4 Ways to Build a Groups Culture That Fuels Ministry

Would your church benefit from a groups culture that regularly releases people to serve? Begin by changing the culture to fuel ministries.

By Ken Braddy

People who fish recreationally often use a practice known as catch-and-release. In this method, they hook, capture, weigh, and release the fish back into the water. For a moment, the one fishing has the fish in his or her possession. Ultimately, though, the fish isn’t the property of the person who caught it.

Years ago, a friend of mine, Dr. Darryl Eldridge, trained group leaders at my church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He told my group leaders, “Adult groups should be clearing houses—not storehouses—of people.” That was over two decades ago, but those words still ring true today. Without labeling it as such, Dr. Eldridge introduced my group leaders to the concept of catch-and-release as it related to the members of their groups.

My group leaders embraced his words, and so have I. As a group leader at my last two churches, I lived out the words of Dr. Eldridge by encouraging members of my groups to leave and serve the broader needs of the church family. It was normal for our group to release one or two couples per year, sending them as “missionaries to kids and students” in our church.

Part of my job as a group leader was to remind my group members that one of the goals of group ministry is to fuel the other ministries of the church. The majority of volunteers come directly from adult groups, and those people serve in ministries throughout the church. Our goal as groups shouldn’t be to grow old together but to see people use their God-given spiritual gifts as they serve others in the church family.

“One of the goals of group ministry is to fuel the other ministries of the church.” — @KenBraddy Share on X

The old metric of group success

In many of our group ministries, attendance is the one measurement of success we’ve looked for—the number of bodies in seats. While attendance can be a measurement of group health, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the right metric on which to base success in disciple making. Author J.T. English acknowledges that writing, “We can’t measure discipleship by how many people are in small groups, or how many are in our classes.” If the old metric of attendance isn’t a reliable way to measure our disciple-making efforts, what is?

A new metric of group success

One of the new metrics for measuring group success in a post-COVID world of ministry is the number of people per group who are “caught and released.” In my book, Breakthrough: Creating a New Scorecard for Group Ministry Success, I emphasize the importance of encouraging group members to leave their adult group in order to serve (see chapter 14).

Groups work hard to reach and assimilate new people, so it’s natural many groups don’t want to release people. In fact, it’s relatively common for groups and group leaders to develop the unfortunate mindset that says, “No one should take people from our group; they’re our people! We’ve worked hard to catch them, and now you want us to release them to serve others? No way!”

If a church’s culture rewards large, bulging groups, it doesn’t have a catch-and-release culture. If it did, groups and group leaders would joyfully encourage people from the group to step away and fuel the ministry needs of the church. In a catch-and-release culture, the question isn’t, “How many people were in your group today?” Instead, the new question becomes, “How many people did your group release to serve others this year?”

Perhaps one of the reasons churches lack an adequate number of group leaders in preschool, kids, student, and adult ministries is because the current culture has eaten strategy for breakfast. The “culture eats strategy for breakfast” quote is attributed to Peter Drucker, a successful management consultant.

Drucker acknowledged that the culture in which a group of people live, work, and relate serves as an important route to success, often being more critical than the implementation of strategy. It’s not that strategy isn’t important. But strategy often fails and gives way when a group’s culture isn’t supportive of it.

“In a catch-and-release culture, the question isn’t, ‘How many people were in your group today?’ Instead, the new question becomes, ‘How many people did your group release to serve others this year?’” — @KenBraddy Share on X

Building a catch-and-release culture that fuels ministry

The good news is it’s possible for you to change the current culture of your church into a catch-and-release one. The bad news is it may not happen overnight. If you believe your church would benefit from a culture in which adult groups regularly release people to serve, solving much of your recruitment woes, here are some ways to begin changing your culture and fueling your ministries.

1. Celebrate what you want your people to replicate

Whatever you celebrate as a church sends a signal to your people. Congregants begin to learn the behaviors your church’s culture values when you focus on the actions you want repeated. If you celebrate groups that release people to serve and honor people who step out of groups to serve others, the rest of the congregation begins to understand that you value a catch-and-release culture.

2. Enlist adult group leaders who agree to release members of their groups

The process of culture change often begins by enlisting new group leaders with an agreement that they will joyfully encourage people in their groups to serve somewhere in the church. Many current group leaders were not recruited this way, so their mindset may still be fixed on attendance as the ultimate measurement of success, not how many people are being released to serve.

3. Adult groups must treat members who leave like the heroes they are

One reason adults don’t like leaving their groups is because they’re often forgotten, which leads to feelings of isolation and loneliness. What can adult groups do to honor these heroes who see and respond to the needs of the church family? Adult groups can pray for them regularly, invite them back to talk about their new ministry, honor them by placing their photo on a focal wall, keep them connected to the group via email and text messaging, and invite them to all group fellowships.

4. Reinforce the important truth in Amos 3:12

Amos delivered a short prophecy to the Israelites saying “The Lord says: As the shepherd snatches two legs or a piece of an ear from the lion’s mouth, so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be rescued with only the corner of a bed or the cushion of a couch” (Amos 3:12, CSB).

Why would a shepherd fight the apex predator in Israel over pieces of a dead sheep? The answer is: because the shepherd isn’t the owner/master. If a shepherd goes out with 30 sheep, he must come home with a minimum of thirty sheep. If a predator has attacked and killed a sheep, the shepherd must be able to reach into his satchel and produce a piece of an ear or a leg to demonstrate to the owner that the shepherd didn’t take the missing sheep for himself. The shepherd is the temporary steward of his master’s property. Similarly, group leaders must learn that they are also temporary stewards over their Master’s possessions—His people.

As such, true shepherd-teachers know the people in their groups belong to the Lord, not them, and they have no right to declare, “Don’t take my people. Don’t ask me to release my group members!” Instead, they realize the people belong to God, and if He needs them to serve His people (which requires them to leave their adult group), so be it. Group leaders need to be reminded of this truth from time to time.

“True shepherd-teachers know the people in their groups belong to the Lord, not them, and they have no right to declare, ‘Don’t take my people. Don’t ask me to release my group members!’” — @KenBraddy Share on X

Your church’s current culture has been developing for years. Take the long-term view that you can change it into a catch-and-release culture, but it may take a while to get the results you want. Every journey begins with one step. What will your first step be in changing your church’s culture?

For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.