Dwayne McCrary, Author at Group Ministry

May 17, 2018

Summer Serving: Finding the Right Project for Your Small Group

When most of us think about a group project, the first thing that seems to always come to mind is working in a local soup kitchen or a construction project. There is nothing wrong with these kinds of projects, but there are so many more possibilities if we just look. Here are some steps that may help you find the perfect service projects for your group.

Get organized. Enlist someone in the group to lead the way. This person needs some organizational skills and a heart for people.
Understand who is in the group. Identify who in the group can do what. Build on and utilize the skills and interests you already have in the group. If there are no carpenters in the group then why look for projects that require carpentry skills?
Discover the possibilities. Ask the group to list possible things they would like to do in your community. You may even ask what role they would see themselves playing in meeting the described needs.

At the same time, scan the community for potential projects. Every community has different needs and opportunities. Here are some general places you can begin to look that will get you on the right path:

Hospitals—while some may want to become “official volunteers” at a local hospital, there are other projects to take on. Talk to the hospital administration about the needs their staff have especially during holidays including July 4th.
Local Schools—contact local school administrators about their needs. Don’t forget to look for ways of encouraging the teachers. You may want to join with other groups to provide a thank you meal or snack on occasion.
Local colleges and or universities—many on-campus ministries provide meals and other support for students through the year, usually through volunteers.
Public servants—your local police and fire departments are always on duty. Your class could adopt a precinct office or firehouse, doing special things for them through the year.
Community organizations/events—there are all kinds of organizations in your community that depend upon volunteers to survive. Special Olympics, sports leagues, after-school programs, adopt-a-highway programs, annual parades, Red Cross, and other organizations are full of opportunities.
Counseling centers and support groups—Abortion alternatives, financial help, grief support, cancer support, and drug rehab need volunteers. (Tip: Be aware that there may be some training involved in some of these projects. Most organizations will help you get the training needed or at least point you in the right direction. There may be background checks involved in some cases as well. You want to make sure that you meet the expectations of the group with whom you are partnering. If the organization is a faith based organization, you will also want to make sure that their beliefs and practices are in line with your church’s beliefs.)

Select a project. Include the group in the decision, presenting them with two or three options. Be sure to explain the expectations for each project and why that project was selected as a potential project. It would be best to do one project well than to do several poorly.
Get after it. Seek to fulfill the requirements of the project with excellence. Remind the group that they are doing this project as a means of representing Christ in your community. When asked by those you serve about why you are doing these things, explain that you are doing it because of the difference Jesus has made in your life. Be sure to take photos and encourage each participant to record interactions (journal) if you are aligning the project with a specific Bible study (for more on this, see the post on service learning).

Dwayne McCrary is a project team leader for ongoing adult Bible study resources at LifeWay, including the adult Explore the Bible resources. He also teaches an adult group and preschool group every Sunday in the church he attends.

Church Leadership

May 16, 2018

Service Learning and Your Small Group: Teaching Through Serving

By Dwayne McCrary

Many high schools and universities have discovered the value of integrating community service and teaching; incorporating service learning into their curriculum. Service learning is an educational strategy that combines community service and instruction to give a deeper learning experience. The process revolves around reflection as participants record and ponder on the significance of their experiences and how those experiences relate to beliefs, values, and formal instruction. Participating in the service work functions as both motivation to learn and a lab for testing formal instruction received.

We can learn a great deal from this model. Think a moment about how most projects are done by Bible study groups. A need is discovered and brought to the attention of the group. Once the group decides to respond to the need, a plan is created and carried out to meet the discovered need. Photos may be taken and shared once the project is finished. The group then moves on to another need, leaving the former project in their rear-view mirror.

What if the service project became a means for teaching the Bible study? Suppose you selected a Bible study for the group and then looked for a service project that relates to the selected Bible study? What might that look like? For example, you choose Tony Evan’s Horizontal Jesus as your next study for your small group. Since the study looks at how Jesus impacts our relationships with others, you then look for a service project that puts the group in direct contact with lots of people…maybe volunteering to help staff a local marathon rest stop or community event. You then encourage the group members to record notes about interactions they have through the day. The study then gives insight into the interactions recorded while the notes serve as illustrations to what is being studied. The study and the project then work hand-in-hand to give greater meaning to both.

