Most evangelical Protestant churches in the U.S. use a form of small group as part of weekly activities but latest figures from Lifeway Research suggest the definitions of what that involves differ widely.
The results, based on 1,021 adult Bible study group ministry leaders surveyed between May 27 to June 27 (2024), show that 56 percent of respondents see “Sunday School” as the most accurate description of their group’s activity. This compares to 72 percent who see their group as an adult Bible study. Other respondents used the labels of small groups (39%), Bible fellowships (13%), life groups (13%) and connect groups (10%).
“When it comes to Bible study groups, it’s less about the name we give the ministry and more about what the groups actually do,” said Ken Braddy, director of Sunday School and network partnerships at Lifeway. “If a group learns and obeys God’s Word, invites others to follow Jesus, forms deeper relationships and engages in acts of service inside the church and out in the community, you can call a group ministry whatever you like.”
Nearly half of those leaders surveyed (46%) see Bible study as the main objective, compared to 16 percent who saw the groups purposefully enabling discipleship or equipping. Other main tenets of the groups were identified as worship (14%), relationships (12%), ministry (7%) and evangelism (5%).
The study showed that on average, churches organize seven regular adult Bible study groups, involving 69 people each week, and an average of 91 individuals connecting with small group Bible studies in a three-month period.
About two out of five churchgoers attending worship meetings in a church building also belong to a small group. A third of surveyed churches said that a quarter of worship service attendance are involved in ongoing adult Bible studies, while 33 percent of the churches have half of worship meeting participants involved in small group ministry. This includes 14 percent of churches saying that more than three quarters go to both worship services and small groups.
“Involvement in worship and small groups are not in competition. Studies have shown participation in ongoing Bible studies bolsters worship attendance,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “The higher a church’s percentage of weekend worship attendees involved in a small group, Sunday School class or similar group, the more likely worship attendance growth is over a five-year period.”
Church leaders said ongoing groups met each week (93%). For 73 percent, the meetings happened throughout the year. 47 percent met all year and 26 percent said all year except holidays. Summer holidays mean one out of five take time off from church groups.
A high proportion of ministry leaders (92%) said groups meet in the main church building. This compares to 31 percent meeting in homes and 13 percent in “off-campus locations.”
The leaders also said 30 percent of groups meet before or after main worship services and 35 percent of churches meet any day or night of the week apart from regular worship meetings.
“The way churches choose to operate their adult ongoing groups fits their focus,” said McConnell. “Leaders of adult groups ministries prioritize Bible study, relationships and intentional disciple-making as objectives of ongoing groups. It is not surprising that these groups meet frequently, break infrequently and stay together, reinforcing their goals of living in disciple-making relationships.”
Most churchgoers stay in the same group for years, according to 51 percent of ministry leaders. 89 percent said most people in a group had been there for a minimum of two years. Demographics such as age (32%) or gender (28%) could be a reason for staying in a group. This could also be due to a lack of options with only 34 percent of leaders starting new adult Bible study groups this year, 2024.
90 percent of leaders won’t limit group sizes: “Churches would be wise to strongly encourage groups to remain small to medium-sized,” said Braddy. “It’s easier to recruit new group leaders, because larger groups are intimidating to lead. Discipleship happens best within a smaller group of people.
“Jesus had a group of 12 and an inner group of three. And group members often have deeper relationships in smaller groups because they are known. It’s hard to hide in plain sight, but people can disappear in larger groups.”
An issue may be that half of leaders weren’t sure who was coming and going in the groups, which would affect any plans to split larger groups. Only 53 percent of leaders tracked attendance in adult Bible study groups with 56 percent keeping a roster of people.
“Caring requires intentionality,” said McConnell. “Tracking adult small group attendance provides an easy prompt to a group that when someone has missed multiple meetings, they should be told they were missed. This data also provides groups ministry leaders a view of how engaged people are in their groups.”
