Spiritual Gifts and Servant Leadership on the Growth of Small Group Ministries in Selected Places in Indonesia as Basis for Program Development

Abstract

The phenomenon of increasing number of baptism but decreasing church members
has plagued almost all churches including the Adventist churches in Jakarta Local
Conference. Most of the baptized people came from the front door and went out to
the back door. To solve this problem, the researcher suggested small group ministry.
To utilize small group ministry, people need to understand the variables that
contribute to its success. Therefore, this study determined the relationship between
servant leadership and spiritual gifts on small groups in selected places. Descriptive
survey design utilizing purposive sampling was employed to discover the relations
among three variables (small groups, spiritual gifts, and servant leadership). Each
variable is composed of four aspects: (a) spiritual gifts = teaching, evangelism,
giving, and hospitality; (b) servant leadership = service to others, holistic approach,
promoting a sense of community, and sharing of power in decision making; (c) small
group growth = discipleship, nurturing, retaining, and reclaiming. Two hundred fifty
questionnaires were distributed among small group leaders in Jakarta Local
Conference but only 143 were retrieved and analyzed. Result showed that there is a
significant relationship between spiritual gifts and servant leadership on small group
growth. The most dominant aspect of spiritual gifts is teaching; while the highest
aspect for servant leadership is the willingness to share their power. Based on the
result, the author proposed a program to help the small group ministry. This study
verifies that small group ministry could reverse the trend of decreasing church
membership; identifies aspects which lead to the success and growth of small group
ministry; and the proposed program helps the local pastors in developing an ideal and
healthy small group ministry.