If anyone should be interested in aligning a study with service to others, it ought to be Bible study groups! We may be missing out on deep learning experiences by failing to tie our group studies to our group’s involvement in service opportunities.

What events and projects could your group take on this Summer? How can the experiences gained from that event or project be a tool for teaching a specific Bible study?

Group Leadership

January 18, 2018

Handling Divisive Issues During Group Discussion

By Dwayne McCrary

Everything seemed to be going fine as Paul shared the gospel with the people of Athens—until he brought up the resurrection of Jesus (see Acts 17:32). The debate was now on. Some ridiculed Paul, others asked for time to think about it, and some accepted the gospel. God’s truth has a way of bringing out the best and worst in people. We cannot teach the Bible avoiding divisive issues. The Bible is brutally honest and touches our deepest emotions, some of which we don’t want exposed. But that is how a two-edged sword works.

When a divisive issue comes to the surface in a Bible study group, how do we deal with it?

Let Scripture speak. God has given us His Word so that we may know the truth. Too many times, we spend more time worrying what this person or that person says than we do about what the Bible says. The God of the Bible is capable of defending Himself and His Word….if we let Him.
Make sure all of Scripture is given the opportunity to speak. Ignoring the whole of Scripture will get us in trouble. Too many causes have been justified by the misquoting of a Bible verse or passage. The Bible is not a collection of individual tidbits of wisdom and stories. Rather, it is a complete unit and must be treated as such.
Set ground rules and use them. Discuss with the group some ground rules for discussion: being respectful of others, disagreeing without being disagreeable, attacking an idea without attacking the person, and other rules may need to be considered. I know some groups that set time limits for discussion. The issue is not so much about having rules as it is enforcing the rules. Displaying the rules of discussion for the group can be helpful.
Plan your discussion. Many times heated discussions happen because we failed to craft meaningful and substantive questions that move the conversation to conclusions. Discussion as a Way of Teaching by Stephen D. Brookfield and Stephen Preskill and Engaging Ideas by John C. Bean are great resources for learning how to plan a discussion. A key is thinking in question sets, moving from the general to the specific so a final conclusion can be drawn.
Anticipate the hot buttons. If you know your group, you can anticipate some of the potential divisive discussions. When planning the discussion, create contingency questions or responses that will help you keep the group on track. You may only use those contingency questions and remarks occasionally, but when you need them they become invaluable.

We can’t avoid all potentially divisive issues in a Bible study group, but these five practices help me when approaching these types of issues.

What other practices have you found helpful when dealing with potentially divisive issues?

G. Dwayne McCrary is a project team leader for ongoing adult Bible study resources at LifeWay, including the adult Explore the Bible resources. He also teaches an adult group and preschool group every Sunday in the church he attends.

Group Leadership

January 16, 2018

How Diversity Impacts Our Small Groups

By Dwayne McCrary

Just below the surface of most groups sits a plethora of differences. If you don’t believe me, ask these questions and see what happens:

If you were on a sports team that was invited to the White House, would you go?
What makes our city better than any other city?
Why do you think (name a college) is so much better than (name of different college)?

Most of our groups are diverse; we just don’t always recognize it. Not everyone in the group agrees on every issue. There may be people with different races, political views, hometowns, genders, occupations, levels of income…you get the picture. That diversity impacts our group in both negative and positive ways.

Let’s look at the potential negative impacts, or distractions, of diversity.

Can limit some discussion. I lead a co-ed class of married couples. If a husband states his opinion, his wife will rarely disagree with him unless I force the issue. She will wait for the car ride home to finish the discussion, without the group gaining insights that might have needed to be heard. The relationship outweighs the diversity. Some people will not take the risk of stating their beliefs if they know someone may disagree. Diversity multiplies the possibility of disagreement.

Can give the rabbit chaser a weapon. Almost every group or class has a rabbit chaser. He or she likes taking control of the discussion by focusing on some minor point (the rabbit) that ultimately has no bearing on the study. During a study of Jesus’ birth, a rabbit chaser focused on how much time was required to walk from Jerusalem to Bethlehem with and without a donkey. He fed off the diversity of the group, calling on the runners and a couple who raised horses to help him with his calculations. He pitted the two against each other, using the diversity as a weapon to avoid talking about the deeper truths in the Bible passage.

