Gladen - Planning small groups with purpose : a field-tested guide to design and grow your ministry

What the Top Small Group Movement Leaders Are Saying about Planning Small Groups with Purpose

No single person or book has had more influence on my small group philosophy than Steve Gladen and his first book, Small Groups with Purpose . I am so thankful that Steve has now taken those concepts and given us a practical guide in Planning Small Groups with Purpose for implementing them in our ministries. This is a book that you and your team will return to over and over!

Chris Surratt , small group and discipleship specialist, LifeWay Christian Resources; author of Small Groups for the Rest of Us

If youve ever wanted to take a peek into how Saddleback plans for their successful small group ministry, this is your chance. Gladen sprinkles strategic questions throughout to help the small group point person think and plan for their own ministries based on their church culture. A really helpful resource!

Amy Jackson , associate publisher of SmallGroups.com

Small group leaders and those who support them are faced with a daunting task: how to find the wisdom to deal with problems that differ from group to group and leader to leader. What they wouldnt give to be at the elbow of a man who is in continual contact with hundreds of small group pastors as they bring their challenges and dilemmas to him! With this book, Steve Gladen, held by many to be the outstanding developer of small groups, invites you to see what he sees as group systems are put together and problems are resolved. For the beginner, he lays out a step-by-step approach. For the advanced leader, he gives a floor plan that allows immediate focusing on one or another aspect of a groups issues. No small group department should be without copies of this comprehensive and practical guide. This is the tool that can be shared with every level of leader in a small group system.

Carl George , author of Nine Keys to Effective Small Group Leadership

This book provides an exceptionally useful, encouraging, and challenging combination of wisdom, visionary perspective, and lots of practical planning tools. These can help to nourish and develop small group leaders and quality programs, producing healthy, spiritually balanced, vitally focused small groups that are critically important in the life and ministry of any congregation. A much-needed planning and implementation resource for the serious leader in small group ministry.

Rev. Dr. Roberta Hestenes , teaching pastor, Bayside Church, California; former Fuller Seminary faculty member and president of Eastern University

Do not just read this book. Work it. Implement, measure, assess. Question everything. Repeat. In Planning Small Groups with Purpose , Steve Gladen outlines a process for designing a group model and strategy that are uniquely fitted to your church. If you are just looking for easy answers, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for the right questions to lead you to the most relevant answers, then gather your team, open this book, and grab a pen. Planning Small Groups with Purpose isnt just a onetime read; it is a manual that will serve you for years to come.

Heather Zempel , discipleship pastor, National Community Church; author of Community Is Messy and Amazed and Confused

I love Steves work because it is always rooted in experience, forged in the crucible of real group life with dedicated leaders, and readily used or adapted in other churches. Mine this resource for all you can get!

Dr. Bill Donahue , president of The LeaderSync Group; associate professor, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

This book is chock-full of both practical experience and deep insight. Steve Gladen has been leading small groups at Saddleback for twenty years. He knows what hes talking about. Yet he repeatedly exhorts the readers to follow principles, not models, and to understand their own cultural context. Youll find practical steps in each chapter to guide you along your small group journey. The section Saddlebacks Top Ten Small Group Ministry Commitments is worth the price of the book. Heres a taste: I will steer clear of the numbers game, I will avoid the comparison trap, and It is sinful to feel superior to another church or ministry. Get ready to deepen your small group understanding as you read the pages of this very insightful book. Thanks, Steve, for sharing your years of practical, successful small group experience.

Joel Comiskey, PhD , president of Joel Comiskey Group, www.joelcomiskeygroup.com; author of Groups That Thrive

Once again my friend Steve Gladen has provided another helpful resource for those of us in the trenches of group life. Reading and thoughtfully applying Planning Small Groups with Purpose to your local context might just be the most important things youll do this year for your groups ministry.

Bill Willits , executive director of Ministry Environments, North Point Ministries; coauthor of Creating Community

It has been many years since a book arrived that mixed small group foundations with a practical how-to guide. This book will walk you through important decisions as you build a groups ministry full of purpose. Steve is no mere philosopher of groups but a veteran with a proven track record for building one of the most life-changing small group ministries in modern times. If you are leading the charge of community, you must devour this book.

Bill Search , executive pastor of ministries, Crossings Community Church, Oklahoma City; author of The Essential Guide for Small Group Leaders

This is an invaluable resource for all small group point people who want to propel their ministry to the next level. With insightful questions, biblical principles, practical ideas, and actionable content, Steve guides you through a meticulous process of defining, creating, planning, and developing a thriving small group ministry. This is a great tool to use with your ministry team to hone in on the vision, strategy, and tactics for growing a discipleship culture through healthy small groups in your church.