Resources

Leadership Tools

Small Group Goals: What Are They & Do I Need Them?

Do I need monthly goals for my Small Group? It can feel hard enough to just make sure the group meets together! So why should I have goals? And what are the four steps for me to use them to start making my group better?

How to Relaunch Your Group After COVID

We are reemerging from a pandemic. And we need community. Some or all of your small group has been meeting virtually. So now that your group is meeting in person again, how do you relaunch your group after COVID?

You Only Need These 3 Questions to Lead a Group Discussion

It’s easy to overcomplicate things. In an effort to lead well, I often over-think, over-plan, and over-prepare. But sometimes simple methods are the most effective. Although many strategies are useful for leading a Small Group in discussion, in my experience I have seen how three simple questions can create a helpful walk-through for how to understand and apply God’s Word together.

5 Commitments We Developed Before We Led

As a leader, you have the ability to create a culture for those in your group. What are the basic commitments that you want to characterize yourself and your group members? We adopted five commitments for our group members to strive for as we began to live life together:

Coaching Using the G.R.O.W. Model

Coaching others doesn’t mean you need to have the answer to every question. In fact, you should be asking most of the questions and having the person you are coaching answer them! The G.R.O.W. model* is a question-based conversation framework for helping you coach others so that they can set their own goals and move toward achieving them.

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Just because we have a goal doesn’t mean that we will achieve it. Many goals are never achieved simply because they are sloppy. How can we clean up our goals and help others to do the same? By making what is commonly known as S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Firing A Small Group Member

From time to time, a Small Group may experience someone who clearly does not emulate a ”covenant” mentality and does not hold Small Group as a priority. Helping this member may include their exit from the group.

Soul Care

Levels of Care

As you care for those in your group, you have layers of support. Check out this PDF for an overview of the levels of care you can engage in for those in your group.

How to Respond to Sexual Sin

You are all out to dinner having a great time when the tone turns a bit somber and one of your group members asks, “Can I share something?” Those words can strike fear in the hearts of even the most seasoned Small Group leaders, especially when the next words are some way of confessing a struggle with sexual sin. What do you do? How do you respond? What steps are next? Well, allow me to shed a bit of light.

Tree Diagram for Getting at Heart Issues

As we seek to get at the heart motivations of those in our group, the following Tree Diagram helps show how our behavior is connected to our thoughts and our desires.

Life Maps

As a group is learning to get to know one another, it is a great opportunity to have those in the group share their life stories. One method for sharing life stories is by using a Life Map.

How Levels of Care Change the Game

Some people may have the vision of Small Group to simply meet every two weeks and not actually find out what’s going on in each other’s lives beyond the gathering. But that’s not a biblical approach. The body of believers in the New Testament church were active in coming alongside and speaking the truth in love to one another, and we are to be no different.

Equip Night Material

27 Small Group Ideas from Leaders

Here are 27 Small Group ideas from over thirty leaders that can try in your group. Check out these Small Group ideas for something new!

Did You Miss the Equip Lunch on “Vulnerability”?

During our Small Group All Leader Equip Night on Thursday, September 23, 2021, we featured the topic: “Gentle and Lowly/Wisdom Pyramid.” We enjoyed one another’s fellowship and talked through a devotional on Dane Ortland’s book “Gentle and Lowly” and discussed the contents of Brett McCracken’s book “Wisdom Pyramid” and how to take this into our lives as Small Group Leaders.

Did You Miss “Gentle & Lowly/Wisdom Pyramid?”

During our Small Group All Leader Equip Night on Thursday, September 23, 2021, we featured the topic: “Gentle and Lowly/Wisdom Pyramid.” We enjoyed one another’s fellowship and talked through a devotional on Dane Ortland’s book “Gentle and Lowly” and discussed the contents of Brett McCracken’s book “Wisdom Pyramid” and how to take this into our lives as Small Group Leaders.

Did You Miss “Hitting Refresh”?

During our first-ever Small Group All Leader Equip Night on Thursday, October 8, 2020, we featured the topic: “Hitting Refresh.” We spent time enjoying one another’s fellowship outside and talked through how to hit refresh in our groups and also in our lives as Small Group Leaders.

Did You Miss The Abuse Training Event?

During our Small Group Coach Equip Night on Thursday, February 20, 2020, we featured the topic: “Asking Good Questions.” We spent time talking about a framework for asking good questions as well as practicing translating closed questions into open question and judgmental questions into pure (neutral) questions.

Did You Miss “Asking Good Questions?”

During our Small Group Coach Equip Night on Thursday, February 20, 2020, we featured the topic: “Asking Good Questions.” We spent time talking about a framework for asking good questions as well as practicing translating closed questions into open question and judgmental questions into pure (neutral) questions.

Did You Miss “Life Balance as a Leader”?

During our recent Small Group Leader Equip Night on Tuesday October 15, we featured the topic: “Life Balance as a Leader.” We spent time covering four realms for life balance as a leader—spheres, rhythms, and postures. And we closed answering the question, “What do I do when I fail?”

Did You Miss ‘Conflict’?

During our recent Coach Equip Night on Tuesday September 3, we featured the topic: “Conflict.”
We spent time covering eight principles for handling conflict—for ourselves, our groups, and assisting our leaders.

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