At Fort Caroline Baptist Church we allow our youth and adult Life Groups to align with the sermons I preach on Sunday mornings. This means that the groups are studying the same passage I am preaching from. Since we began offering this option 80% of our adult life groups and 100% of our youth groups have aligned to the message series. Our members tell us that they enjoy digging deeper into the truths they hear me preach. The group-time gives them the ability to ask questions that the sermon raised. It also allows people the chance to discuss ways to apply the lessons they are learning from God's Word. The leaders in the late Bible study hour tell me that they enjoy the extra preparation they receive by hearing the sermon prior to going to their group. One of the results of this approach is our people leave church on Sunday having focused on one "Big Idea" from God's Word and how it applies to daily living. To learn more about the benefits of aligning your small group ministry with the preaching ministry of the church you can watch the brief video below (Josh Hunt interviewed me and John Shultz about the idea) and read my previous post on the topic here. I also recommend the book, "The Big Idea," by Dave Ferguson.
