Skip to main content

Inviting People to Join Your Group

The following article is by Carter Moss who is from Community Christian Church in Chicago.
Have you ever invited someone over to watch the big game? Or invited another couple out for dinner? Or invited someone to your Christmas party? It wasn’t so scary, was it? So why can it be so scary to invite someone to join your small group? In my years of small group ministry, here are the top 3 misconceptions (or “excuses”) I’ve heard about why people don't make invitations for small group:

1. “They are probably already in a small group.” – Don’t assume this! I’d say currently at CCC, based on our stats, only around 50% of our attenders are currently grouped, so there’s a very good chance that the people you talk to aren’t. And there’s a good chance that it’s because they’ve never been personally invited. Think about the worst-case scenario here: you invite someone to group, they’re already grouped, so they walk away feeling incredibly affirmed that someone else wanted to be in group with them too!

2. “We make lots of asks for people to join groups from stage, so we don’t really need my personal invitations.” – This is a huge myth! Despite the fact that us pastors can make extremely inspiring, emotional, challenging asks from stage (ok, maybe not always), we really find it to be one of the least effective ways of grouping people. By far, we group way more people through personal invitations. No matter how outgoing you are, how often are you willing to just pick a group off a list, drive to someone’s house you don’t know, and walk into a group full of people you’ve never seen before? Think of how different it is when you get to go with someone you know.

3. “It’s just not my personality or spiritual gift, to invite someone like that.” – Let’s get real here—at most churches, except for a few exceptional people who truly have no fear and all confidence in talking to people—meeting and inviting new people just does not come naturally to the other 98% of us. But aren’t you glad someone stepped outside of their comfort zone to include you? Wouldn’t that mean so much for you to do that for someone else? An invitation to be included in something is about the least scary thing you can ask someone, because what you are really communicating is “I like you. You are accepted here. You are someone that me and my friends would love to be in community with.” Most people will walk away affirmed by the fact that you stepped out of your comfort zone to invite them!
As we approach summer, be thinking about who you may need to invite to join your group in the fall. Use the summer as a relationship building time so that the transition can go easier!

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

FIGHT CLUB! (iron sharpening iron)

Our youth pastor, Keith Sandison, has implemented "Fight Clubs" with the young men of our church. While these teenagers and young adults aren't actually pummeling each other physically, they are using the opportunity to aggressively challenge one another to be more attentive to their spiritual formation. Right now my son is participating in a fight club focusing on Proverbs. I love it. Keith has created a handout he uses for the fight clubs which lists seven different methods of "generic Bible study". I think the idea started with this post a few years ago, but as he often does; Keith took my thoughts and made them immensely more substantive and beneficial. Check out his system below:
1 comment
Read more

Community Killers Part Four: Complaining

Nothing can tear a group apart faster or more effectively than a spirit of complaining. For some reason, complaints seem to breed faster than rabbits. Once one person’s complaining goes unchecked, it won’t be long until others have joined in and eventually the entire group is sucked into a hopeless vortex of swirling complaints. Often these complaints have little to do with the group, but they have the potential to sideswipe and destroy a group meeting, or if left unchecked, an entire group. Complaints may cover a variety of subjects. Group members might complain about their job, their day, their neighbor, their spouse, or even the church. The role of the leader is to deal with these complaints in a way which is formative for the person, instructive for the group, and glorifying to God. Because a LIFEgroup should be a place where people share their struggles and receive support and prayer, it can sometimes be difficult to know when someone is sharing a difficulty or...
Post a Comment
Read more