Online Helps
www.smallgroups.com
This website is a great place to start looking for articles, videos, books, blogs, reports, and myriad other formats for helping to lead a small group of any kind, including a LifeGroup at Forest Hill. Leadership resources, tips for connection, Q&A, and links to download the smallgroups.com Digizine are just a few features of this site.
Groups & Social Utilities
Here are a couple of ideas for how to use existing social utilities to add value to your LifeGroup experience.
1- We had a group create a private group on Facebook and invited all members of the group to join. They share social events, prayer requests, and thoughts on the study or topics of interest outside of their normal group meetings. They are a group in their 30’s and all have young kids so they have found this to be an easy way to keep up with everyone, without sending tons of emails, and keep everyone informed of group plans and needs using FB.
2- There is another group whose leader established a blog for the group. She encourages the members to write their thoughts and questions about the study each week, as an added layer to the discussions they have during the group time.
3- There are several LifeGroups who use Google or Yahoo calendars to help the group track what they are doing each week.
Prayer in LifeGroups
According to an article published not too long ago on SmallGroups.com, the most significant impact a group leader can have in growing their participants spiritually is praying for them. The same organization recently published an article on how to incorporate healthy prayer in a group experience. Click here to access the article.
Bible Study
One of the questions we get most often is how to study scriipture personally and engage others with it in your groups. This is the book many of us went through in seminary that taught us those same skills. This hands-on approach to studying Scripture helps students and serious readers get a grip on how to read, interpret, and apply God’s Word. This book equips readers with principles of interpretation, then moves on to apply those principles to specific genres and contexts.
Small Group Resource Book
This book provides small-group leaders with everything they need to know to help their small group of any kind. It's an operating system for small groups. You'll get the most out of your group, no matter your topic, from divorce recovery to marriage enrichment, from grief recovery to spiritual formation—grow spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. It is a fantastic resource.
Great Facilitation Tip
A recent conversation with a LifeGroup Leader surfaced a great tip in helping your group participate in the discussion and encourage them to do their work. Not quite the silver bullet we are all searching for in leading but a great tip nonetheless. Try asking your participants to bring with them a question, written on a piece of paper, about the topic for the week. Everyone puts a question in the middle of the table and the leader selects questions to talk about. Try it and see if you don't get more participation and lively dialogues!