church event." 
   
   Now some church events are good as part of an overall outreach strategy, but the point here is, don't wear yourself out on things that are not very effective.
   
   
2. Any "event" must have a relational component or it is not going to be very effective; instead of impersonal events, the church should concentrate on fun, relational gatherings. This usually means the sharing of meals together and things that are interactive, like games and the like. A good sized group for social events is 20-70 people. Small groups that are inwardly focused could make a huge step towards being outwardly focused by simply adding a fun party/barbeque on a Friday or Saturday night every other week or so that they invite unchurched friends to come to. (I will post more on this later.)
   
   Many churches have huge events around various holidays. And I know that these help reach a few people. But what if an equal amount of time, money, and energy were put around each small group in the church throwing its own holiday party with the goal of having an equal number of unchurched guests at these small group gathering? Which would be more effective in reaching people? Having people from the community show up at a holiday event at the church building, walk around, meet virtually no one, share no meal with any Christians, and leave is not very effective.
   
   Right now is a great time to encourage each of your small groups to start planning their Christmas party and praying for their unchurched friends and neighbors to come. Don't miss out on this opportunity.

What do you think is the value of events vs. relational gatherings?