Lyle Schaller has over the years observed the growing interest and involvement with small groups. Based on his observations and study, he has developed a slightly different typology for groups. He builds his classification on a numerical spectrum of participants from two to over a hundred persons.

From pages 135 - 136

All groups, like people, have a life cycle. A person moves from infancy to childhood to adulthood and to old age. Even large groups, like a single church has a life cycle. For the first ten to twenty years of a congregation's life, it will usually experience its greatest growth. The second phase is maturity where the church can experience a plateau or gradual decline over a thirty- or forty-year period. The last phase offers an option to renew its life of mission or begin the declining process. If it goes through the cycle without any significant interventions, the life expectancy is about eighty years. However, death is not inevitable if the church can experience renewing interventions which can prolong its life. The type of intervention that can change a church's life cycle are events such as a new dynamic growth-conscious minister, or a spiritual and evangelistic renewal in the congregation.

Small groups also have life cycles. Because of the plethora of studies there are numerous models to consider. Charles Olsen, in Cultivating Religious Growth Groups, presents eight different life cycle classifications given by social scientists. He feels that some consensus can be noted in their studies, and from his own church group experiences he sees four developmental stages: discovery, romance, struggle, and investment.

Roberta Hestenes has analyzed six stages in the growth process to help leaders get a handle on the life cycle of groups. The pre-contract stage is the mutual agreement to start a group. At the first meeting, members experience the orientation stage where they are ambivalent about what is happening. During the power and control stage, members are dealing with issues of influence and control. The trust stage is where members finally begin to feel belonging and unity. After members have matured together as a group, they begin to feel a need for change, called the differentiation or change stage. The final stage is where a group decides to continue or end the group, called the conclusion or new beginning stage. Another excellent description of the stages similar to Hestenes' is described in the Small Group Leaders Handbook: exploration, transition, action, and termination.

From this brief review of group life cycles, the main consideration is that individual small groups are not permanent structures. They each have a life span, and they must be managed in order to keep them healthy. While the life span of a typical church is eighty years, the life span of a small group ranges from twelve to eighteen months. Under some circumstances life can be extended to twenty-four months.

Several strategies are used to renew the life cycle. Home cell groups are designed to grow and divide within a year. The process of division allows a group to renew its life and start the cycle over. For groups that are not designed for division, they have the option of renegotiating a new beginning or accept group termination. Members of terminated groups are then free to enter into new small group relationships.

From pages 137 - 139