I read a blog post by Mark Howell that made me think about our groups at Central. His post made the case for open groups being his preference. (Read his post to see why.) The discussion following helped clarify my thinking. Here's my position:
Our groups should be closed. And open.
A confession: For years I believed that all groups should be open, that they all should physically have an open chair, and as soon as the group hit thirteen in number, that they should split the group (sorry, I mean birth a group) because that's how you made room for more people.
And we will put you on a list so that new people can see what groups we have and then call you or email you to see if they can come to your group.
In reality, I think that was the plot to make my ministry bigger.
In reality, I think that it still makes sense. Groups should not be cliques. Groups should not be inwardly focused to the point that they deny what they have (genuine community) to the people they should be concerned about also being able to have what they have. Gunga. Gunga-galunga. Groups should want to invite new people in.
But I've also come to believe that they best way for new people to stick in a group, is if one of these are true:
1) The new people have been personally invited by friends.
2) The whole group is new.
So here's my best case scenario. Groups are closed to us assigning people to them or to people picking them, but they are open to inviting their friends and neighbors.
But that also means that we as small group pastors have to create groups and recruit new leaders so that new people will have place to go.
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