Multiplying groups signifies health and growth, but can also bring challenges. As leaders, we want to shepherd our people with care so that relationships remain strong and God is glorified. Here are 10 relational dangers to watch out for and Scripture to guide you as you lead through them.
1. Not Communicating with the Sending Group
- Danger: Launching without clear communication can cause surprise, mistrust, and hurt feelings.
- Leader’s Role: Keep the group informed early, invite questions, and celebrate openly.
- Scripture: “And the LORD answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.’” (Habakkuk 2:2)
2. Lacking a Culture of Multiplication
- Danger: People may resist or feel threatened if multiplication feels forced or unfamiliar.
- Leader’s Role: Teach regularly that multiplication is part of discipleship and mission. Celebrate growth. Remember how your group was sent or started. Thank the Lord for this and ask Him to make your group ready to multiply.
- Scripture: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matt. 28:19)
3. Feelings of Rejection or Abandonment
- Danger: Some may feel they’re losing friendships or being “split up.”
- Leader’s Role: Affirm ongoing friendships while helping them see new groups as new families. Openly within the group setting, speak to those who feel rejected with care and clear biblical principles highlighting godly growth. Follow up with them in private.
- Scripture: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)
4. Unequal Value Placed on Leaders
- Danger: Sending one leader out and keeping another may feel like favoritism.
- Leader’s Role: Publicly honor both, pray over them, and affirm their equal callings. Clearly celebrate the giftings of each and ask the Lord to send co-laborers into the harvest.
- Scripture: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” (1 Pet. 4:10)
5. Unmet Expectations About Who Goes Where
- Danger: Hurt can come if close friends or family members don’t land in the same group.
- Leader’s Role: Be clear about how groups are formed (geography, balance, gifting). Acknowledge disappointment with compassion. Give people ample time to process and pray about where they need to be.
- Scripture: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Phil. 2:3)
6. Overattachment to the “Original” Group
- Danger: People may view the sending group as the “real family” and treat new groups as less valuable.
- Leader’s Role: Celebrate the history of the original group, then cast vision for the new group’s unique identity. Take time to biblically describe “real family” and the Lord’s mission for His church. Spend time reading Acts 13 together and studying the aspects of sending.
- Scripture: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” (Isa. 43:18–19)
7. Fear of Losing Depth of Relationship
- Danger: Members may worry that intimacy will be lost.
- Leader’s Role: Encourage continued friendships while embracing the opportunity to build new ones. Occasionally, keep in touch with members of the former group and promote joint group gatherings on holidays and special events.
- Scripture: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (Prov. 17:17)
8. Resistance from Leaders or Members
- Danger: If multiplication feels imposed, it may create resentment.
- Leader’s Role: Include the group in prayer and decision-making. Share testimonies of multiplication.
- Scripture: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.” (Heb. 13:17)
9. Unresolved Conflict Before Multiplication
- Danger: Unhealthy patterns or conflicts may spread into the new group.
- Leader’s Role: Address and resolve relational issues before launch. Encourage forgiveness. Set up clear biblical expectations for members to work toward resolving hurts/issues.
- Scripture: “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (Rom. 12:18)
10. Leader Burnout or Isolation
- Danger: New leaders may feel overwhelmed and unsupported.
- Leader’s Role: Provide coaching, regular check-ins, and a leader community so no one feels alone. Promote healthy group dynamics and raise co-leaders and apprentices to help with the leadership load.
- Scripture: “Two are better than one… For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.” (Eccl. 4:9–10)
At the end of the day, multiplication is not optional—it is part of God’s design for His church to grow and for disciples to be made (2 Tim. 2:2). That means raising up and discipling new leaders must remain at the heart of every community group. Yet we must also recognize that not everyone will embrace change simultaneously. Some members will be “late adopters,” needing extra encouragement and patience, while others may resist altogether and even choose to leave the group or the church. As leaders, we cannot let fear of hurt feelings prevent us from faithfully multiplying; instead, we must shepherd tenderly, communicate clearly, and entrust the results to the Lord, knowing that multiplication always comes with joy and challenge.
Toby DeHay 