The Crossline Community Groups Podcast

Shifting Focus: Small Group Ministry Vision for 2025

• Jordan Gash • Season 1 • Episode 16

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Something powerful happens when we shift our focus from creating resources to investing in people. After seven years of developing nine comprehensive small group curriculum packages, we're taking a bold new direction at Crossline Community Church for 2025.

The revelation came through a simple question: What if we redirected the many hours typically spent on writing books, filming videos, and creating materials toward personally investing in each of our small group leaders instead? What if, rather than giving them another fish (curriculum), we taught them how to fish more effectively?

Small groups occupy a strategic position in ministry—meeting in homes, coffee shops, and neighborhoods where people who might never enter a church building are willing to engage. As one person told me bluntly, "I'll never go to church with you, but I will sit with you at a coffee shop and talk about the Bible." This presents an extraordinary opportunity for gospel advancement when leaders are properly equipped and empowered.

Our new approach combines relational investment with practical resources. We're building an online library of concise training videos (7-10 minutes each) addressing specific leadership challenges while prioritizing face-to-face mentoring, encouragement, and prayer with each leader. The theme—"Let's Go Fishing"—calls us back to Jesus' original invitation to become fishers of men.

This isn't about abandoning structure but embracing a higher purpose. When believers move beyond curriculum-following to active disciple-making, exponential kingdom growth becomes possible. Whether you lead a small group at Crossline or elsewhere, I invite you to consider your role in God's grand narrative. How might your group become a beacon of Christ's love in your community? The harvest awaits—let's go fishing together.

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Speaker 1:

Hey everyone, jordan Gash here with the Crossline Community Groups podcast and welcome to another episode as we step into all the things surrounding small group ministry, small group stuff, small group tactics and practical tips, all those different things that we do here on this podcast. Glad you're joining us. Well, we have a little bit of a special episode because I want to talk a little bit about vision. I want to talk about really the vision going forward with community groups as I've been processing this new year 2025, and what that means, and I'm going to kind of bring you into that journey of what I've been processing and maybe be helpful for you and maybe for some of those other small group pastors that are out there. Maybe this is going to spark some things for you because I've just been processing, you know, best practices going forward. So that's a little bit of a unique podcast for us today, and this podcast was really built around this idea of being something to be a resource to the leaders that exist here at Crossline. We decided that, hey, if we're going to do something for our leaders here at Crossline, might as well just make it something available to anybody and don't really expect anybody else to listen. So if you are one of those people that are not part of Crossline that you're listening to me right now. Thanks so much. But this has really ultimately been designed for our leaders, and this may be an episode that is really more targeted towards those leaders that are listening. So you're welcome to listen in and hear the whole process. But I wanted to give you that little disclaimer before we start. I do want to say that if you are a small group pastor, or if you are a small group leader out there and you're listening in, I want to say thank you so much for what you're doing. It is having an impact in the kingdom of heaven. Keep getting after it, keep going, stay perseverant. I know there's challenges and things that come up all the time, but you're doing the Lord's work and I am excited that you are. So let's get started.

Speaker 1:

So I've been doing this job here at Crossline coming up on seven years now, so I wouldn't call myself an absolute pro, but I'm not an amateur anymore, so I've done this for a while, as I've learned how do small groups work. It's a very unique ministry the way that you operate being a pastor for small groups, because so much of what happens with small groups is off campus, it's a way it's out in the community. I got to be mobile myself and trying to keep my finger on the pulse of what's going on with different people, and so I try to meet with people and engage with them, hear their stories, I try to visit these small groups. Those are all things that just make small group ministry a little bit unique. And then how are we really even utilizing small group ministry as a way to advance the gospel into the community? Because we always talk about these dual purposes of small groups out in the community, number one being a place that people can connect and find friendship and find growth together as a Bible study, but also as a way to being. Hey, this is meeting at homes, these are meeting in coffee shops and restaurants, this is right where the harvest field is. And so how are we leveraging our small group and those relationships of love to really advance the gospel in our community? And so it's this interesting balance that we kind of play with as small group pastors, and how do we guide and direct all of our leaders towards a combination of those missions?

