Sunday School or Small Groups? In this broadcast, PJ discusses how to create and lead healthy communities of disciple-makers in our churches with Steve Gladen and Dr. Randy Stone. Regardless of your strategy to make disciples, they need to have a purpose! We will look at the top 3 recurring issues seen in creating and sustaining small groups in the local church as well. Steve Gladen has served as the small group pastor at Saddleback Church since 1998. He oversees the strategic launch and spiritual development of over 7,000 adult small groups. Steve has authored several books, including "Small groups with purpose" and "Leading small groups with purpose. In addition to being an elder at Saddleback, he travels around the world consulting and encouraging leaders. You can connect with Steve by going to www.smallgroups.net. Dr. Stone is a lifelong strategic discipleship guru skilled in church consulting, and team building and has a Ph.D. focused in Christian Education from NOBTS. He currently serves as a professor at NOBTS and leader of Strategic Church Solutions. He has served in churches from 100 to 5,000 in multicultural contexts, and you can connect with him further at www.strategicchurchsolutions.com. In this episode, the panel talks about: • What do you do in a small group, and how is it different than a Sunday School group? • Randy talks about from the classroom what pastors and second chair leaders see as the weakest area of focus for small groups • Steve unpacks how small groups worship together and how they need to be balanced in their experience • How do we keep groups sustainable and focused regardless of church size? • Steve gives to leaders looking to expand their small group's impact • Randy discusses ways to assess the health of their small groups in their context • Dive deeper into the tools used to evaluate group health • The top 3 recurring issues seen in creating and sustaining small groups in the local church • Are small groups an either/or or both/and solution for churches finding a way grow discipleship?