Focus becomes the differences more so than the points of agreement. So many times we find ourselves looking for the differences to the exclusion of finding some common ground. We would rather focus on our disagreement over the details of the return of Christ than affirm that we both believe that He is coming back and that all believers will spend eternity with Him in heaven.

Now for some positive impacts of diversity.

Learning from the experience of others. A diverse group moves us away from group think, allowing for different perspectives to be explored. Group think discourages critical thinking. The diversity gives each individual a point of comparison of his or her unique experience and understanding of those experiences. In effect, the group becomes a living case study for each individual involved.

Way to discern universal truths. As people with diverse backgrounds explore truth together, they will discover universal truths. They will discover some ideas and truths cut through all of life circumstances. They may have seen God’s love and grace demonstrated in different ways, but that is the point….God’s love and grace is always demonstrated regardless of a person’s race, gender, or hometown.

Makes it easier for the group to connect with new people. Diversity broadens the connection points for others. When a new person attends a group, they are looking for someone with whom they can connect. The more diverse the group, the more likely there will be someone with whom a new person can connect.

What would you add to these lists? How can you minimize the negatives and build on the positives?

Group Leadership

January 15, 2018

Creating an Inclusive Mindset in Your Small Group

By Dwayne McCrary

A friend invites us to attend a Bible study group. We hear all about the relationships, spiritual depth gained, and ministry opportunities that await us. We decide to attend and soon discover that becoming a part of the group will be more difficult than we thought. We wear a handwritten name tag (everyone else has a printed tag), get asked to introduce ourselves to start the group time, and then find out we were the only ones that didn’t get the text about bringing your own cup if you wanted coffee.

Most of us who lead a Bible study groups ministry at least advertise that our groups welcome anyone. We would like to think that any person can find acceptance and a place in a Bible study group. Unfortunately, “anyone welcome” is an apparitional goal at best in many groups. What are some things we can do as a leader to move the groups towards being more welcoming of everyone?

To begin with, take an inventory of the stories used to illustrate points during the Bible study. Most of us use stories from our experiences and interests…and we should. Doing so helps the group get to know us and builds trust between the group and us as the leader. But shouldn’t we strike a balance? How many of the stories used relate to people exclusively from our background and interests? Nothing wrong with loving sports for example, but all our illustrations shouldn’t be from the sports world.

Secondly, look at who helps us manage the group. Is there diversity within the team, or are they all like us? Most of us gravitate toward people with the same interests and goals, so it makes sense. However, if we want our Bible study group to be inclusive, the leadership team ought to reflect who we are seeking to reach. Just look at the group Jesus assembled as His disciples and we find all kinds of people—fishermen, a tax collector, a political activist, and a thief. He assembled a diverse group on purpose.

Thirdly, observe who and how we engage people. Most of us tend to find it easier to talk to some people than we do with others, but as the leader we need to try to engage with everyone present. That begins with awareness and prayer. Asking God to help us see all people as people is a dangerous prayer since God tends to put people in our lives to find out if we are serious about that request. How we engage someone may be more important than who we engage. We must learn to treat others as people who have real needs, real reasons for why they believe what they believe, and real stories worth telling.

Fourth, we can become a student of cultures and subcultures. Read blogs and books by people with whom we know we will disagree and who come from a different background. Learn to be comfortable asking about a person’s background, memories, and values. We can all learn a great deal by talking to people if we simply take the time to do so.

Here’s the bottom line, creating an inclusive Bible study group starts with us as the leader. The rest of the group takes their cues from us. They know who we talk to the most and to whom we respond the best. They watch how we handle others who answer questions in a combative or reactionary way. We set the standard even when we don’t want to.

What are some things you have found that help you foster inclusive mindset in your group?

Group Leadership

October 12, 2017

How to Frustrate a Guest

By Dwayne McCrary

In preparation for International Moment of Frustration Scream Day (October 12), we started listing things that might make a person scream, including a list for group leaders (Tuesday’s post), group members (yesterday’s post), and group guests. Not all groups expect guests, but many do. The life of open ongoing Bible study groups depends upon guest attendance. When traveling, I will sometimes attend a Bible study group as a guest. Here is a list of things that can make a guest scream with frustration.

