I recently heard a pastor talk about the reason he believes his church’s groups ministry has prospered, even during the pandemic. He acknowledged the Lord’s hand in the good things taking place, but he also was cognizant that his people are a part of the success. He told me something that is foundational for any church’s groups ministry: “We do ordinary things extraordinarily well.”

If you look up the word “ordinary” in the Bible, you’ll find numerous references. I was surprised how many things were called ordinary in the Scriptures. The following list is representative and not exhaustive:

  1. There is ordinary bread (I Samuel 21:4)
  2. Ordinary pens (Isa. 8:1)
  3. Ordinary people (Acts 4:13, Romans 12:16)
  4. Ordinary work (Exodus 20:9)
  5. And of course, ordinary disputes (I Cor. 6:3)

I spent a weekend training the aforementioned pastor’s group leaders using the content from my book, Breakthrough: Creating a New Scorecard for Group Ministry Success. In that book I put forth the idea that a group’s work boils down to doing four things, four “ordinary” things, extraordinarily well. The 4 essential tasks of groups form an acrostic: LIFE.

Do Ordinary Things Extraordinarily Well