The Leadership Hand Off | 3 reasons to share leadership inside your small group.

One way to keep group attendance up and group members actively engaged  is to share & rotate leadership.  Great small group leaders are ones who know what they must do for the group to operate a successful group, however, they also know what they can share or give way to other capable people.  Shared leadership in a small group is a great way to build new leaders, create engaged and invested group members, as well as bust the boredom.  Let's look at these three ideas a bit closer.

1. Build New Leaders:  There are a lot of people currently in small groups who have what it takes to lead a group of their own but for a number of reasons they choose not to lead.  One of the common reasons they choose not to lead is the simple lack of confidence in themselves.  Lack of confidence exists where there is lack of experience.  Giving people the opportunity to lead a session or two will provide them a small success experience that will certainly boost their confidence and give them a taste of leadership without having to bite off more than they can chew.

2. More Invested:  Many leaders take a "do it all myself" approach when it comes to leadership of their small group.  Servant hood is often a part of their motivation.  Their line of thought is  that they want everyone to just come and relax.  These leaders think they are being kind and doing everyone a service by not adding any pressure to do anything for the group other than be present, learn and relate.  While this is a noble idea, leaders often find that their "do everything to serve all" is rewarded with half-hearted commitment from group members and lack-luster engagement or involvement.  Shared leadership of sessions or parts of the small group experience will help engage group members in ways that cause them to care about the results of the group.  Shared leadership moves them from participant / spectator to owner and investor in relationship to the purpose and outcome results of the group. Group members who share in leadership will become more interested in things like group attendance, growth of the group members, and successful relational connections.

3. Boredom Buster:  Believe it or not, there will be some who will find your leadership and presentation style boring.  Even those who like you a lot will appreciate the opportunity to hear from capable others.  Leaders who work from the motto "variety is the spice of life" will find that there is strength in using a number of capable leaders to lead, host, or teach a variety of experiences within the small group season.  A good small group leader offers capable group members the freedom to lead using their own style of speaking that is true to their own personality, and encourages them to illustrate truth using their own personal stories.  Personal stories are interesting to group members and create an environment of honest relating.

Below are a list of areas of a typical small group a leader might consider sharing with other capable leaders.

Ice-breakers and mixers, joke telling
Intro & Recap of a video presentation
Teaching content
Comming up with discussion questions
Leading / facilitating group discussions
Closing prayer
Coordiating snacks
Information and care phone calls to group members




What other ideas do you have?
What other benefits are there to shared / rotating leadership?