I have never personally met Pastor Bill Search, but in the world of small groups, he is a mentor of mine. When I came on staff as the point person for groups, I really wasn’t prepared. While I had led groups and knew the importance of community, I did not exactly have the knowledge to build and grow a small groups ministry. I read several books from the “heavy hitters” in the small group ministry field: Steve Gladen, Bill Willits, Bill Donahue and others. While all of those books were helpful, it was Bill Search’s book Simple Small Groups that resonated most clearly.

Over the years, I have used a couple videos from Bill Search in my training sessions for group leaders, and I recently came across a short video of his titled Group Killers. He lists five issues for groups that can kill a group. While they are all worthy of attention, one issue he shared tweaked a nerve of mine, inconsistent attendance.

Inconsistent attendance is an issue most groups will deal with at some point in time, and it is a problem. Many leaders at some point will become frustrated by what they may perceive as a lack of commitment by the members of their group. We ask leaders to be the shepherds of their group members by encouraging, challenging and correcting them in their faith journey; most people become leaders because they feel some sense of calling to do just that. The challenging question is: how do you do that when people don’t consistently attend the group?

I see a three-pronged solution to inconsistent attendance.

1. Vision-casting — Inconsistent attendance is subtly, or not so subtly, sending the message, “This group is not important to me.” Nearly everyone I know is incredibly busy, and many people have more things to do than time to do them. When considering attending a group, people are asking themselves very valid questions: “Why am I going to this meeting?”, “Why should I prioritize this group over my other time commitments?”, and the most compelling question, “What’s in it for me?”  
   
   Leaders must be confident in the why. Why is the group important? Why are we getting together? Why should I come here instead of go there?  Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish.”  Leaders must consistently and repeatedly cast and recast the vision for the group. Vision-casting is helping people see a future state. For group members, a future state of increased faith, knowledge of the Bible, Christian friendships and increased intimacy with Jesus is a compelling future.
   
   
2. Consistency — As a leader, be super consistent when your group meets. In one of the first groups I led, I made a pretty significant mistake. Every time we met, we would all pull out our calendars and try to align our next meeting with everyone’s availability. With twelve people in the group, you can imagine the chaos this brought. Every time we went through this exercise we would ultimately “settling” on day that worked for most. After a few weeks of this futile activity, we made a shift. The shift was simple; as long as one of the leader was available, we meet on the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month. Put it in your calendar and plan on it! Once we set a predictable and consistent date for our meetings, our attendance became very solid for most of the members of our group.
   
   
3. Grace — Finally, the inconsistent attendance of a group member may be a legitimate response to a season of life. Recently, a member of my group had some work responsibilities that required he work a tremendous number of hours for a season. While it was disappointing that he was unable to join us that season, the situation was unavoidable. It took communication on his part to let me know he would be unavailable for a few months and it took understanding and grace on my part. During the season, we still connected at church on the weekends and I think he knows I still cared for him - even during his absence from the group.

Frustration can set in when the group members are not attending consistently. Try these tips to see if they help ease the issue.

Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

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