Speaker 1:

So when I began the first year that I came here to Crossline, I had this opportunity to launch a small group campaign and I came in July and I was supposed to write a book for all of our small group ministry leaders and launch that book with videos, the whole curriculum. I had six weeks. It was crazy, crazy and wild and totally a process where I relied on everybody around me. I had an amazing production team, I had amazing support, but we got it done and we got it out and that was our first small group curriculum, kind of in this generation that was with me overseeing and called the man the Myth, the Legend, this generation that was with me overseeing and called the man the myth, the legend. Now that was wild and crazy, but we've we've gotten better at that over the years. Uh, we've been a lot more, you know, forthright in our planning and putting it together and I I'm pretty proud of the products that we've kind of put together here at Crossline for some of our small group ministry.

Speaker 1:

Which you can, you can access Media. We have books. If you guys are listening to podcasts and you want some free books, hey, I don't know, reach out to me at Crossline Community Church, jordancrosslinechurchcom. I don't care, that's fine. You can email me, you know, and I would be happy to send you some books and get you guys all connected, but we're happy about what we've created. Now, all that to say.

Speaker 1:

Here we are about nine books, nine curriculums in with all the different videos, and I step into 2025 and I think about okay, what's the state of our small group leaders out there? What are the state of those of you that are listening, that are a small group leader across line? Where are we all at as a church and how can we really be seeking the Lord for what he would desire for us to move us forward as His disciples? So it's been a season of prayer, a season of thinking, and the big news that I guess I can share for all of our small group leaders out there is hey, this is going to be actually a year that we've opted, that we're not going to do a curriculum, we are not going to put together the videos, we're not going to put together the books, and I want to tell you why, as we assess this, I think these are things that we could be excited about, these are things that we're pumped about, and I don't think any of these things are bad. But I thought to myself, with all the time and energy and effort that we put together to put a book.

Speaker 1:

Is there a better use of that time, at least in 2025? Say, for instance, that you know we, you know this is 200 hours of work. You know putting together writing material, building cover, art, filming videos, editing videos, licensing with RightNow Media, all the things that are included with that, with all the different staff members that we have here. I thought to myself, what if we took those 200 hours and really began to look into investing more, so relationally, with every single one of our small group leaders? What if we did something where I was spending more quality time with each of every one of our leaders, encourage them, empowering them, praying for them, walking through these challenges and these things that they wrestle with in their own group, or their visions, their dreams that they want to see for their community? And how do I come alongside them? How do we have some of the coaches that we have come alongside them and really begin to actually take that time and invest it into, into the people that are out there doing the work? And it's that whole, you know old mentality of. You know, don't just give a man a fish. Teach him to fish. You know, don't just give a man a fish. Teach him to fish, you know, and that's kind of where we're at is like, how can, how can we really help our leaders know how to fish and how to get out there? Um, be proclaiming the gospel, to be sharing God's word, teaching God's word, bringing into community, and so I'm excited to announce that, as we step into 2025, that's what is going to be.

Speaker 1:

Our biggest focus is is investing relationally with each and every one of you. This podcast was even a first step towards trying to be available to you guys and to provide regular tips, but I want to do that on a more hands-on basis and be able to know you, because I'm a people person. I mean, that's ultimately why I got into this job is to be with people, to be empowering people, to be maximizing people for the sake of God's kingdom. That's what I wake up with, the purpose in my mind every single day as I wake up. I want to do that. I want to maximize people for his kingdom.

Speaker 1:

So we're going to be doing that this year and along with that, we are going to we will be doing some videos, because we want to actually build out a whole opportunity to have an online library of training. Some of these podcasts will be connected to that, but almost taking some of the concepts and ideas that we talk about here on this podcast and going even more in depth with greater graphics and more make it all fancy and nice, but basically make it a really powerful training videos that you guys can watch that are short little snippets of things here maybe 10 minute video here, maybe a seven minute video here that just addresses specific things that small group leaders face. And then we want to create a library of that and access an accessible library for all of our leaders to be able to see that and do that, and that's going to be available and that could be available not only to our leaders but to leaders even beyond that, beyond all those that are maybe even listening to that. And so that's the technical side of everything that we're doing, you know, with the sense of building relationships with people, engaging one-on-one leaders, talking with you, building training videos, that whole library. That's all that, like I said, the technical side of things, but what's really the underlying heart behind it?

