Jesus’ invitation to follow Him is an invitation to have relationship with the God of all creation. When we decide to follow Jesus, we are saying that we want to pattern our lives after Him in every way and He intended we learn and follow His ways in the kind of community that comes from traveling together in His Name (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:42-47, 4:32-35).
Small groups are ‘the other half’ of how the Church can be the Church in all the fullness and vibrancy God intended (Acts 5:42). They provide a strategic way for every person to grow closer to Jesus regardless of how much progress each one has made so far. We are so grateful for your invaluable service in building up our church’s community-life so others can grow stronger in Christ and pray this summer will be a time you experience His rest in your life.
We hope this month’s small group leader tips and tools encourage you in your community-building:
ONE: The Essentials for Effective Bible Studies – Part 1 of 2
A Bible study is effective when it furthers the work of the Holy Spirit in participants’ lives. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ formula to make this happen. However, there are essential factors to transformational Bible study experiences that need to be cultivated by the small group leader. You’ll undoubtedly be a crackerjack community-builder when you tend to these twelve:
Pray for it – You need to first till the ground before planting something. Similarly, prayer is the first step to effective Bible study. It is essential to the life and growth of Christian community. Ask the Lord to meet people where they’re at and to draw them closer to Himself and one another. Pray for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to His truth and apply it to your lives.
Preview it – It is well worth taking 15-20 minutes before the study to…
Read the passage in at least two different translations (www.biblegateway.com)
Refer to cross-references, commentaries, introductions to biblical books, etc. (Not too much, but just enough so that you have a good feel for the content and its context.)
Review the questions that are a part of the study that you’re using and select the ones you sense your group will grab onto the best. In other words, which questions do you think will be most effective at sparking further questions and conversation? Your Bible study experience will be richer if you pay attention to your group’s uniqueness.
Reduce the volume of material given for a study session by 50%. Oftentimes leaders find they have twice the amount of material they can get through in one sitting so cut the content in half before the group even begins. This helps the time of Bible study feel more relaxed and more focused which increases overall participation in the discussion. It also makes space for ministry and prayer to be woven into your Bible study enriching the experience overall.
Rephrase the questions you decide to use. Make sure the discussion material provided makes sense to you first. Don’t make small group curriculum a sacred cow: If something seems vague, confusing, or off-center from the focus of your study then restate the points. This has the added benefit of preparing you to articulate questions differently than how they appear in the material everyone is using. Sometimes spinning questions another direction triggers responses from participants who tend to not be ‘quick on the draw’ in sharing.
Focus it – Take a minute at the beginning of your study time to frame what you’re studying (passage, theme, and context) and what you hope people will walk away with in terms of…
Education – A deeper understanding and appreciation for the meaning of God’s Word.
Inspiration – New thoughts and new motivation for living out our faith in Christ.
Application – Ways to bring scripture to life’s circumstances and relationships right now.
Facilitate it – Don’t get into ‘teaching mode’ or feel like you have to have all the answers. You want Bible study to be a group learning experience where every person’s insight and personality plays into the discussion. Here are some questions that can enliven the dynamic of your discussion:
- What stands out to you in this passage? What impacted you during the reading?
- Was there something read that’s new for you, reaffirming, confusing or challenging?
- How can we apply this to our lives today?
- How could this be shared with people who do not yet know Christ?
The nice thing about these questions is they elicit new responses in each Bible study you hold – they never get old. Also, be patient with moments of silence. It takes time for people to process and think about what they’re going to say in a group dynamic. If nobody shares after a few seconds, you might just put the question in another way. Sometimes restating the same question in different ways helps people to formulate their thoughts. This is when your “preview” time pays off. Here are a few other facilitation tips that will help to accelerate spiritual conversations: 1) Be ready to be the first to answer questions briefly and naturally 2) People think primarily in pictures so try to portray a topic visually by applying questions to hypothetical situations 3) Provide guardrails to guide the discussion versus railroad tracks to govern the direction of the group. Your role as a facilitator is to create the time and space for God to do what He wants to do in the lives of the people in your group.
Affirm them – Make eye-contact with those who share and acknowledge their input with simple affirmations like, “Thanks for sharing” or “Good insight” then try to relate it back to the passage being studied or keep the momentum going by asking if there is anyone else who would like to share. When it comes to affirmation, lay it on thick! This builds the confidence of the person sharing and builds them up in front of others. It has the added benefit of building more energy into the whole discussion, which comes as a result of people feeling freer to share their thoughts.
