Discipleship is a hot topic in the evangelical church world today. I must admit that I am excited to see this topic getting so much attention. Maybe it is because making disciples was the last thing Jesus told the church to do before leaving earth (Matthew 28:18-20).

One of the key tools that can help a church in their effort to make disciples is small groups. It is by no means the only way to do it, but small groups definitely help in creating a place where a person can truly wrestle with his or her faith and find a place to really connect with others in a local church.

Trying to get small groups going within a church can be a big task. There have been a number of works done that try to help make the process of starting and growing small groups easier. One of the better ones that I have read was a book that I came across recently. It is Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group by Chris Surratt.

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience serving in the local church. He has authored multiple books on the area of small group ministry within the local church.

What I really like about Leading Small Groups is the fact that this book is not an attempt to answer in full every question that comes up about small group ministry. Don’t get me wrong, Surratt covers a multitude of questions about the topic, but it is not intended to be the last resource that a leader would need.

Surratt has broken the topics up into four sections where he shares some great information. I really like the “My Experience” points at the end of each chapter. It helps to see that this is not just some information from a book, but rather, it has been tried in real-life situations. I also liked the questions at the end of each chapter that helps the reader work through what they have just read and jot down notes.

My Recommendation

I would highly recommend that any person or church that is looking to do start a small group ministry to check out this book. It will be a good tool to help someone get small groups kicked off in a good way. It will definitely get a local church started in the right direction with a very important task that we have.