Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, Ariz., offers small groups based on geography and neighborhood. Says Lead Neighborhood Pastor Bob Fesmire, “We believe people will stay at a church based on relationships regardless of the things happening in the life of the church.”
The church, which has a weekend attendance of 16,641, now has 8,000 people involved in 500 neighborhood groups. As soon as a house gets too full, the church launches another group out of that one. To maintain the groups and develop leadership, the church sends out neighborhood pastors who meet individually with neighborhood volunteer leaders throughout the church’s 80 neighborhoods.
ONLINE: CCVOnline.com. Adapted from an article that appeared in the July/August 2013 issue of Outreach magazine.