Include them – When people feel included, they feel like they belong. When people feel like they belong, they want to engage. When people are engaged, they grow. When people are growing, they want to embrace others. The experience of bonding flourishes into the act of bringing others to God and His community when the root system of inclusion is nurtured by the small group leader. Time may not allow for every person to connect or participate in the way they would like, but you can help them feel more included by giving them…
Purposes to fulfill in the group that harmonize with their interests and gifting – start them off with small tasks that have a single effort or shorter-term commitment. For example, if a question is raised during your Bible study that intrigues everyone but you have limited information on it – ask a person who enjoys research to bring back a brief explanation to share at your next gathering. You can gradually phase from delegating tasks to empowering participants to take ownership over aspects of your group-life. This strengthens their ministry skills and helps others to see they can make a difference too.
The opportunity to share in the Bible study, e.g. come back around to people who haven’t shared, but looked like they were on the verge of saying something.
A moment of your time when you express your love for them, e.g. “I’m so glad you’re a part of our group.”, “It’s great to see you. We missed you last week.”, etc. Make it a goal to have at least one meaningful connection with each person during your group time. Simple acknowledgements go a very long way in boosting people’s sense of belonging which makes for effective Bible studies in the future.
TWO: Free Web-Based Tools to Enhance Your Group-Life
www.circleup.com - With CircleUp you can e-mail or IM a question to a group of any size and get back a single result with everyone's answer. This tool can help if you need to change your next meeting time and want to see if the new time works for everyone. It can also help if you want to plan a get-together spontaneously between your regular meeting times or see what people are thinking about the Bible study you’re in the middle of. It’s a simple, free and easy way to ask questions of the community you belong to and get back a consolidated and summarized result regardless of which method you use to send your question!
www.pbwiki.com - A PBwiki is an easy-to-use web page that multiple people can edit. This is way people in your group can gather in cyberspace, generate ideas together, and develop a portal for learning and inviting others to join in your group’s spiritual conversations. This tool can be used to include people who weren’t able to be physically present at the last gathering or invite new people to your upcoming gathering. Think of it as an extension of your community-life. Like CircleUp, you can use this online collaboration tool to plan for meeting logistics as well.
https://beta.yodio.com - Yodio lets you record audio anywhere from your phone, combine photos with your sound files, and create an audio postcard that you can use to invite people to your small group. This is a creative way of strengthening your group’s approach to invitational evangelism that will pique the interest of YodioCard recipients.
www.mypunchbowl.com - MyPunchbowl allows you to create a cool looking invitation in minutes. The application of this concept is similar to Yodio, but you can make your invitation more interactive by including features like Google maps and message boards. It also allows you to share after-gathering reflections (text, photos, and video) with people who were invited. This tool might be useful when you are planning special events for your group like a summer BBQ, giving people you’re reaching out to a ‘feel’ of your group, and building on the experience of previous gatherings for the benefit of those who were a part of it or who couldn’t be a part of it.
THREE: Seeker-Friendly Small Group Life – Part 3 of 3
Receiving & Reaching Truth-Searchers for Christ
This is the final installment of a three-part series designed to help you welcome truth-seeking guests, build relationships between them and your group members, and inspire everyone to take their next steps together in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
Most guests like to be acknowledged – they just don’t like to stand out or be spotlighted in front of a group…so don’t focus on them. If you keep things normal the group will feel more natural and comfortable to newcomers.
The more people your guests sense a possible connection with, the more likely it is they will want to return. Help seekers get to know a few others in your group. Research has shown the possibility of a visitor joining a church is reduced by at least 50% with each passing week. This trend also holds true for small groups and can be inverted by the same proportion if guests experience the hope of developing healthy friendships. In other words, the likelihood of seekers returning increases by at least 50% if they experience a sense of belonging through their connection with others. This can be cultivated by highlighting things your truth-searching guests hold in common with other group members and timely follow-up.
Talk about how you would like for your group to make a difference in your community. Have that conversation spontaneously or just say you would like to talk about it next time. This allows you to revisit your group’s commitment to outreach and shows seekers that your group is…
Outward-thinking and it is not all about those in the group – this actually helps guests feel safer because it makes the communal nature of the group feel less cultic and more caring.
Serious about making a commitment to share God’s love and grace to a waiting world. People want their lives to make a positive impact on others. This helps them to see that your small group can help toward this goal, making group-time a worthwhile investment of their time.