Speaker 1:

I do believe in it over these last couple of years that, as we look at really the opportunity to see exponential growth of God's church throughout the world, that it's through the means of these small gatherings of people that are happening in homes, these small groups that are connected to a larger body, a larger community of people that are excited about Jesus, and that we celebrate. We celebrate what's happening on Sundays and we learn God's word on Sundays. Then we go out and we're equipped to go out there and to be engaging with our neighbors, to be salt and light within our community. And I believe that the people that are out there, that are in our world, our coworkers, our neighbors, all those people, I believe that there's an underlying hunger for Jesus. I think there's an underlying hunger to understand what God's word says.

Speaker 1:

I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with people around this, their interest in the Bible. They may not know a lick about church or religion or even Jesus, but they have an interest to know about the Bible and they want to know the Bible. I've had people, carte blanche, look at me and write in my face and say I'll never go to church with you, but I will sit with you at a coffee shop and talk about the Bible. I mean it's a funny thing, but I believe that's the strength that our small groups have. I'm excited by what we do on Sundays and the preaching that we have from our pulpit and the pulpits that are around the nation and the preaching God's word. I mean it's great things and I'm a full fan of Sundays, but I just do believe that if, once we empower people to be released and equipped and to know exactly their purpose as disciples, to go out and make other disciples, I think that's when we are really going to see that growth, and I think that the time is now. We see it all throughout the world. We see it happening in places in the Middle East and in Southeast Asia and Africa and Europe. I mean these places that people where the gospel is spreading, it's spreading through these small groups, small group ministries, people that are really just engaging over fellowship. So that's what I'm excited about, that's what I want to see, and so that this, you know, this idea, this campaign stepping into 2025, you know is really around the theme of.

Speaker 1:

I'm just saying, you know, and this came from a conversation actually I was having with my dad. We were on the phone and he said something and it just it. It connected with me right away, um, and he just said you know, let's all just go fishing. And that's what my heart is for for 2025 and even beyond, um, who knows you know how many more curriculums and videos and things that we'll shoot. But for now, right now, I'm excited about what God's got in store for us this year and to really go fishing. Go fishing out there and be those fishers of men that Jesus called Peter and the fishermen and John and James and Andrew to go be fishers of men. And that's what I'm excited about for 2025.

Speaker 1:

And I hope that, as you guys listen to this, whether you are a small group leader that's out there that I've never met before, if you're a small group pastor that I've never met before, or if you're one of our community group leaders right here at Crossline and I do know you I want you to be really be thinking and praying about what's the small part that God would have me play in this grander story of history. You know this idea that, as the Lord's eyes range to and fro through the land, that they would land on us and they would strengthen our hearts, as it says in first Chronicles 16, nine. But that's, that's my hope for for this year. I want everybody that's here at Crossline to be excited about that, because that's that's our calling. That is our calling. So I do want to say that if you guys are listeners to our podcast and you're not involved in Crossline, I encourage you guys to check out some of the things that we have produced in the past. And it does kind of share a little bit of this heart, even in those curriculums, of what we're trying to do with this.

Speaker 1:

But this is really the um, the fruition of a lot, of, a lot of years of, you know, putting together these different things. And now it's time to uh, to not just read a book and follow the directions and to go through the little step-by-steps which, god bless it. Those are great times, but now it's time to let's get our get up, let's put our feet underneath us and let's start walking, let's start going out there and and, uh, taking back this, uh, this, this world for the, for the Lord. So he's the King and we are his servants, and so that's what I'm excited about. So I do want to close out this podcast, uh, with just blessing uh, each of you and saying that you know, I want you to the Lord, to strengthen you and to empower you, to fill you with hope, to fill you with vision, to fill you with excitement.

Speaker 1:

Um, and I want to pray over 2025 specifically, that this would be the year of love, lord, jesus, that may this be the year of of radical and powerful love that transforms God.

Speaker 1:

Uh, bold love that goes even beyond the, the of radical and powerful love that transforms God. Bold love that goes even beyond the challenges and the obstacles that are in front of us, lord, and that we would just be so motivated by you and by what you've done for us that we'd be mobilized by the Holy Spirit into all the places and the places in our work, in our neighborhoods, god, even in the dark places, god, that we could bring light into those places. I pray that we'd be excited that there would be just this energy deep within the church this year, in 2025, to go and spread your good news to all the world and, again, that it would be motivated by our deep and passionate and truly real love that's within our hearts, lord. So, bless each and every person that is listening, fill them with your hope today. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen. All right, y'all. Well, go get it and let's all go fishing.