TOOLS TO HELP YOU
Small Groups Overview
Purpose:
To help people grow spiritually by connecting relationally and studying God’s Word
together
Small Group Leader Win:
To create a small group environment where people have the opportunity to pursue
healthy relationships and spiritual growth
How Do You Know If You Are Winning?
Are group members growing spiritually?
The Goal: A Growing faith expressed in love (Galatians 5:6)
Faith demonstrates (Matt 8:10); Love validates. (John 13:34–35)
Tangible expressions: Is their intimacy with God, relationships with other believers, and influence with those outside the faith growing?
Are group members building healthy relationships?
Are group members going deeper with each other? Removing masks, inviting others in, asking permission to provide care and accountability?
Tips for Leading Well
We have discovered four essentials for creating the optimum group environment for God to work in:
Stay Connected.
This essential reminds us to stay spiritually nourished as we encourage spiritual growth in our group members.
In John 15, Jesus uses the metaphor of a vine and branches to instruct his followers to “abide.” When we stay connected to Jesus in this way, we welcome God’s work in us and through us.
Are you first staying rooted in your relationship with Jesus, realizing that apart from him you can do nothing?
How are you encouraging those in your group to stay connected to Jesus?
Cultivate Relationships.
This essential is focused on how we build community.
By encouraging and facilitating connections outside of regular group meetings, you demonstrate the priority of relationships.
How are you and your group members connecting outside of group time?
Share Ownership.
This essential focuses on how you involve your group members.
Shared participation (facilitating the study, hosting the meeting, preparing the snack, leading prayer time, planning socials, guiding the curriculum choice discussion, etc.) creates broader ownership of the group.
How are you involving your group members in supporting the group?
Provide Care.
This essential focuses on the big and small ways we can provide care for one another.
People often don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Do you make it a priority for your group to support and care for one another?
The Ask of Group Members
● Show Up - make coming to group a priority
● Join In - feel ownership of the group, participate in discussion
● Be Real - share the real you and invite others in
Who’s Responsible for what in spiritual growth?
The Individual - Own the process.
Stay engaged.
Remain curious.
Take a step.
The Group - Support the process.
Promote accountability.
Encourage belonging.
Provide care.
The Leader - Encourage the process.
Ask open-ended questions.
How’s God leading you?
How are you responding?
How can we help?
Encourage participation.
Model transparency.
Group Groundrules
We recommend that groups use these best practices as “ground rules.” Let’s effectively communicate and model them as reminders to one another. As a community of men and men who grow spiritually by connecting relationally, we want to have intentional, trusting, and consistent groups where we help one another grow in our relationship with Jesus.
1. WE DON’T “LEAK.”
Confidentiality should be nonnegotiable.
A simple way to remember this is: What’s said in the group stays in the group.
2. WE DON’T “FIX.”
Giving advice is the natural reaction for most people, but it’s typically more harmful than helpful.
If we offer solutions every time someone shares what he/she is dealing with, that person will stop sharing.
The time for giving advice is when we are specifically asked (and then sparingly).
Consider responding with phrases like: “That sounds hard,” “I’m sorry you’re dealing with that,” and “Thanks for trusting us and sharing.”
3. WE DON’T “PREACH.”
The mature person listens most, shares more, and tells less .
You should openly share your thoughts and feelings, but don’t dominate the conversation..
Avoid being the theology police or using Scripture to confront another person (during or outside of group).
Semester Schedule
This Fall we will offer a true “semester” opportunity for your group to meet consistently.