Do not offer advice for how your seeking guests can grow. That might sound funny for those who like to be helpful. The reason is because some people on the receiving end of such good advice might interpret it as homework and think you will be checking-up with them at the next meeting. You might be surprised how this inhibits people from returning, especially if they did not act on your advice or experience the results they assume you want them to have.
Follow-up with guests before your next meeting to let them know you hope to see them again. If a seeker came with somebody, encourage their friend to welcome them back. Sometimes group leaders hold off from following up in this way because they are afraid of being intrusive or coming across as pushy. Guests appreciate this act of kindness and it makes your group more inviting overall. If you do not risk the remote possibility of coming across as intrusive in your follow-up, seekers may feel like they are intruding.
After a gathering where you had seekers to your group, write down facts about them or prayer requests they shared. Find a way to revisit these things when you follow-up with them and naturally weave them into your conversation. This shows you were listening and that you care, which has a powerful effect in drawing guests into your group’s community life.
Last but not least, decide as a group to have an open group policy with personal outreach (and if possible in church communications also). Small groups provide so many opportunities and so much encouragement for outreach. You want group members to have more than permission to invite their friends…let them know you WANT them to invite their friends. This attitude is one of the greatest contributing factors to a group making an evangelistic impact. If your group is in a season or study that is less conducive to having newcomers join in, just ask your small group ministry contact person to remove your group listing from your church’s small group communications and promotional material for a time. However, it is always good for group members to know they are commissioned and encouraged to invite their seeking friends. Groups can and should always serve to encourage personal outreach.
Small groups enable people to apply biblical learning to life and believers are empowered to engage in mission through them. They are a vital extension of a church’s community-life to the life of its surrounding community and present wonderful opportunities for blending believers with those who have yet to believe.
Just know a group that has an open home, open hearts, and open hands is a group that is pregnant with life-giving possibilities. By following the recommendations above, you will create an environment where the hospitality of biblical community will receive and reach many truth-searchers for Christ.
FOUR: Introducing People to Group Prayer – Part 2 of 2
Here are some tips that will help you to ease people who are unfamiliar with group prayer into this very important spiritual practice:
Don't call on anybody. Some people are terrified to pray in front of others, and if they’re newer to the group, they may not return if you put them on the spot.
Don't go in a circle. This puts people who don’t want to pray aloud in an embarrassing situation, especially if they’re the only one to pass.
Go first in sharing a personal prayer request. This primes the pump for others to share and sets an example of vulnerability.
Appoint somebody to write down prayer requests. Then follow-up on them at your next gathering. This cultivates a warm and caring environment that will help people feel safer about personally engaging in group prayer.
Integration. Discussing prayer needs outside of the time allotted for prayer in your next gathering can help to integrate prayer more into your group-life. This helps group prayer feel more a natural part of your group-life as opposed to an isolated or add-on component.
FIVE: Strengthening your Small Group through Ministry
Ministry is the outworking of our Christian life and involves the giving of our time, talents, and treasure in Jesus’ Name. It involves the exchange of God’s life-giving grace and takes on many expressions: Loving my neighbor, carrying the burdens of a fellow believer, exercising my spiritual gifts, and sharing the resources that God has blessed me with so I can be a blessing to others and advance God’s purposes in the world. Ministry is relational by nature and has the effect of building community.
Growth Tips: Aim to create an interactive environment in your small group. When somebody shares how God is doing something transformational in their life, pause the discussion and affirm what the Lord is doing. If somebody is sharing a struggle, lay hands on the person and pray. Invite others to do the same. Allow prayer and bible study to ignite ministry moments. Then model care and demonstrate how ministry is a priority over your group’s meeting agenda. To paint a picture of what in-group ministry can look like go to www.biblegateway.com and do a quick search of the phrase “love one another.”
SIX: Building Momentum for Biblical Community
DISCERN God’s plan for building community in your church and reaching your surrounding community with the power of the Good News. How is God already moving in your midst? Where are the “power points”? In other words, what’s reaching the lost and helping them to connect with God? How are people responding to the Holy Spirit building the Church through the Church?
DISCUSS ways your leadership team can uphold the five biblical purposes in your church. Ministry that is sourced from this team is influenced by the relationships of the people on the team. The involvement of pastoral leadership in a church’s small group community life is the linchpin to sustaining the healthy growth of biblical community. There is no substitute for what the most influential and visible people in the church model and advocate on the weekend. When relationships and relationship-building are prioritized in your church’s leadership community the church’s growth will be healthy and balanced. The tree makes the fruit – not the other way around.
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