Sticky Church (Leadership Network Innovation Series)

Larry Osborne is a pastor’s pastor and a leader’s leader. He has successfully made and multiplied disciples in the same local church for over thirty years. Whenever he writes a book I read it; re-read it; and make sure my staff and leaders read it as well. Larry started with a small struggling church and has successfully developed multiplying disciples of Christ in San Diego and all over the world through their simple church model of assimilation and discipleship through their intentional and strategic implementation of small groups.In Sticky Church Osborne writes about a simple strategic process for developing a small group ministry that is extremely effective in assimilating attenders and new comers in the church and helping them become connected and committed to making and multiplying fully devoted followers of Christ for the long-haul.Part 1 is composed of four chapters whereby Osborne makes a compelling case for a simple model and strategy in developing a “sticky church.” A sticky church is a church where people “stick” or stay because they immediately become convinced and unified around the vision; and live out this vision in the context of a small group. In Osborne’s church in Vista, California (a suburb of San Diego) 80% of church attenders (over 7,000 adults) become committed to their small groups - what they call “growth groups.” The whole idea of “stickiness” is keeping people in the church (what he calls “closing the back door”) so that you have a high retention of attenders who stay and grow because they commit to a small group that’s committed to their growth as a disciple of Jesus Christ.Here are some insightful quotes from the first four chapters:“But we’ve often become so focused on reaching people that we’ve forgotten the importance of keeping people.”“What does Jesus’ parable about the four soils have to say about the way we do church? To my thinking it says a lot. And one of the most important things it says about churches is that stickiness matters.”“They [the principles in this book and the sermon-based model used by North Coast Church) worked just as well when we were a small church of less than two hundred adults as they do today in a multisite megachurch with more than seven thousand in weekend attendance.”“Almost all our growth has come by word of mouth.”“We’ve simply tried to serve our people so well that they’ll want to bring their friends, without needing to be asked to do so.”“Everything we do is aimed at helping the Christians we already have grow stronger in Christ. But everything is done in such a way that their non-Christian friends will understand all that we’re saying and doing.”“Bottom line: We’ve tried to create a perfect storm for come-and-see evangelism while velcroing newcomers for long-term spiritual growth.”“In fact, the most important number to know about North Coast Church is not the weekend attendance. It’s the percentage of adults who participate in one of our small groups. Since 1985 that number has equaled 80 percent of our average weekend attendance.”“It’s as though they assumed (people that think that sermon-based small groups only work in a megachurch) that North Coast was always big church—or at least became one overnight…Not so…North Coast grew quite slowly in the early days. It took five years to go from 130-180. It took another five years to reach 750.”“This is not an anti-marketing or anti-programs book. It’s a pro-stickiness book.”“What matters is not the size of the church or the slickness of the programming . What matters is that those who come find a ministry and relationships worthy of spontaneous word-of-mouth recommendations. When that happens, a church is primed to hold on to the people it already has and the people they bring with them.”“A sticky church needs a healthy leadership team composed of people who genuinely like one another, share the same vision, and pull in the same direction (talking about the first big change necessary to developing a sticky church - retaining new comers).”“The second big change was in the way I taught and led our congregation. Focusing on the front door aimed everything at two kinds of people: the not-yet Christian or the super saint who was ready to help me charge the hill. There wasn't much room for people who came to Christ but didn’t grow at a fast enough pace or carried lots of old baggage.”“The third change involved launching a small group ministry focus primarily on building significant relationships rather than growing the church.”“Instead of celebrating how many people came, the most important measurement would be how many came back.”“Churches that close the back door effectively do so by serving their congregations so well that the people don’t want to leave. And happy sheep are incurable word-of-mouth marketers.”“Whatever you do to reach people you have to continue to do to keep them (this is why they keep their ministries simple, consistent, and excellent - North Coast doesn’t do a lot of special events or programming).”“High-powered front-door programs can have the unintended consequences of sending a message that some weekends and programs are for brining guests—and the rest aren’t.”“There’s a second unintended obstacle that highly programmed front-door churches can put in the way of natural evangelism. If most of the people who come to Christ come as a result of a complex and high-powered event, it sends a subtle message that it takes lots of time, planning, and money to lead someone to Christ.”“Instead of complex assimilation programs, a sticky church simply needs to provide plenty of ministry on-ramps to which members can easily connect the friends they’ve invited.”In Part 2 Osborne writes five chapters on “How Small Groups Change Everything.” Here are some important points from this section:“Most spiritual growth doesn’t come as a result of a training program or set curriculum. It comes as a result of life putting us in what I like to call a need-to-know or need-to-grow situation.”