Below is a tentative calendar with a couple of explanations of events:
Fall 2020 calendar
Promotion Sundays - August 2nd, 9th, and 16th (16th host a meet&greet)
August 16th - SG Leader Huddle 5:30 - 7:00pm with dinner
August 23rd - SG Kick-off night
August 30th - November 15th small groups meet (10 weeks)
Skip Labor Day weekend Sept 6th and Fall Break Oct 11th
Sunday November 29th could be a last group meeting/Christmas social for the semester
Winter/Spring 2021 calendar
Promotion Sundays - January 3rd, 10th, and 17th (10th host a meet&greet)
January 10th - new SG Leader Huddle 5:30-7:00pm with dinner
January 24th - SG Kick-off night
January 31st - May 2nd small groups meet (10 weeks)
Skip Feb 14th winter break, April 4th spring break/Easter, & April 11th spring
break)
SG Leader Huddle
will be a planning and praying time before groups start
SG Kick-off night
is all groups together in circles not rows to have fun together in
competition, vision cast how to get the most out of your group experience, and
plan the semester together as a group
Three details about the semester schedule:
Childcare will be available from 5:15 - 7:00PM, recommended group meeting
time is 5:30 - 7:00PM
Your group does not have to meet all weeks in the semester, you can choose
how often you will meet
Signups for all groups will be online - we will pre-fill your group with the rollover
group members you have from this past semester before groups “open” for
signups
Recommended Studies
One of the things I struggle with as a group leader is picking curriculum - there is so much out
there to choose from, will group members read a book?, how do we pick something everyone
will like or engage with? These are all great questions and issues to think through.
I wanted to provide you a recommended study list in hopes of decreasing your research
time on this while still ensuring you pick something the group will benefit from. Studies
are broken down by topic, all video studies have live links to them, and they are all
FREE! This list is not exhaustive, there are plenty of other great studies out there, these
are personal favorites of mine that i have seen personally and in group setting be very
fruitful.
You will also see a couple of short studies listed (1-2 sessions) that you may want to use
if you are in-between studies or just want to shake things up.
Marriage
●What Happy Couples Know- 4 weeks
●Your Time-Starved Marriage - 6 weeks
Personal Spiritual Growth
●God Will Make A Way- 8 weeks (20-30 minute videos)
●Convergence: Personal Growth- 4 weeks
●Beautiful Outlaw- 8 weeks (2 videos a week)
Parenting
●Parental Guidance Required- 6 weeks
Books of the Bible
●Source Studies- no videos, scriptures only
One-off men’s/women’s studies
●Men’s
Anthology Study - Fathering on Purpose
●Women’s (they are 4-week studies, you would choose 1-2)
Anthology Study - Breathing Room for Women
Anthology Study - Comparison Trap
Short Topical Studies
●Connect With God(Personal Spiritual Practices) - 1 week
●State of Your Marriage - 1 week
●Group Member Assessment - 1 Week (Talk with me before using)
MAKE A PLAN
To get the most out of your group experience, we hope you incorporate the following
experiences into your group semester schedule to focus on building relationships, making a
difference, and having fun together.
SERVE TOGETHER
Service as a shared experience can draw people together, let you see new sides of one
another, and help you grow in your relationship with Jesus. Your group and our city are better
when you serve together. Here are a few ways you can serve together:
SOCIALS
Make sure to take a break from your study and do something fun together. Here are a few
of our favorite ideas:
Cancel group one night and go out to dinner!
Make it a night out walking the State Botanical Gardens
Game Night
Lumberjaxe axe throwing
Escape The Space
Break out of your normal routine by challenging your group in a new
environment that encourages collaboration. Your group must rely on one
another to solve puzzles, mysteries, and riddles!
SPLIT UP
If a group wants to go deeper, we recommend that groups split up men and women for a short
study during the semester. For those weeks, have men and women meet in different rooms.
There are some great men and women specific studies listed in the recommended studies
Group Meeting Sample Schedule
CONNECT
| 20 MINUTES
Ice Breaker Question(s)
Question In A Box Smartphone App
Have everyone share a life update with “High/Low”
Play a game like “Would You Rather...?” or try out
The Maturing Game
LEARN
| 20 MINUTES
This is your group study curriculum - playing a video, discussing a passage of scripture or a
chapter in a book
GROW
| 35 MINUTES
Getting the group to discuss what the content means, and then what it means for them
personally - giving ample time to think thru these three application questions
...Discuss:
What does this mean (for me personally?)
Engage:
What am I going to do about it (what step of faith is God inviting me to
take?)
Support:
How can we (as a group) help