Strategy

I believe most small group leaders spend too much of their prep time on the study. I don’t say this because I don’t believe group studies have value, but because they don’t hold more value than other parts of a group meeting. Jim Egli and Dwight Marable’s research findings show that time spent preparing lessons has absolutely no correlation to any group growth outcomes. If you want to lead a group that is healthy and growing, you need to prepare for your entire meeting and not just your study. Here are five ways to allocate your time to make a lasting difference: 

Pray

The biggest different between groups that grow and groups that don’t is a leader who prays. Egli and Marable conclude that it’s much more important to prepare your heart than it is to prepare your notes.

Before you start praying for your group members, you might find it helpful to pray for the various things that are on your mind first. This will help you settle your thoughts so you can then focus on the people in your group (Simple Prayer is an easy way to do this). Once you’ve done this, pray for the people in your group and the various things they’re facing. You’ll be surprised by the amount of things God will prompt you to pray about.

Pray for the people that your group members share their lives with (family, co-workers, neighbours, teachers, etc.). Pray that God will bring new people to your group. Pray that your meeting times will be impactful and inspirational. Pray for the health and unity of your church.

Make a point of telling your group that you regularly pray for them and then ask them what they would like you to pray about. They’ll feel encouraged, you’ll learn more about them, and your relationship will grow.   

Connect with group members

Experiencing community is an expectation that many people have of their small group. For all the good that can happen in group meetings, it can be challenging to schedule “community building time” into your agenda. You can certainly choose activities that will encourage a sense of community, but this can’t be forced.   

I grew up in a church where money was rarely talked about. I say “rarely” instead of “never” just in case I happened to miss something the preacher might have said. I imagine there must have been some public teaching that warned people about serving money instead of God, but I can’t recall this message being linked to the idea that money was needed for church ministry. Instead, the silence taught me that giving was personal and private. An offering box sat at the back of the sanctuary, providing equal convenience to the discreet giver and the regular avoider. It also cemented the idea that money and the church were two separate topics. 

People have different reasons for giving, but church leaders can greatly strengthen or hinder this potential. Part of this hinges on the words that come from the stage (here are 7 phrases to avoid saying), but another critical part is the giving philosophy that is established and demonstrated by church leaders. By philosophy, I’m referring to the core values that churches have about money and the methods they use to mobilize ministry. 

Many pastors don’t see the importance of developing a giving philosophy, but my friend Mike Penninga, the former Senior Pastor of Kelowna Gospel Fellowship, has grown to understand how giving is connected to personal and corporate transformation. Mike has developed a giving philosophy that fits his understanding of Scripture and the reasons why people typically choose to give. His observations cause him to believe that people have four primary reasons for giving:   

People give when they believe in the mission   

Giving is fueled by the belief that a church is doing something that matters. A person becomes a likely donor when they make the connection between what a church is doing and what they personally care about.

How’s your prayer life?

If you’re like me, there’s room for improvement. I want to develop a lifestyle of prayer where I naturally worship, give thanks, and petition God throughout the day. How can we ignite our prayer life and move in a stronger direction? Here are four suggestions:

Try Some Different Approaches to Prayer

We sometimes need to shake up our usual approach to prayer to revitalize it. In her book Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Can Transform Us, Adele Calhoun describes several approaches to prayer that you might find helpful for reinvigorating your prayer life (I have included some of her ideas in my list below).