Sticky Church [Paperback]

I knew I wanted to read Larry Osborne's new book Sticky Church as soon as I read the title. I would guess that that every pastor and every church has wrestled with the question about how to get people who visit their church to not only stay but how to get them connected. As Osborne points out we've tried just about everything but we still see too many of our people leaving through the back door.

The solution for Osborne and the folks at North Coast Church was to help people "stick" by getting them to be a part of their small group ministry. But the small groups at NCC were not your typical Bible study group or multiplying cell group. Osborne details the process that led him and his ministry team to focus on Sermon based small groups. As a result, those involved in small groups at NCC were given an opportunity to make application from what they heard the previous Sunday in the context of encouraging, accountable relationships.

I found Osborne's book to be extremely helpful in developing my own vision and strategy for ministry but probably not in the way Osborne would have imagined when writing this book. I pastor a rural church where we don't have small groups--we are a small group. I found many of Osborne's comments and principles to be very relevant to our situation and the ministry we are trusting God to develop. Osborne covers everything from preaching, to church health, to relationships, and leadership training. I imagine the principles I gleaned will be most beneficial to the way I give leadership to the local church.

My copy of Sticky Church is now marked up and well worn. My goal now is to go back through the book so I can process again the principles Osborne has shared. Let me share one principle that I found worth the price of the book (although thanks to the good folks at Zondervan I was given this copy to review for free!)

Just recently my kids have discover the joy of Legos, a toy that was a favorite of mine growing up as well. On pages 79-81 Osborne explains why we see such difficulty among people to "jell" with others when forming new relationship. The answer: people are like Legos. Like the little plastic bricks, there are only so many connectors to go around. When those connectors get filled up we find it difficult to make any new connections. When I read this and Osborne's further application (you'll just have to buy the book) I felt that both a light bulb went on and a weight was lifted at the same time. It's not so much that the church is full of cliques; it's that many of us already have our connectors filled (p.80). Brilliant!

Even if yours is not a church of small groups, or small groups are not yet on your ministry horizon this book is well worth reading. It will stay on my shelf and deserves a second read. Here's hoping that the Lord uses this book to help our churches become even "stickier".

"If the back door of a church is left wide open, it doesn't matter how many people are coaxed to come in the front door," according to this book. Healthy churches are "sticky", because they concentrate on growing people up to maturity, not just on attracting "spiritual window shoppers". The book goes on to describe North Coast Church's sermon-based small groups model.

Small groups provide the best forum for Christians to learn to stick to other Christians and to the Bible. When the subject of each week's small group meeting is the preceding Sunday's sermon, the level of attention paid to the sermon increases, and many people even start taking notes. Those who happen to miss the week's sermon are more likely to listen to it online in preparation for the weekly small group meeting. Newcomers find it easier to fit into small groups, because they can study up on the sermon before they come.

According to Osborne, the ideal group size is 8 to 12 singles or 6 to 7 couples. People need to be in a group with people they are compatible with, so purely neighbourhood-based groups do not work well. Because people have limited time, small groups need to be the main priority; other activities can be held during a season of the year when there are no small groups. There is enough new information in this book to make it recommended reading for all church leaders.

I'm on staff at a church that's been doing small groups seriously for about five years. I've read many books on small groups and have learned some important things from most of them. As all honest authors admit, no particular model is completely transferable from one church context to another, and Osborne thankfully acknowledges this reality. Rather than prescribing the North Coast model as the panacea to solve all small group problems, he seems to approach "The Sticky Church" from the perspective of "here's what we've experienced, here's what's working for us, so use whatever is helpful." I like that.

The overall premise of the book is that many churches spend too much time widening the front door (getting new people to come) and not enough time closing the back door (discouraging current attenders from leaving). As other reviewers have noted, Osborne spends the latter part of the book explaining NCC's primary solution for creating a Sticky Church, their small groups. There are two things about groups at NCC that are somewhat unique from much of the standard small groups literature.

First, their groups are primarily sermon-based, which simply means that their "curriculum" is discussing the sermon from weekend worship. This has many benefits, which include encouraging better sermon listening, note-taking, and accessing the message online or with a CD if a person missed the message. And probably the biggest value of sermon-based groups is the simplification that it creates in people's lives, who are bombarded with messages and ideas and don't need yet another thing to be pondering and studying, even if it is a good small group study. I know that I've been part of many groups when reading a random book or doing a random study of a book of the Bible simply added another layer of complexity to my life without having any transforming value. How intuitive and obvious (but somehow rare) to not only allow but even encourage groups to simply spend some time reflecting on the sermon and the corresponding Scripture passage! If we think that sermons have the potential to impact people's lives, I can imagine no better way to foster that growth than by scheduling a time for everyone to digest and discuss further what they heard on the weekend. It is so simple, yet so profound.

The second main idea of Osborne's book, which is contrary to almost every other group model that I've studied, is the celebration of long-term relationships in group. Of course, most group gurus would suggest that long-term relationships are a good thing. But the multiplication model that they espouse runs contrary to this idea. Though the pundits all provide countless tips for group multiplication (and my wife and I have led our groups through multiplication several times), the reality is that we are trying to create a group culture in direct opposition to what we have promised people that they would find in groups, which are significant relationships. Therefore, Osborne has the guts to simply say that group multiplication is a dumb idea and destroys exactly what we're trying to create.

This approach to not only allowing but encouraging essentially "closed" groups requires some serious thought. Osborne explains how they manage this unusual model, through leader development and starting new groups. But more so than any of the specific information or tips, what I love most about this book is Osborne's complete honesty. I have experienced, personally and corporately, the frustration that results from how many churches are trying to do small groups. Osborne suggests two relatively simple things (sermon-based discussion and long-term groups) that help to diffuse a lot of that tension. We're not going to mirror what NCC is doing, but we will be making some shifts in our language and our approach to small group ministry, trying to develop our groups to be places where people can actually experience significant, Christ-centered relationships. If we get that right, then we will be much closer to becoming a "Sticky Church."

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