“The focus of a sermon based small group is not so much on the curriculum as it is on the process.”“The ultimate goal of a sermon-based small group is simply to velcro people to the two things they will need most when faced with a need-to-know or need-to-grow situation: the Bible and other Christians.”“When the New Testament was written, the typical church was so small that it was, in essence, a small group.”“The best tool I’ve ever seen for connecting people to one another and engaging them with the Bible for the long haul is a sermon-based small group. It offers a format that fits the way we spiritually grow, while providing a framework for a healthy and sticky church. Nothing compares.“While many church leaders claim that small groups are an integral part of their ministry, I’ve learned that two simple measurements will always tell me their real place in a ministry’s pecking order: (1) the percentage of adults who attend a small group, and (2) the participation level of senior staff and key lay leaders.”“Getting there (the key to reaching critical mass - that all-important stage at which the full power and benefits of a small group ministry begin to impact the ethos, DNA, and spiritual health of nearly everyone and everything in the church) usually requires that somewhere between 40 to 60 percent of the average weekend adult attendance be involved in a small group. If fewer people participate, small groups will still have a profound effect, but it will be primarily on the individuals in them, not on the entire church.”“Small groups undercut this Holy Man myth (The Holy Man myth is the idea that pastors/clergy somehow have more of a direct hot line to God) because they typically meet in widely dispersed settings. This makes it impossible for the pastor (or any other staff member) to carry out all the pastoral roles and functions. They simply can’t be everywhere at once…As a result, small group leaders inevitably step up and assume roles of spiritual leadership that they would have otherwise deferred to the pastoral staff.”“That not only changes the way small group leaders view themselves; it changes the congregation’s outlook as well. Once people begin to realize that God’s anointing and spiritual power aren’t restricted to the guy who speaks on Sunday, they whine a lot less when he’s not available.”“Another spiritually crippling falsehood that began to lose its grip on our congregation was what I call the Holy Place myth. It’s the idea that God’s presence is somehow greater in some places than in others.”“With the demise of both the Holy Man and the Holy Place myths, our ministry was, for the first time, genuinely unleashed. People started bringing God to the workplace and into their neighborhoods rather than trying to bring everyone to the church building.”“Let’s face it: In most churches there aren’t many opportunities for high-impact, life on life ministry. There are usually few up-front teaching roles, a handful of worship leader positions, and some youth and Sunday school spots to be filled. After that, most roles are pretty much part of the supporting cast, designed more to keep the machine running than to touch lives.”“Small groups open up lots of new opportunities for frontline ministry. At North Coast every group has a leader and a host, most often made up of two couples. That means in every group, we have four people who teach, counsel, disciple, pray, visit hospitals, lead in worship, provide communion, and even baptize members of their little flock—none of which they would do without the platform for ministry we call growth groups.”“As a former youth pastor, I learned long ago that no one steps up until there’s a vacuum that needs to be filled. Every year when my seniors were about to graduate, I would wonder if we’d survive without their leadership. But as soon as they were gone, the juniors and sophomores stepped up—often doing a better job than their departing upperclassmen.”“Still another powerful advantage that small groups can bring is a marked increase in the practice of spiritual disciplines. That’s because a small group takes our good intentions and puts them on the our calendar.”“Here’s the irony: if we canceled our small groups and filled our facility once a week for a prayer meeting with standing-room-only crowds, we’d probably get some great write-ups in the Christian press. But in reality we’d have almost 70% fewer people praying than we already have in our small groups.”“Our young adult dropout rate is a fraction of what I’ve seen in the past. And I’m convinced it’s because we’ve focused on giving our children and youth the powerful gift of a growing mom and dad.”“Sermon-based small groups also made it much easier for our teaching team to keep the entire church focused and headed in the same direction. Whether we’re casting vision, clarifying direction, or simply dealing with an important issue, it’s much easier to get people on the same page and keep them there.”“One reason I want my messages to be more memorable (on why sermon based small groups make the preacher a better preacher and make the sermon go further in people’s lives) is that I want people to apply the important truths and doctrines of the faith. I know that if I can change the way people think, it will change the way they live.”“It’s a relatively short step (for a marginal attender) from listening to a sermon to joining a small group that discusses the sermon he’s already heard. But it’s a much bigger step into a traditional small group Bible study.”