Vote on small group material?

“Let’s vote on what our small group will study next…” Seems innocent enough. After all, we want people in our small groups to feel a sense of ownership, right?

As small group leaders, our call is to shepherd the flock that God has entrusted to our care (1 Peter 5:2-3). A shepherd watches out for the condition of his flock and knows them personally. A good shepherd doesn’t follow his sheep, he’s out in front leading the sheep and they follow him (or her). A flock of sheep left to themselves wander from place to place, and eventually will either get themselves in trouble, or scatter apart and no longer be safe.

The danger of pursuing the “vote for our next study” strategy is that your group will probably wander aimlessly from topic to topic, maybe gleaning a few things here and there, but not experiencing forward progress in faith.

Every time I hear of a group who voted to do another study on prophecy or Revelation, I cringe. My thought is that they’re probably pursuing interesting information, but not seeking after life transformation and growth in intimacy with Jesus. Not that I think the books of prophecy or the book of Revelation are irrelevant! After all, they are inspired Scripture, speaking into our lives today and preparing us for things yet to come. Rather, my concern arises from what I perceive to be a person’s motivation for pursuing a study in those areas: gaining knowledge instead of experiencing God’s inner work of renewal.

It’s challenging for us to help those we shepherd come to the place where they want to engage in life change – which usually involves God and others probing into those corners of their lives where they are weak, immature, broken or in pain. Change is often a painful process and our natural tendency is to build barriers around the broken places of our lives to protect ourselves from pain. Could the reason some people choose the studies they do is because they want to avoid the studies that will cause them discomfort by confronting their immaturity or pain?

Another issue in the “vote for our next study” strategy is that the vocal people in the group will be the ones to set the agenda for the group. It seems that in every group there are a few people who have no problem expressing their opinion, and those who are less assertive may go along with them instead of possibly causing conflict. And from my experience, the most vocal ones aren’t always the most spiritual ones!

Rather than going through the process of asking your group what they want to do next (i.e. consumerism), I believe that a small group leader needs to take some prayerful reflection time to assess what the true needs of their small group members are. When you hear from God, then you can look for studies that will help move your flock to the place where they need to go in order to grow closer to God. That’s leadership… and that’s good shepherding!