04 The Goldilocks Principle

A practical question: how big should a community be? Well, what we've got to understand is we're not governed by rules, regulations, and systems. Some time back, what was really popular was a system called G12. The idea was, you would train a leader, and he would start a group, and as soon as it got up to 12, he had to plant out.

So, you had this almost pyramid structure of groups of 12, and it was based on the fact that Jesus had twelve apostles. The problem with that is it's so rigid. It doesn't allow for people. The people serve the system rather than the system serving the people.

But there are some principles we can apply to this. If you've got a thousand people, I don't think that's a community. If you've got one person, I don't think that's a community. So what questions do we need to ask ourselves as a community leaders, about the size of communities?

The Goldilocks Principle for Community Size

How can we get the optimal benefit from us living family together? And I guess we should apply the Goldilocks principle. You can have too hot, too cold, and just right. So, communities can be too big. And sometimes I've encountered communities and there have been 40 or 50 people.

The community leader says, "but I have the capacity to lead this many people." Well, first of all, if you genuinely do have the capacity to lead a community of 40 people or 50 people, well done, because not many people do. But often people who say I have the capacity are actually deceiving themselves.

They're lying to themselves. And actually sometimes at the root of that, and I'm not saying always, but sometimes at the root of that, is pride and insecurity. Getting my worth out of the number of people that I'm looking after. And I don't want to let people go.

We have to be willing to let people go, because they're not our people, they're the Lord's people. And we need to be continually sowing out. So, these are the questions I would ask as a community leader if my community is extremely large. One is, I may have the capacity to lead them in a meeting, but do I have a capacity to meet with each of those people regularly for coffee?

Have a meal with them? Know what's going on in their lives? Be able to pray for them regularly? Really be able to help them and walk with them on a regular basis? If you think having the capacity to lead 50 people is about how well you can administrate a meeting, then you've missed the point of community.

And if people aren't regularly having meals with leaders. If they're not regularly having coffees. If they're not regularly being interacted with and loved and being discipled, then community isn't really happening. The other thing is this, even if you had the time, the capability and the capacity to meet with 50 people for coffee on a regular basis.

Another question to ask yourself is, how willing are people to be open and vulnerable and share in a group of 50? It is very, very intimidating for a lot of people to speak in a group. And most leaders are outspoken people and don't understand the battle that some people have.

Not even to share personal things, but just to share any observation in a group. And the likelihood of many people really opening up their lives in a group of 50 is minimal. 50 doesn't feel safe. 50 doesn't feel like family. 50 feels like a meeting.

Raising Leaders and Planting Out

You have got to ask yourself, in this community I'm leading, what best serves the needs of the people? And I dare suggest this, and it's only a suggestion. If you've got a community of 50 people and you say, "But we have no other leaders to plant out into another community", then you've done something wrong.

Cause you haven't raised leaders up. And one of the things as community leaders, we need to be constantly doing is identifying potential leaders and actively training them, equipping them and discipling them so that they can also begin to lead others. In fact, one of the most amazing privileges that we have as leaders is the ability to see others surpass us.

I have had the amazing privilege of having input into the lives of some amazing godly men who are now in many ways doing greater things and have greater capacity than I do. That is not something that makes me feel bad. It is such an excitement and a joy to see other people come into the fullness of what God is calling them to do.

So If you're leading a large community, those are some of the questions that you need to ask yourself. And be willing to work with the eldership team to say, "how can we plant out? How can we plan and strategize to plant part of this group out into another community?"

When a Small Community Is Not Growing

Because the other thing that happens. If you've got a community of 40 or 50, I can guarantee the sense of urgency for evangelism and reaching out is vastly reduced. On the other side, maybe you've got a community of three and it just isn't growing.

Now, for a period of time, that might be what God wants. Maybe God's working on you. Maybe God's processing some things. But over the long term, if you're not growing it's usually a sign of ill health. Every living thing grows. If you've got a community of four and nobody's being added, again, sit down with your elders, sit down with other community leaders and say, "Speak into my life.

What can I do better? What can I change about my leadership? What is it about me that needs to shift in order to attract people and see the Lord add to this group?" I'm not saying you should feel condemned and useless and worthless.

What I am saying is often the Lord uses these opportunities for us to examine ourselves and to change and to become more like Him. In another short video, I'll share some of my history as a community leader. At times, I think I could label myself the worst community leader in the history of JoshGen.

The Optimal Community Size Is Around 12

But by allowing the Lord to use those opportunities to shape and mold me, I became more than what I was. And so what is the optimal size of a community? There is no straight answer. I think in general, I would say about 12 people.

Ten, twelve, fourteen people is not too hot, it's not too cold, it's just right. It's an amazing number of people that you can get together. Have a real sense of family. Really know each other. Still be on the lookout to grow. Still be intimate enough for people to share their lives.

Take risks and open up. Then if from that, you want the benefit of being a part of something larger? There's nothing to stop you meeting and combining community with some other community. There's nothing to stop you; in fact, what we would strongly encourage is as communities, you go on outreaches.

Not just outreaches to other nations or to other regions, but to other congregations and even to other communities to go and love and serve other people. So have those questions in mind and work together with your eldership team. What is it about my community that is healthy or unhealthy?

Is it too small? Is it too big? And how can we bring it more into balance to really be the optimal place for people to be effectively discipled?