“If the back door of a church is left wide open, it doesn’t matter how many people are coaxed to come in the front door,” according to Larry Osborne in his book Sticky Church. Healthy churches are “sticky”, because they concentrate on growing people up to maturity, not just on attracting “spiritual window shoppers”. The book goes on to describe North Coast Church’s sermon-based small groups model.
Small groups provide the best forum for Christians to learn to stick to other Christians and to the Bible. When the subject of each week’s small group meeting is the preceding Sunday’s sermon, the level of attention paid to the sermon increases, and many people even start taking notes. Those who happen to miss the week’s sermon are more likely to listen to it online in preparation for the weekly small group meeting. Newcomers find it easier to fit into small groups, because they can study up on the sermon before they come.
According to Osborne, the ideal group size is 8 to 12 singles or 6 to 7 couples. People need to be in a group with people they are compatible with, so purely neighbourhood-based groups do not work well. Because people have limited time, small groups need to be the main priority; other activities can be held during a season of the year when there are no small groups. There is enough new information in this book to make it recommended reading for all church leaders.