04.26.10
Small Groups and Church Planting III, Finding, Training, and Encouraging Leaders
One huge hurdle church planters must get over is small group leadership. Because the relationships found in a small groups is the key to keeping those who are considering the church, the finding, recruiting, training, and the ongoing encouragement of leaders is very important. But small group leaders are hard to come by when planting.
Another issue for church planters is the encouragement, ongoing support, and answers to small group leaders questions. Below you’ll find a list of super small group blogs as well as two websites where answers to most of the practical leadership questions are accessible and free. Give your small group leaders this list so they can turn to these experts to find the answers to their questions. This will save you valuable time.
A few suggestions…
Finding Leaders…
· Pray for God to send small group leaders who have experience leading groups.
· See every sane adult as a potential small group leader. There are two important characteristics that a small group leader should exhibit, 1) “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” 2) “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:30-31
· Soon after someone chooses membership, meet them for coffee. Conclude if they are possible leaders. If so, get together again and ask them to consider leading a group.
· Have a booth in the lobby where the church meets. Ask the senior leader to make the church aware that groups are forming and that the church is in need of small group leaders. Be available to answer questions and get commitments from leaders.
Training Leaders…
· Do a one day training event. If you need a step-by-step guide consider Small-Group Kickoff Retreat: Experiential Guide for Small Group Members.
· Lead an eight week turbo group twice a year for new leaders. A great resource for this training is Becoming Small Group Leaders.
· Connect with other church leaders in your area. I’d be thrilled to come and lead the training. If four churches can partner it will only cost them 300.00 (3 hour seminar) or 500.00 (full day Saturday seminar) per church and travel expenses.
Encouraging and Assisting Leaders (great small group blogsites and three websites)…
Blogsites:
Alan Danielson… http://www.alandanielson.tv/
Bill Search… http://www.simplesmallgroups.com/bills_blog/
Heather Zempel… http://discipleshipgroups.blogspot.com/
Eddie Mosley… http://eddiemosley.com/
Reid Smith… http://2ormoreresources.blogspot.com/
Randall Neighbour… http://www.randallneighbour.com/
Mac Lake… http://www.maclakeonline.com/
Tracey Smith… http://smallgrouppastors.wordpress.com/
Mark Howell… http://www.markhowelllive.com/
Dave Treat… http://blog.thinkingsmall.net/
Frank Chiapperino… http://frankchiapperino.com/
Michael Mack… http://smallgroupleadership.blogspot.com/
Saddleback Small Group Life…http://www.saddlebackfamily.com/blogs/smallgroups/index.html
Willow Creek Group Life… http://www.willowcreek.com/grpblog/
Serendipity by LifeWay… http://serendipityblog.com/
Websites:
Small Group Help… http://www.smallgrouphelp.com/
Small Group Trader… http://www.smallgrouptrader.com/Home
SmallGroups.com… http://www.smallgroups.com/
Things I Wish We Had Done:
· Early in the church’s life, I wish I had utilized service/task groups only. In many church plants a few people do a massive amount of work. If I had it to do over again I would make all groups task groups. The band would rehearse as well as do group together. The greeters would greet as well as do group together. This would have saved many of our teams at least one meeting per month and for some one per week.
· Early in the church’s life I wish I had landed on an approach and stuck with it. I tended to ask our small group pastor to consider new ways of doing groups again and again. It’s been proven that a new model needs at least two year s to conclude if it’s going to be effective.
· Ask each group to adopt the subdivision where the group was meeting. Groups are the perfect way to connect with new residents. A few ways to do so: 1)Utilize the curiosity of neighbors to make people aware of the church (when cars are parked in front of a home at the same time each week neighbors are wondering what’s going on), 2) On special holidays ask groups to do something for the neighborhood they are in (Easter egg hunt, movie night on the side of someone’s garage door, etc…). 3) If the neighborhood has a pool the small group could host a pool party.
what books do you recommend group leaders read and study?
Josh Hunt
www.joshhunt.com
Make Your Group Grow
Destination Community, Small Group Ministry Manual
Leading Life-Changing Small Groups, Bill Donahue
The Naked Truth About Small Groups, Randall Neighbour
How to Lead a Great Cell Group Meeting, Joel Comiskey
These would be a great start, Josh