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Commission on Discipleship

Small Group Leadership Training


AG Small Group Model Churches

The Assemblies of God has a network of model churches in every region of the country for the purpose of giving interested pastors and church leaders opportunity to visit, study, and be involved in effective Small Group ministries already established with a history of good success. These models have been chosen prayerfully and carefully to provide the finest training in order for pastors and leaders to establish effective Small Group ministries in their own churches.

Click on your region on the below map to find a model church in your area. Included with most of the churches is a description of their small groups ministry.

Please refer to our guidelines if you’re interested in becoming or nominating an AG Small Group Model Church.

2007 Small Group/Discipleship Leadership Seminar

At the 2007 Small Group/Discipleship Leadership Seminar retiring assistant general superintendent and commissioner of discipleship, Charles Crabtree, shared on the future of small groups in the Assemblies of God. “Small Groups have relaxed atmospheres,” he says, “where people can be nurtured in healthy relationships, led into healthy discipleship, and where they can grow and develop a healthy hunger for the Lord.” Listen to the message.

Dr. Lori O’Dea shared on transitioning to small groups and small group leadership training. Getting started can be the most difficult part of small group ministry. During the session on transitioning to small groups (Download PowerPoint and teaching notes) O’Dea shared that it is not uncommon for a church to try and fail up to three times prior to launching a successful small group ministry. However, with the proper training and steps churches can achieve success the first time! A readiness assessment tool is provided to guide churches through the decisions required prior to launching a small group ministry. O’Dea shared pitfalls to avoid as well as critical factors for successful transition (including process, time, and cost factors).

In the small group leadership training session (Download PowerPoint and teaching notes.) O’Dea reminded churches that intentional leadership development creates a strong small group system. This session looked at three crucial areas: new leader orientation, ongoing leadership training, and coaching. She also shares insight on specific training topics and approaches.

Discipleship Round Table — Watch the discipleship round table discussion which followed the Small Group Leadership Seminar during the 2007 General Council in Indianapolis, IN.

Small Group Training & Resource Ministries

  • Dr. Lori O’Dea is an ordained Assemblies of God minister with a wide range of ministry experience, having served in various pastoral roles in Michigan, Illinois, and Texas. This Michigan native has an extensive speaking and teaching ministry. While point leader for small groups at Glad Tidings AG in Decatur, Illinois she launched the small group ministry and wrote its leadership training and curriculum materials. In 2002 Lori received her Doctor of Ministry from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (AGTS). Her doctoral project focused on breaking growth barriers in small group ministry. Lori is available for consultation and training seminars. Click here to contact Lori.
  • Hurston Ministries offers small group seminars, training, and consultation to help your church establish, expand, or enhance both your leadership training and your overall cell group system.
  • The Living Free model of small group ministry is working in churches small and large, urban and rural, all across the United States and in other countries. Thousands of churches have used our focused discipleship group materials to help hundreds of thousands of people move beyond personal issues that hinder spiritual growth in Christ.
  • Connecting Points helps church leaders understand the principles of connecting and offers tools needed to implement this ministry into the local church. Steve Lambert and Randy Helms, the developers and founders of Connecting Points are both Assemblies of God pastors. With over sixty years of pastoral experience between them, both Steve and Randy are long time practitioners who understand the challenges and demands faced by the church in an ever-changing culture. Download a condensed version of Chapter 4 (PDF) from their book. This chapter discusses the role of relationships in both the pre-conversion and post conversion stages of discipleship.
  • Joel Comiskey Group is a tax exempt, non-profit organization dedicated to helping complete the great commission in this century by providing resources and coaching to plant new cell churches and transition existing churches to cell-based ministry.
  • SmallGroups.com is an Internet-based ministry providing training and resources for Christian small groups. Our members are a network of individuals, churches, publishers, and other Christian organizations brought together in one place to provide ongoing training and support for small group leaders and administrators of groups.
  • TOUCH Outreach Ministries is a non-profit organization founded in the late 1970’s focusing on a relational way of doing and being the church through cell-based ministries. The site offers hundreds of free articles, affordable resources and training.
  • Group Life ministry at the Willow Creek Association connects you to life-changing experiences, resources, training, ideas, and relationships that will help you build authentic community. Bill Donahue writes, “True community changes lives and impacts culture. It is rooted in the kind of life Jesus practiced and can be expressed as small groups gather everywhere-in neighborhoods, missional communities, house churches, and in neo-monastic societies. The resurgence of communal life is a growing movement in the 21st century, as existing and emerging churches alike recognize the essential role groups play to extend the grace and truth of Jesus to every person. Life in community is the heartbeat of the church, and remains the catalyst for missional impact worldwide.”
  • BuildingSmallGroups.com “The Premier Small Group Website” provides helpful information and resources for you and your small group ministry whether you are just starting out or if you’ve been doing life in groups for a while.
  • Leadership for Ministry Church Growth Consulting – Churches that are healthy grow. They intend to make more and better disciples. This site will help you lead your church into fruitful vitality, recognize and overcome growth barriers, promote community and discipleship through small groups, use published resources to support your learning, and participate in consultations at your site or conferences on the web.
  • The vision for Brett Eastman’s LifeTogether is to transform your community-no matter the location, no matter the size, no matter what Christian denomination your church affiliation—through community.
  • The passion at LifeChurch.tv is to see lives changed – across as many miles and in as many places as possible. The LifeChurch.tv Open website is available to pastors, churches, and ministries worldwide to give access to and usage of an entire library of LifeChurch.tv creative materials – at absolutely no charge – all you do is browse through the site to find any resources that might be helpful to you and set-up a login to download those resources. Also available is the Life Store which exists to provide true, pure, and excellent saleable resources that help lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.
  • Check out the American Association of Christian Counselors small group resources and Courageous Living Biblical Counseling DVDs.

Leadership Training

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