Think Small Groups

A Guide to Understanding and Developing Small Group Ministry in Adventist Churches

About the Author 

Dr Cox did extensive research and practical application of small group ministry principles during his pastoral service in the South England Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Most of the materials he used in training and coaching churches and small group leaders form the basis of this book. 

About the Book 

As far as one can tell, Dr Cox’s book is the singular concise and easy-to-understand handbook on small group ministry in Seventh-day Adventism. Published in 1998 by the Department of Personal Ministries of the South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, this 128-page manual provides a template for starting and running small groups. 

Cox believes that the small group ministry is indispensable in contemporary church work, as it is a divinely-ordained method of evangelism. In the book, Cox provides a concise background to small groups, and an overview of what they do, how they work, and how best to introduce them into the life of an Adventist congregation. This book is also a good beginner’s guide for someone who intends to start a small group. And for those who are already small group leaders, the principles here are intended to help sharpen your leadership, relational, communication, and management skills. 

Overall, Cox argues that to think big, one has to think small groups. Building small is the best way to grow large. In ten short chapters, four appendixes, and a bibliography for further reading, Cox has touched on the important facets of the small group ministry (i.e. evangelism and facts and phobias of small groups). One more quality of this manual is the fact that it is birthed from a well conducted survey. 

For any Adventist church that wants to be really serious about this small group business, this book is recommended as a reading assignment for the entire church. One need not tell any Adventist pastor who wants to adequately train his small group leaders that this is manual to begin with.

Reviewed by John Okpechi