Skip to main content

Getting Ready to Launch

Many of our groups are re-launching this fall. As you drive your group's meetings, one of the things I am asking of you is that you make an effort to direct your group to maintain a formative, caring, and missional focus. The following ideas might make it easier to accomplish this.

1. Build authentic relationships. Caring for one another and forming one another will happen much more effectively if everyone in your group feels comfortable with one another. Spend time every time you're together asking and answering questions about each other. Good questions can often launch your group into fruitful inter-personal discussion. Consider the following ten week schedule for your opening Q&A time:

· Who are your heroes?

· What are your strengths?

· What unique skills do you have?

· What are your most important beliefs?

· What things do you value?

· What is the mission of your life?

· What things always keep your interest?

· What do you dream about doing?

· What are the key events of your life?

· What is something we need to know about you?

Modify the questions for your group, or use completely different ones. The key is to spend time getting to know one another a little bit better.

2. Set aside time for "Gift Discovery". Allow time on a regular basis to talk about the gifts and talents you see in each other. Discuss how each person might be able to use their gifts to serve in the church as well as to serve those in the world around them. Encourage each person to commit themselves to serving, and hold one another accountable for the commitments made. A healthy group will also use this opportunity to help people realize when they are over-committed or perhaps serving in a venue they are not gifted for.

3. Encourage application. When you study the Bible, take time to talk about how the truths will practically impact people's lives. Allow each person the opportunity to discuss the things in their life they need to change. Take time as a group to follow up on commitments made.

4. Talk about being missional. Schedule time when your group can get together to do something which will show Christ's love to West Michigan. Many opportunities exist for a group to serve together. You can call the Rescue Mission, Habitat for Humanity, Hope's Outlet, or other places to schedule a time for your group. If you can't set a time when you can serve together, take a week off from your meeting and use that time to get out and show Jesus' love.

,

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discussion Questions for Easter

Have several people ask the question, “What’s the most important thing you’ve ever done?” Ask other people, “What do you hope to accomplish in the next several years of your life?” Tell your class that today you’ll be talking about “life mission” or the one most important thing you do that drives everything else. Tell them that Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the defining moment in history, so it should be the defining moment in our lives. Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-19. How does the resurrection impact some of the crucial beliefs of Christianity?  How would Christianity be different if there was no resurrection? How would you be different without the resurrection? Read 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. What are some specific ways that the resurrection gives us hope? If you had been a friend of Jesus when he was on earth, how would the resurrection have impacted your life?  How do you think his followers then were effected by the resurrection? Read 1 Corinthian...
3 comments
Read more

10 Summer Activities To Keep Your Small Group Connected

I just sent an email to all our small group leaders (I do this 3-4 times each month). This week's focus was STAYING CONNECTED THROUGH THE SUMMER. Below is a list of 10 summer activities a small group can use to stay connected. These are specifically created for groups at The Gathering, but you can pretty easily modify the list to fit your church or your community. Go to a Dragon's Game together. You can buy tickets as a group from the church for the game on July 11. Design a Progressive Dinner. Have appetizers at one house, salad at another, the main course somewhere else and dessert at a final destination. Have a monthly barbecue party. Serve together. Pick a place (Good Neighbor House, St. Vincents, Victory Project, Pirate Packs, Caring Partners International, One Bistro) and sign up to serve as a group one afternoon or evening. Meet up at the Family Movie Night on June 15. Spend a day at King's Island. Work at the church for an afternoon. We have many proj...
Post a Comment
Read more

20 Questions to Build Group Connections

Here is a great exercise for a new group. The instructions are pretty simple. Go around the group giving each person the opportunity to choose one question and answer it honestly. Anyone can follow-up with an opinion or clarifying question (no critiquing each other's answers, though). Once a question has been answered, no one else may answer that question. If your group is larger, you may want to alter the rule and allow each question to be answered 2 or 3 times. Ideally, each person should end up answering 3-5 questions. As the leader, pay attention to the conversation. Let the discussion run its course as this is how people in the group build their relationships with one another. You can use these questions, modify them or create your own.
Post a Comment
Read more