Skip to main content

4 Questions Small Group Leaders Should Ask Themselves

Many large churches provide a coaching structure for the small group leaders. I'd love to be able to do that at some point, but for now... the coaching is pretty much up to me. That means our leaders need to be a little bit self-sufficient in how they evaluate their small group gatherings. The following lists originated as a series of questions for coaches to ask leaders in their weekly sessions (see the original article here). I've modified it to become a list of FOUR QUESTIONS SMALL GROUP LEADERS SHOULD ASK THEMSELVES:
1. What is the best thing that happened in your group meeting this week? This is not a question about numbers. It’s a qualitative question. Think about key comments in the meeting or important prayer requests, or positive interactions. Who is really demonstrating spiritual growth right now?

2. What’s the worst thing that happened in your group meeting this week? Are there things that aren’t working? Think about why these things happened, and how they could have been avoided. Think about how these "problems" can be turned into opportunities.

3. What are you going to do next? This isn't just about what is going to happen in next week's gathering, but it is also about what is going to happen in the life of the group. What can you be doing to help your group become more formative, caring, and missional? Do you have some goals at which you are aiming?

4. How should I be praying? This is the key question among the key questions. More than anything else, this question reminds us of where our true success comes from, and who is the judge of true success. When we have no idea what else we should do, we can always pray.

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