The ABC's of Life Group Ministry

To lead an effective Small group you'll need to know your ABC's.  Knowing them and keeping them in the correct order of importance will be key to your success as you connect members and grow your group spiritually!  Here they are in the correct order of importance:

A is for acceptance -- B is for belonging -- C is for content

Acceptance = Belonging:  At first glance you might think acceptance and belonging are the same thing. While they are closely related, there is a difference. Acceptance comes before belonging.  Acceptance is what you and the other group members offer to one another.  Belonging this how a group member feels about their place in the group.  Content (the biblical truth and the life principals you hope to teach and for people will absorb) may be the reason someone signs up for your group, however, it won't be why they stay actively involved.  Acceptance that results in the feeling of belonging will keep group members coming back to learn your content.

Group leaders often get the ABC's out of order.  Many group leaders give content first place in the way of value and emphasis (CAB).  The result is a "CAB" ride to disillusionment and frustration as a leader.  CAB undermines your effectiveness.  Content driven leaders often end up baffled over the reason for their dwindling or and erratic group attendance.  They question people's commitment to Christ and spiritual growth and wonder why group members are not eating up and licking the bowl when it comes to their weekly opportunity to be taught such great truths and life changing principals.

Here's the truth... CAB's always wreck!  
ABC = great attendance and spiritual growth.

Content driven leaders need to memorize this phrase... 
"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

Here are 5 ways to build an  atmosphere of acceptance:

1). Acknowledge Each Person:  Welcome every guest and make sure the other group members are aware of one another as well.  Welcome each person individually but quickly look for ways to connect them with others.  Say something like, "Welcome Jane, I'm glad you came!  Hey have you met Emily?"  Quickly get guests started in conversation with one another and then excuse yourself to continue welcoming and connecting other guest.

2). Affirm Everyone:  As you greet each person and introduce the person to others, complement them by sharing an important fact about them. Share something about them that you find interesting or impressive.  For instance, people often introduce me to others and share that I am the father of 10 children as a point of interest or uniqueness.  I have a friend who writes poetry and has published 2 books.  When I often share this fact about her when I am introducing her to others.

3). Assign Involvement:  Try and ask every group member to help with some aspect of the group gatherings.  Think about the small tasks you will need to do each week and ask group members to help you do them.  Invite another group member to help you greet people at the door.  Invite group members to sign up to bring snacks or beverages.  Ask someone to help you take attendance or cue up a video the group will watch.  Ask a group member to pray or facilitate discussion by being the first to respond to the opening question after the video teaching is over.  There are a number of ways to assign involvement.  Be creative.


4). Award  Attendance:  Some groups literally award attendance by offering a graduation type of certificate to all who complete the course of study.  Other, less formal ways of awarding attendance would be to offer special prizes or incentives to people who attend regularly.  Another small way to to bolster attendance might be to make announcements about good things that will be coming up in the next session.  Build anticipation with the promise of a reward but make sure you follow through!  If you say, "Next week at this time we'll be eating chocolate cake!" then you better have cake and let them eat it too!

5). Ask Questions:  Acceptance is offered and experienced when a person (or group) genuinely asks questions about someone and truly listens to the person when they answer.  Acceptance goes way beyond  just offering someone a seat in the circle.  It must include the opportunity to open up and share something of themselves with the group.  To begin with, questions should be about the person you and not related to the content.


Do you have any ABC stories?
How do you create an ABC environment?
What are some personal questions you would use to express interest in someone and give them the opportunity to share something about themselves?
 

Can a Small Group Be Too Big? | dealing with the large – small group scenario

Because interest-based groups are often open groups (meaning new comers are welcome) there is always the potential for the group to grow!  With that comes the potential for the small group to get too big.  At first, it can be exciting to be a big small group.  Bigness can bring excitement and energy.  However, space for comfortable interacting and relating can become limited and the quality of conversation can be compromised.

Some models of small group ministry (Cell Groups) would advocate dividing the group (like the cells in the body grow and divide) and creating an entirely new group.  This division strategy can be good for dealing with growth but it is not always the best or most appropriate response to growth.  At times,  group members are even resistant and adverse to this kind of change. So, before you count off your group members by 1's, 2's and 3's and divide them into separate gatherings, consider these internal division methods first.

1)  Celebrate your success!  Start by getting your group members together to celebrate the fact that you have grown!  Never make growth out to be a negative thing.  Growth is always positive but it does create new opportunities and challenges that can become a negative if the growth dynamic is not addressed. 

2)  Communicate the challenges.  Talk to the group about all of the challenges you face now that your number is greater. 

3)  Brainstorm solutions.  Invite the group to brainstorm solutions to the challenges associated with your growing group.  Working together in this way will help group members thoroughly understand the growth and development issues and embrace any changes or adjustments that might be needed. 

Two common issues groups face when growh happens are 1. Not enough space and 2. Decrease in the quality of conversation due to the face that not everyone gets a chance to or feels comfortable speaking in the larger group.

If not enough space is your group's challenge, consider hosting your small group in a larger venue such as a subdivision clubhouse or a room at the church.

If your challenge is quality of conversation, consider ways you can break your large group into smaller groups.  You may have everyone altogether for fellowship, announcements and learning, but divide into a few smaller groups for discussion and prayer.

Example of a Large-Small Group Situation:  The Alpha course is a good example of a large-small group situation.  Group members all share in a relational meal time at the start of the gathering.  Next they receive announcements and then sing a song or two. After this they watch a teaching video and from there they break out into smaller groups for discussion.  This is a great format for this type of life group.  Guests get to meet a number of other guests but are only want to discuss the teaching with a few.  Consider how a format like this may help solve large-small group situation.

What are your ideas for dealing with the large – small group scenario?