Having a strong sense of community within your congregation should be one of your top priorities as a pastor. If all that your attendees are doing is attending on Sunday morning to listen to the sermon, but they’re not getting involved in a small group, they’re missing out on one of the greatest parts of belonging to a church. As I’ve heard one well-known pastor say, “Circles are better than rows.”

The key to having a healthy church is having a healthy and effective small group ministry. When your members and attendees feel like they belong, when they experience all the benefits of community, they are not only going to keep coming back to church. They are going to plug into the church in other ways because it will start to feel like home.