Make them walk across the room to find a chair. You enter the room (usually late because you had to find where the group met) and the only chair available is on the other side of the room. In some cases, the group leader is positioned right by the entrance to the space and there is no way to simply sneak in.
Provide them a name tag that is different from everyone else’s. Everyone wearing a printed name tag lets me know I am not “in the club.” Handing me a red marker when everyone else has nametags in black also raises my suspicions. Let me be a part of your club!
Put them on the spot. One way is asking them to introduce themselves. Did no one in the group catch my name earlier? If I didn’t share during the group time, why would I want to share now? There are so many more ways that guests can be put on the spot: the leader directs a specific question toward the guest, the guest is put in charge of an activity, or the leader asks a guest to read or pray aloud.
Make it hard to participate. Having extra resources on hand makes it easier. Give the guest a Bible if needed. Make it possible for them to participate. If they want to keep the Bible or resource provided, let them.
Tell inside jokes, stories, or terms. Every group has a code—the order of doing things and the way things are referenced make up part of that code. Experiences within the group also make up that code. “You remember how that worked out when we were building that playground for the community” means nothing to the person who didn’t even know the community had a playground. Don’t be so exclusive. Guests need you to clue them in—explain inside jokes or unspoken rules.
Forget their name. Most of us expect people to remember our names. If your group has so many guests that you can’t remember their names ten minutes after you met them, then maybe it’s time to start a new group!
Ignore them. It’s one thing to not put guests on the spot, but it’s another thing to ignore them altogether. If a guest wants to contribute to the discussion, let her do so. If he volunteers to read aloud, encourage him. After the group time is over, make the effort to talk to guests or contact them. We want to know that someone noticed that we were there!

What other things might a Bible study group do that would cause a guest to scream out of frustration?

What actions might you or your group take to minimize the potential for frustration among newcomers, and encourage guests to come back?

Group Leadership

October 11, 2017

How to Frustrate a Group Member

By Dwayne McCrary

In preparation for International Moment of Frustration Scream Day (October 12), we started listing things that might make a person scream, including a list for group leaders (yesterday’s post), group members, and group guests. Group members are a resilient group. Many have endured a carousel of leaders and group names. They have met in rooms too small and too big, and even shared rooms with other groups. Yet, they still faithfully attend a Bible study group. Here is our list of things that make even the most resilient group members scream.

Unprepared group leaders. Group members expect the leader to at least make some effort. At least highlight and make notes in the Leader Guide so the group knows you did something! Even better, teach from a set of notes—even if copied word-for-word from the Leader Guide.
Leader arrives late. Related to point number 1. Nothing frustrates group members more than arriving on time, only to find that they beat the leader. If the group members can get there on time, so can the group leader.
Overprepared group leaders. Some leaders take it to the other extreme and overprepare. They have 124 PowerPoint slides and enough content to fill three hours of time. The group time feels like getting a drink from a fire hydrant just to wash down an aspirin. No one asks questions or discusses the ideas shared, because there isn’t enough time to do so.
Goes over the allotted time. This is a symptom of the overprepared group leader. The ending time is just as important as the starting time.
Teaches the lesson, but not people. The focus of this leader is to finish the lesson. Questions or needs that surface during group time get in the way of finishing. The group members clearly know that their questions and needs play second fiddle to the content to be covered.
Nothing provided to use beyond the group time. Group members will be happy to let the leader do all the studying, but deep down they know they need to study as well. An email to the group with the topic or Scripture passage is a start. What about providing group members with something to read every day? Group members may not read every day, but failing to provide some study help at all assures that they will not do it.
Focus only on the group time. Life happens beyond the group time. Group members want a relationship with each other and the group leader, and that can’t happen in an hour of structured time. We want to minister to others, sharpen each other, and do some things together… so let us.

What other actions might cause a group member to scream?

What actions might a group leader take to minimize potential frustration among group members?

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the frustrations of group guests.

Group Leadership

October 10, 2017

How to Frustrate a Group Leader You Recruited

By Dwayne McCrary

In preparation for International Moment of Frustration Scream Day (October 12), we started listing things that might make a person scream. That led to the creation of things that frustrate group leaders, group members, and group guests.

Many of the conferences I facilitate focus on the group leader. They share their joys, their dreams, their needs, and their frustrations. Some frustrations just come with the responsibility: the discussion dominator, the chronic late arriver, the occasional attender, the axe-grinder, the rabbit chaser, and playing the stump-the-teacher game. But there are some frustrations that could be avoided and many of them seem to be related to the one who recruited them in the first place. The person recruiting the group leader doesn’t intend to cause frustration, but it happens. Here is a list of some of the frustrations that make group leaders scream.