“There’s still another advantage that comes with a sermon based small group model. It’s that most people (including the marginally interested and new Christians) come to the meeting far more prepared than they would if they were using a typical workbook or study guide.”Part 3 recounts ten chapters on the Why’s and How’s of Sermon-Based Small Groups and why this model works better than some of the more popular models out there for small groups. Here are some practical realities of sermon based small groups:“A group needs to be small enough that everyone has a chance to contribute, but large enough that no one feels forced to speak up or share more than they want to. That means the ideal size for a group of introverts will tend to be larger than the ideal size for a group of thin-it-and-immediately-say-it extroverts. One needs more people to break the silence. The other needs less people so that there will be some silence.”“The ideal size for a group of married couples is usually twelve to fourteen people. For singles, eight to twelve can be ideal.”“We’ve found that whenever a couples group reaches sixteen people (or a singles group reaches fourteen), attendance becomes predictably inconsistent. It’s strange, but we can have three groups of twelve people, and all thirty-six will be present at almost every meeting. But two groups of sixteen people will hardly ever have all thirty-two show up. Perhaps it has to do with those in the smaller group feeling more needed and feeling a greater sense of responsibility.”“We’ve found that the sermon-based small groups that have the greater life-on-life impact and stay together the longest are always those in which the friendships are deepest. That’s why we tell people to choose a group primarily according to who else is in it rather than where or when it meets.”“Although we allow people to pick any group they want as long as there’s room in the group, we’ve found that those who make their choice based on a convenient location or time have a much lower stick rate than those who look for a group with which they already share an interest or station in life.”“In almost every case, the first thing you’d notice at one of our small group meetings is that it starts with some light refreshments as people arrive—especially something to drink.”“Once the meeting starts, most groups spend fifteen to thirty minutes sharing prayer requests and updating one another on what has been going on in their lives…As a group jells, this part of the meeting tends to expand and move to a much deeper level. In new groups, it can be perfunctory and shallow at first. But that’s fine by us. We don’t try to force depth. We simply provide an opportunity for great depth and vulnerability t show up when both the group and the Holy Spirit are ready.”“The next part of the meeting is dedicated to the study and discussion of the previous weekend’s sermon…To improve the quality of the discussion, we work hard to make sure that everyone comes with the answers to the study questions already filled out. One of the most effective ways we do this is by having our leaders periodically ask people to read what they’ve written down, especially if it appears that someone is deviating from their original answer.”“The homework (discussion/study guide) always consists of three types of questions: Getting to Know Me (These questions offer a nonthreatening look into our past or current life situations. They’re designed to help us get to know each other at a safe but accelerated pace), Into the Bible (These questions take the group to biblical passages that are either complementary or parallel to the main text of the sermon but were not covered in the message), and Application (These are designed to take home the main point or points of the sermon and drive them home. They typically deal with attitudes or life-change issues).”“We ask every group to take at least one service project a year (the ideal is two) and to have at least one social gathering per quarter).”“As a rule of thumb, most people will participate in only two time slots per week. No matter what the third meeting is for or when it takes place, it’s hard to get anyone to show up.”Osborne goes on to discuss how to overcome the time crunch of developing and sustaining leaders; determining your primary purpose; how groups can grow deeper; why dividing groups isn’t the best strategy; how to find and develop leaders; how to train leaders; and these five key questions to ask before starting small groups:“Who are you trying to reach?” By that I mean, “Specifically who do you imagine being in your small groups? Who is likely to opt out? Who are you willing to leave out?”“What you plan to do in your meetings?” The options are endless. But once I know what happens in a small group, I can predict with uncanny accuracy who will come and who won’t.“How well does who you want to reach match up with what you plan to do?”“How do you think people are best trained to live out the Christian life and best prepared for leadership?”The final question to ask before launching a new or revamped small group ministry is, “Who already does what we want to do well—and does it in a church we would go to if we lived in the area?”There is a large appendix section in the back of the book containing helps for the following topics: (1) Writing Great Questions; (2) Sample Sermon Note Sheet and Study Questions; (3) Sample Growth Group Covenant; (4) End-of-the-quarter Evaluation Form; (5) Leader Training Topics; (6) Leader Responsibilities; (7) Host Responsibilities; (8) A List of NT “One Anothers.” The Last section contains a Study Guide of Follow Up Questions for each chapter in the book.Osborne’s model is simple; practical, proven, and effective. I don’t know of a better model for helping a local church reach out; equip; serve; raise up leaders; and unleash people for multiplying disciples of Jesus Christ. I have used this model in three churches; and now about to embark on launching this model in another church. I am grateful for it’s simplicity and yet the profound impact it has made practically in so many lives that I have been in community with. It has made a profound impact on my own belief that discipleship is done best in community and is a process not an event.

