Using Three-Thirds For Small Groups

What Is Three Thirds?

The Three Thirds Pattern provides a simple rhythm for gatherings that help people grow as disciples of Jesus. Each gathering moves through three movements:

1. Look Back — care for one another and reflect on how God has been at work.

2. Look Up — engage God through his Word.

3. Look Ahead — respond in faithful obedience, service, and disciple-making.

At Living Hope, this pattern should not be treated as a rigid agenda or a checklist that every group must complete in exactly the same way each week. It is a flexible tool that helps Group Shepherds ask:

“What does our group need right now in order to grow in love and maturity?”

Used wisely, the Three Thirds Pattern can help cultivate Living Hope’s Five Marks of Healthy Group Life:

• Engage the Word

• Share Life

• Care for One Another

• Serve Together

• Multiply Disciples

First Third: Look Back

The group begins by looking back at what has happened since the previous gathering. This creates space to share life, care for one another, and celebrate evidence of God’s grace.

Connect and Care

Invite people to share how they are doing—not merely what they have been doing. A meal, refreshments, or an informal conversation may help create a welcoming environment in which people can speak honestly.

Possible questions include:

• What has brought you joy this week?

• What has been difficult?

• Where have you seen God at work?

• How can the group care for or pray for you?

The purpose is not to force vulnerability but to cultivate relationships in which honesty, encouragement, prayer, and practical care become increasingly natural.

Celebrate and Give Thanks

Take time to thank God for answered prayer, spiritual growth, gospel opportunities, needs that have been met, and other evidence of his work. This reflects the Harvest dimension of group life: celebrating what God is producing within the group and recognizing opportunities to join his work beyond the group.

This may include prayer, Scripture, testimony, or an appropriate song. The group gathering complements—but does not replace—the church’s gathered worship on the Lord’s Day.

Encourage Faithful Obedience

Return to the truths and responses discussed during the previous gathering:

• What did God impress upon you from his Word?

• How did you seek to respond?

• What helped you obey?

• Where did you struggle?

• Did you have an opportunity to encourage or share this truth with someone else?

This is loving accountability, not performance management. The group is not measuring people’s worth or spiritual status. It is helping one another follow Jesus through encouragement, prayer, correction, and grace. When someone struggles, the appropriate response is not shame but patient shepherding.

Renew the Vision

Regularly remind the group what it is becoming. Healthy groups do more than enjoy fellowship or complete studies. They help people become mature disciples who love Jesus, live as his family, serve others, and help more people follow him.

This does not require a lengthy vision speech every week. A brief reminder may be enough:

“We gather to help one another follow Jesus and to prepare one another to carry his love and truth into the lives of others.”

Second Third: Look Up

The group then looks up to hear from God through Scripture. This movement most directly emphasizes Engage the Word, while also providing the truth that shapes every other mark of healthy group life.

Hear from God’s Word

Read and explore a biblical passage together. Rather than allowing the Shepherd to do all the talking, invite group members to observe the text, understand its meaning, and consider its implications.

Questions may include:

• What stands out in this passage?

• What does the passage reveal about God?

• What does it reveal about people?

• What is the author communicating in context?

• How does this passage point us toward Christ and the gospel?

• Is there a truth to believe, a command to obey, a promise to trust, or a warning to heed?

• How should this truth shape our lives together?

The goal is not merely to complete a lesson or exchange opinions. The group seeks to understand what God has revealed and to submit its beliefs, desires, relationships, and practices to his Word.

Practice the Truth

Whenever appropriate, give people an opportunity to practice what they are learning. Practice helps move the group from understanding a truth to living it with growing confidence.

Depending on the passage or lesson, the group might practice:

• explaining the passage in its own words;

• sharing a brief testimony;

• praying Scripture for another person;

• initiating a difficult but gracious conversation;

• explaining the gospel;

• responding to a common spiritual question;

• planning an act of care or service;

• leading a portion of the group discussion.

Practice is especially important when developing new Shepherds. People are ordinarily prepared to lead by receiving opportunities to participate, practice, and receive encouragement—not merely by observing an experienced leader.

Final Third: Look Ahead

The group concludes by looking ahead. Members consider how they will respond to God’s Word and how the group can participate in Christ’s mission.

Identify a Faithful Response

Invite each person to consider a specific response to what the group has learned:

• In light of this passage, what do you need to believe, remember, or do?

• Is there a relationship that needs attention?

• Is there someone you need to encourage, forgive, serve, or pursue?

• What would trusting and obeying Jesus look like this week?

These responses should arise from the biblical passage rather than from pressure to manufacture a goal. The emphasis is faithful dependence upon the Holy Spirit, not self-improvement through willpower.

Share the Truth with Others

Ask members to consider who else might need the truth, encouragement, or hope they have received:

• Who could you encourage with this passage?

• Who in your life needs prayer, care, or practical help?

• Is there someone with whom you could share what Jesus is teaching you?

• Who could you invite into your life, the group, or the church?

This helps the group look outward into the Harvest. Multiplication begins before a group multiplies structurally. It begins when ordinary disciples carry God’s truth into their homes, friendships, workplaces, neighborhoods, and relationships.

Plan to Care and Serve

Looking ahead may also involve planning how the group will care for someone or serve together. The group might provide a meal, visit someone who is suffering, support a ministry, welcome a neighbor, serve the community, or respond to a need within the church.

The objective is not to add activity for activity’s sake. It is to help the group express Christlike love in tangible ways.

Pray and Send

Conclude by praying for the Spirit’s help. Pray for the needs that have been shared, the responses people have identified, those who need the gospel, and the opportunities before the group.

The gathering ends with a sense of being sent:

“Lord, help us live what we have learned, love the people you have placed around us, and make Jesus known through our words and actions.”

Using the Pattern Flexibly

The Three Thirds Pattern is a helpful rhythm, but the three movements do not always require equal amounts of time. One week the group may need extended care and prayer. Another may require deeper engagement with a difficult passage. At another gathering, the group may devote significant time to serving, celebrating, or preparing to welcome others.

The Group Shepherd should therefore hold the pattern with wisdom and flexibility.

The pattern serves the people; the people do not serve the pattern. Its value is that it keeps group life moving in a healthy direction: rooted in Scripture, shaped by honest relationships, attentive to people’s needs, expressed through service, and oriented toward making disciples.

A Sample 90-Minute Gathering

• Look Back — 25 minutes: Connect, share life, celebrate God’s work, and follow up on previous responses.

• Look Up — 40 minutes: Read, discuss, and apply Scripture; practice an appropriate skill or response.

• Look Ahead — 25 minutes: Identify faithful next steps, consider whom to serve or encourage, and pray together.

This is an example, not a required schedule. Whether the group is conducting an Inductive Study, sharing a meal, caring for one another, serving together, or celebrating the Harvest, the Three Thirds Pattern can help the Shepherd guide the group toward Living Hope’s vision:

God is leading us toward a Christ-centered community where individuals experience transformative growth, deepened relationships, and empowered discipleship.

By helping people engage the Word, share life, care for one another, serve together, and multiply disciples, this pattern also supports our mission:

Cultivating Christ-like maturity through loving, Gospel-centered relationships, while encouraging life on mission.