Small group ministry takes many forms, but the latest available research shows a common pattern: churches often meet weekly, retain participants for years, and connect group life closely with Bible study. Participation is substantial, although access, scheduling, and communication remain important challenges.
Contents
- How churches define groups
- Participation and discipleship
- When and where groups meet
- How churches organize groups
- Who participates
- Tracking and leader support
- Barriers and practical reach
How churches define groups
The language churches use for group ministry is broad. In the Lifeway State of Groups 2025 survey, 72% of Protestant churches said they were comfortable with others referring to their groups as adult Bible studies. The label “Sunday School” described at least part of the groups ministry for 56% of churches. Meanwhile, 39% said “small groups” fit their ministry.
Several other labels appeared in smaller shares of churches. “Adult Bible fellowships” fit the groups ministry for 13%, and “LIFE Groups” also fit for 13%. Another 10% said “connect groups” described their ministry. These figures suggest that a church’s terminology may reflect local tradition, ministry design, or both; the underlying activity cannot be identified by one label alone.
The same Lifeway survey covered 1,021 adult Bible study groups ministry leaders in Protestant or non-denominational churches. Fieldwork ran from May 27 to June 27, 2024. Lifeway reported a 95% confidence level and a margin of error not exceeding plus or minus 4.6%. The survey included 639 Southern Baptist Convention responses weighted down to reflect their correct proportion of Protestant churches. These details describe the survey’s scope and measurement period; they do not make the results a count of every congregation.
Participation and discipleship
Small groups are a meaningful part of weekly church life in the Lifeway findings. At the average church, 44% of worship attendees also typically participated in small groups. Among adult Bible study groups ministry leaders, 46% identified Bible study as the highest objective for their groups.
Barna research presents a related leadership perspective. In New Research on the State of Discipleship, 52% of church leaders selected small group formats as the most effective single method of discipleship. Discipleship pairs were selected by 29% of church leaders. In the same research, 20% of Christian adults said they were involved in some sort of discipleship activity, such as Sunday school, a fellowship group, or Bible study with a group.
The figures describe different populations and questions, so they should not be combined into one participation rate. Together, however, they show that small groups occupy both a practical place in church programming and a prominent place in how leaders think about discipleship.
The Southern Baptist Convention network provides a separate scale reference. SBC Fast Facts, 2025 reports weekly small group Bible study attendance of 2,567,048. The same source reports 4,304,625 people attending weekly worship in the SBC network. That worship figure is a benchmark for the potential reach of small group ministries in the same network, not a statement that every worship attendee participates in a group.
Prayer is another expression of group life. Barna’s Is Openness to Prayer a Door to Digital Church Engagement? reports that 43% of Christians usually participate in small group prayer in person at least monthly, while 30% do so digitally. Among non-practicing Christians, 20% pray digitally with a small group at least monthly. These measures concern prayer participation and use a different research frame from the church-group survey results.
When and where groups meet
Frequency is one of the clearest patterns in the Lifeway State of Groups 2025 results. Overall, 93% of churches said their ongoing groups meet at least weekly. The largest single category was once a week, reported by 85%. Another 8% said groups meet more than once a week. Smaller shares reported meeting every two weeks, at 5%, or once a month, at 2%.
| Meeting frequency | Share of churches |
|---|---|
| At least weekly | 93% |
| Once a week | 85% |
| More than once a week | 8% |
| Every two weeks | 5% |
| Once a month | 2% |
The schedule across the calendar year is less uniform. Group gatherings happen basically all year long in 73% of churches. Within that broad category, 47% said groups meet all year, while 26% meet all year except for a few holidays. A further 19% said groups take the summers off but meet during the rest of the year. Smaller models include two semesters of two to three months, reported by 3%, and three similar-length trimesters, reported by 2%. Another 3% use some other meeting schedule.