I just finished a book summary on Sticky Church by Larry Osborne. As the pastor of a mega-church in San Diego, one of the quickest growing regions in California, some of his assumptions may be driven by his fortuitous location. Most churches would be quite satisfied to experience the sort of explosive growth he had prior to the implementation of Sticky Church principals. The fact that it tripled or quadrupled in size over the next twenty years is partly due to his methodology and partly due to what was going on and his fortunate realization that the Cho empty chair model was not going to be successful in America the way it was in Korea or in other authoritarian type cultures. The Lecture/Lab model for sermon-based small groups is not revolutionary, but it's simplicity is. Because everything his ministry does is focused on the impact to the small group, the sticky factor is always the focus of his outcome based strategy. I bought this book to write the summary knowing that I had already been working this model in my own church with a tremendous effect. I am on year 3 of the lecture/lab model and it works, it's that simple. I would recommend this to anyone who is starting a small group or is ready to revamp their existing strategy. The reasons Osborne gives are sound and natural, with the exception of the assimilation theory he uses. I cannot get behind him on that. He really should write a different book on assimilation if he is going to reccommend it without supporting his conclusions. Great book though.

As a Christian I must be careful in writing a negative review. I have no place to critique Mr. Osborne's experience because I have not know him except for his writing. But as a brother charged to judge the fruit of his message and actions I fell it necessary to give anyone interested in this book a reason to seek after the God's will for their life through scripture and prayer BEFORE they read this book.In 'Sticky Church' Mr. Osborne is correct in thinking that it is important to foster an atmosphere where relationships can be built and maintained because one cannot refute that Jesus told us to disciple one another. (. . . go into all the world making disciples of them . . .) Unfortunately, in 'Sticky Church' there seems to be an ideological abdication of any true academic maturity that will also come from the Holy Spirit when one spends time with God's Word and continues the practice God instituted in Deuteronomy by telling us to remind each other of the things God has done for us and the promises He has made and kept to us (part of our fellowship).Although he seems to me to be spend the first quarter of the book admonishing the 'programs' and 'practices' of mainline denominations or even individual churches as the reason for what he perceives as their apparent failure, he then goes on to give you his own 'program', that is of course, going to work this time . . .; even when all the other programs he has experienced have failed, he is sure that his will not. At least that is my impression of what is conveyed in his writing. Especially when he has expanded his ideology into an entire series of training and encouragement books and seminars.To me it seems that his offer of a better way to build a church is a bait and switch that ignores the true teaching of the Lord about how to build and have relationships and replaces Godly discipleship with a pandering to the cultural resurgence of (worldly) communal desires and (hypocritical) leadership styles where man's (our flesh) success in the endeavor is confirmation that the idea was a good one (a Godly one). Bait: He tells you that church should be all about relationships and how important they are between us as people, with a small nod to a relationship with Christ. Switch: He then explains his vision that success will be the institution and practice of his 'program' and that doing it his way will increase attendance in your church (the switch).The bait is what you want to hear as a believer; relationships are important and loving each other is the only true measure of the success of a community of believers. The switch is that he says your success will come in the numbers of people who do not leave by the back door.If righteous, holy and mature relationships were truly his desire for everyone, then he would follow God's model and not his own. He would not care if there were 20 righteous people in your church or merely 20,000 attenders. The quality of an individual relationship with Jesus Christ will be so obviously displayed in someone that anyone the Holy Spirit calls to Christ will also be drawn to that person who is filled with Christ!Larry Osborne has simply moved the membership drive rhetoric that he did not like (which he is correct is not genuine discipleship) from the front door and the pulpit to the back door and so wants you to believe that because he has done so, he has come up with a better way of doing it.if you truly want a deeper and more fulfilling relationship with Christ, if you want to impact the lives of your family, your friends and your community, then seek after the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.DO NOT SEEK after the latest cultural fad for building what really becomes a larger tax (tithing) base.

I was recommend by a church leader to read this book. I was eager and willing as I think church small groups are the key to major growth, both numerically and relationship with God and fellow man. The first half of the book was great, four stars all the way. It was refreshing, affirming all that I was doing in my own small group and it was also challenging as it gave me new ideas for my group.But then, after page 100 it goes a bit pear shaped. In chapter 12 we are told nothing should get in the way of small groups, and extra church groups should be stopped. Then in chapter 13 it says add extra training groups. It also claims to disagree with the cell church structure and culture. But although it has a whole chapter on why cell church is wrong for our Western culture, (and somethings he says about the differences and not working here are right) Osborne uses the same principles as cell, but calls it a different name. He seems to throw the baby out with the bathwater. He would say small groups should not encourage non-Christians to a small group but only to the main church. I don't care how they find Christ _ in large or small group meetings. People are all different and will react differently to different situations.This an easy book to read, but I did struggle with the contradictions and the lack of scriptural backing for the way he ran his church. It was based more on experience and what he felt worked or didn't work well. But every church leader should read it as it challenged the way we do church and the way to reduce EXTRA meetings.I realise that I sound a bit contradictory in this review, but this is how the book is.See for yourself

Using book for study and church growth

Helpful insights to church leaders and others in addressing the problem of why people don't stay at a church they join, and steps to retain them.

Brilliant book, it is a must to read. It gets you excited about church and what to do to keep people

A good book for understanding church growth or the reason for the decline in numbers. A must read for shutting the back door.