55%

We just did one of our regular audits of how many of our regular attenders and members are in small groups. We count anyone who has attended Five Oaks about four times or more when we do these stats. Right now we're at 55% involvement! We hope to up that some more as a result of 40 Days of Community this fall, as well as increasing the number of small groups. Actually, our big goal is a significant increase in the number of groups which will impact the overall percentage.

For all of you in small groups, don't forget to invite folks not in groups to join you this fall. And for those of you who aren't in groups yet, ask someone you know about their group. Small groups do discipleship, community and mission best.

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The Principle of Priority - How important are small groups in your church?

Here's a warning: Most of the 19 principles relate to churches who make small groups an "A" ministry. That means churches that feel they can't survive as a church without an effective small groups system in place. At Five Oaks we can't survive without it because we don't have another program or process for growing in discipleship and community. Unless you are the senior leader of the church, you can't and should not try to make it an "A" ministry in your church. Take whatever applies in the following principles and throw away whatever does not. But don't use it as a hammer or become a pain in the neck to the senior leader(s) in your church.