Program Design

WMU will initiate the program with “listening sessions” for pastors and small group leaders. Participants will include pastors and small group leaders who will provide data through surveys, seminars, face-to-face meetings, and phone interviews. The Thriving Congregations Program (TCP) will be merged into the current “WMU Center for Church and Family” within the university structure. A regular faculty member appointed as program director will hold the primary responsibility for overseeing TCP activities. To facilitate various supporting activities, the director will collaborate with WMU administrative leaders. As an example, the program director would lead planning, performing, and analyzing various assessments while WMU’s director of institutional advancement would assume responsibility for TCP-related fundraising activities. 

The population of participants benefitting from the program include Korean speaking pastors and leaders who serve small groups in US Korean immigrant and Korean American church communities. The program will seek to support churches that do not currently have effectively organized small groups or members properly trained for small group leadership. The TCP key activities include the provision of research resources, conferences, workshops, a Churches Association, an Annual Fellowship, and Small Group Leader Training (SGLT). 

At the outset, WMU faculty members will be appointed to the TCP to provide leadership and conduct academic activities (Goals 2, 6). Also, faculty members will be actively involved in monitoring and evaluating the TCP activities for training pastors and small group leaders in thriving congregations (Goals 2, 3, 4, 6). Each year WMU will recruit approximately 100 pastors and small group leaders to participate in the TCP conference. In turn, these participants will be invited to attend a TCP workshop for small group leaders, the Churches Association, and the SGLT. Participants will receive training through our activities to better equip them with small group ministry skills. Workshops and the SGLT will be conducted in 8 weekly sessions. 

For a span of one year, pastors and small group leaders who attended and completed the workshop will carry out this small group ministry with support from WMU. Participants will also receive resources from WMU for up to five years, followed by a long-term and ongoing plan for sustainability through our partners. Through WMU, the Churches Association will be organized for interaction, cooperation, and encouragement. Materials and services for the association will be provided by WMU and posted on a “Thriving Small Group Ministry” blog.

Participants who have completed the workshop will be invited to the Annual Fellowship, a one-day off-site event emphasizing the central foci of the TCP. The fellowship goals are to have the participants fulfill their roles more effectively, receive feedback from peer groups on what they learned from the experience, and discuss ideas to strengthen the development of TCP for the following year. The blog will focus on small group ministry with contents including data and analysis created through research, seminars, and forums; media coverage on our activities; regular postings of data. In addition, consultation and coaching will be provided to the small group leaders. 

Each year, two small group ministry scholars will be chosen to submit an article relating to small group ministries. The university librarian will continue to provide small group ministry-related publications. Research, including the theses and findings will be presented at conferences, workshops, and meetings and available through our newsletters and blog. 

Conferences will feature inspiring small group ministry scholars and pastors to serve as guest speakers. The speakers will introduce recent trends in small group ministries and address problems and solutions in the small group ministry field through their personal experiences. The conferences will be held in five strategically chosen cities around the United States (Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle). The key goals of the conferences will be to facilitate participation of pastors and small group leaders in different geographical areas, expand the network and resources of pastors, increase interest in small group leadership, and provide practical help for the community. The TCP program director will be responsible for planning and conducting the conferences. 

Pastors and small group leaders involved with our conferences will also select participants to attend TCP small group ministry workshops. The workshops will be an extension of the conferences but with additional content and training offered such as: introducing trends in small group leadership, providing theoretical content through small group ministry scholars and ministers, small group ministry guidelines that reflect the key concepts of the conference, and a full review of our TCP. The program director will be responsible for planning and conducting the workshops. Scholars and ministers will serve as guest speakers at the workshops. The DSLIM Foundation and WMU will share responsibility for organizing and facilitating the workshop. 

Churches and small group leaders who have completed a workshop will then be invited to join a Churches Association and the Annual Fellowship sponsored by WMU as an association of pastors and small group leaders to cultivate brainstorming, open discussions about issues, and share experiences to promote greater commitment, to develop proper relationship within members, communication to proclaim the gospel and to activate community services. The program director will be responsible for planning and organizing. 

The TCP includes formal Small Group Leader Training (SGLT) for small group leaders who have completed the workshop. The SGLT will serve as professional development to provide additional training in small group ministry and round-table discussions about their practical ministry experiences. WMU professors and the program director will be responsible for planning and conducting advanced or further education. In addition, the WEMA (World Evangelical Mission Alliance) and WMU will share responsibility for organizing, and facilitation the SGLT. 

The workshop and small group leader training are divided into two components. The first component will train pastors on the TCP, and the second part will train small group leaders of local churches facilitated by the pastors who received the training in component one. In the two activities, local church pastors will train small group leaders with materials and content on TCP provided by WMU. 

Training activities will focus on Biblical and theological principles of small group ministry, “Coaching Leadership,” evangelism, and community outreach events in 8 weekly sessions. 

Participating local churches will prepare and submit monthly and annual reports of the participating small group leaders and the number of participants through interviews and surveys. In return, WMU will provide administrative and financial mini grants of $4,000 to 50 local churches over three years. 

All these activities work together strategically to provide excellence in increasing contemporary small group ministry competency for members desiring to be more effective in their small group ministries. WMU has established the following nine goals with twenty-three objectives as it plans and develops the TCP.