Churches also divide group time differently around worship services. Thirty percent said they exclusively meet before or after the weekly worship service. Thirty-five percent said groups meet on other days or nights of the week only. The largest share, 36%, said they have groups meeting both around services and at other times during the week.
The church building or worship location remains the most common setting. Ninety-two percent of churches said groups gather there. At least some groups meet in homes in 31% of churches, while 13% said at least some groups use off-campus locations. On average, 79% of groups meet at the church building.
How churches organize groups
The Lifeway findings indicate that many churches leave ongoing groups open-ended in size. Ninety percent said they do not limit the size of ongoing adult Bible study groups. This is a structural choice rather than a measure of how many people are in a typical group.
Continuity is also pronounced: 89% agreed that most group participants have been in the same group for at least two years. Long-term membership can support familiarity and trust, while also making the way a church welcomes new participants especially consequential. The statistic itself measures continuity, not the reasons participants remain.
Churches use several organizing principles, and the categories can overlap. Forty-five percent organize groups around interest in the topic being studied. Age is used by 31%, life stage by 29%, and gender by 28%. These figures describe the share of churches using each approach; they do not indicate that any one model is the standard or that the categories are mutually exclusive.
Taken together, the organization data point to a ministry built around both content and relationships. Topic interest is the most commonly reported organizing principle in this set, while age, life stage, and gender each appear as additional ways to help people find a group that fits their circumstances.
Who participates
Barna’s Who is Active in “Group” Expressions of Faith? offers demographic context for several forms of group participation. Women make up 60% of small group participants, while women make up 59% of adult Sunday school participants. House church attenders show a different pattern in the same source: 56% are men.
Age is another defining feature in the reported small group profile. Two-thirds of small group attenders are age 45 or older, and small group attenders have a median age of 56. These findings concern small group attenders in Barna’s research and should not be treated as a demographic description of every church’s groups ministry.
The distinction among small groups, adult Sunday school, and house churches matters when interpreting the percentages. The labels describe different expressions of faith community, and the results should be read within the population measured by Barna rather than projected onto all group formats.
Tracking and leader support
Churches vary in how systematically they document participation. In Lifeway’s State of Groups 2025, 53% said they track attendance in adult Bible study groups. A slightly larger share, 56%, said they maintain a roster of who is in each group.
Leader development is another area where practices differ. Thirty-six percent said they do not provide any training for small group leaders. This is a direct measure of reported training practice; it does not identify what informal coaching, personal study, or experience leaders may have outside a formal program.
The difference between rosters and attendance tracking is useful for understanding administration. A roster identifies group membership, while attendance tracking records participation over time. Since the survey reports the two measures separately, a church may maintain one, both, or neither; the figures do not establish how those systems are implemented.
Barriers and practical reach
Some people remain outside group ministry because the invitation or opportunity is unclear. Barna’s 4 Barriers to Discipleship Community in Churches reports that 22% of churchgoers who are not in a small group or Bible study are not sure whether their church offers one. Another 14% of Christian adults who are not in a small group say no one has suggested they join one.
Time is a separate barrier. Nineteen percent of churchgoers say they are too busy to engage in a small group. That finding helps explain why a weekly meeting pattern can coexist with incomplete participation: a regular schedule creates consistency, but it may not fit every person’s availability.
The reported statistics also show why communication and scheduling deserve attention alongside curriculum. Churches commonly use weekly meetings, and many groups continue throughout the year. Yet a substantial share of nonparticipants either do not know whether an option exists, have not received a personal suggestion, or feel too busy to engage.
For readers evaluating small group ministry, the data provide several measurable reference points: 44% participation among worship attendees at the average church in Lifeway’s survey, 93% of churches with ongoing groups meeting at least weekly, 89% reporting that most participants have stayed in the same group for at least two years, and 36% reporting no small group leader training. Each figure comes from a specified source and population, so the most useful comparison is with a church’s own participation, scheduling, continuity, and support measures over time.