A few details not shared during the recruiting process. The list of details varies, but the bottom line is people want to know upfront what is expected. What meetings are they expected to attend? Who will help them if there is a problem? What will they be teaching? Who will they be teaching? With whom will they be teaching? The details make a difference.
No onboarding plan. Most businesses provide an orientation of some sort that helps new employees get started on the right foot. For some group leaders, onboarding means they received a curriculum resource with little to no explanation as to how to use it. The leader is left alone to figure it out. Nothing is done to prepare the group leader for that first day.
Left on the relational island. Regardless of the age grouping, group leaders need someone to check on them as individuals. Even if the person leads a group of peers, the island exists (the group views them differently which impacts relationships). If they work with an age group different from their own age (i.e., adult working with preschoolers), they may feel even more isolated. The one who recruited them must intentionally become their shepherd.
No ongoing training. I have yet to meet a group leader who wants to simply be mediocre. Most want to be better than they were last week. Failing to provide some type of ongoing training communicates that the recruiter either doesn’t know enough about the job to help or doesn’t care…or both.
Ineffective ongoing training. This may actually be more frustrating than not providing any training. Some call teaching the lesson for the coming week or month “training.” One begins to think that the group leaders are not capable of studying on their own or are too lazy to do so. Some share announcements and distribute forms. Others make the meeting about them (what is needed to help the church “grow”—increase the number by which the one who recruits is evaluated—as opposed to how to help the leader succeed). The group leader often wonders, “Instead of distributing your study notes, why not show me how to create my own set of notes using the resources you already provide me?”

What other things would you add to the list? What makes you scream as a group leader?

What actions might be taken to minimize the potential for frustrating those you recruit?

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the frustrations of group members.

Group Leadership

July 19, 2017

The Daily Discipleship Guide and Your Role as a Teacher

By Dwayne McCrary

A prevalent debate among educational circles is that of the role of the teacher. Some view the teacher as the expert ready to dispense information, while others see the teacher as a fellow learner, spurring students on to learn alongside him or her. Words like “leader,” “mentor,” “provider,” “coach,” “nurturer,” “motivator,” and “guide” are used by different scholars to describe the teacher’s role, with each term implying various responsibilities.

Historically, the role of the teacher in adult Sunday School groups has been that of the content expert who clarifies, redefines, and shares additional information with the group. In effect, the teacher is the source of authority within the group. This role is assumed when the expectation is that everyone has studied prior to group time. Thus, the purpose of the group gathering is to go deeper into what members have already discovered in their personal time. This methodology requires the teacher to have more information than the most learned group member. The pressure of being the resident expert every week can be daunting, causing many who lead to never consider the possibility. This approach has a proven track record, but it requires teachers who are willing to invest in rigorous study.

There is another way. Let’s imagine that the expectation for group members is that they attend the meeting without first studying the week’s Bible passage. The only person expected to be prepared is the teacher. Here, the teacher is not “the expert,” but instead introduces the group to the passage and sets the pace for members to go through deeper study in the days following group time. The teacher does not need to go into the deeper points, but could if he or she desires to do so.

The teacher is an expert in his or her role as introducer; this role allows the teacher to grow as an expert in the craft of teaching, and not the weekly content. Certainly, the teacher has studied and prepared to lead the group, but his or her biggest responsibility is to challenge individuals to take the next steps of reflection and application. And by being an introducer, the teacher also learns alongside group members.

The Explore the Bible Daily Discipleship Guide is one example of how the second approach of teaching can be resourced. With the Daily Discipleship Guide, teachers are given a reliable, simple resource to introduce the Bible passage to group members, and are given the opportunity to go deeper alongside group members. The Daily Discipleship Guide allows each group member to become a content expert, but to do so in a way that helps him or her incorporate the truths discovered in his or her personal life. In this approach, everyone becomes a resident expert in the days following the group time, removing some of the pressure felt by teachers.

Download four free sessions of the Daily Discipleship Guide.

Group Leadership

July 18, 2017

Preparing to Teach Using the Daily Discipleship Guide

By Dwayne McCrary

The adult group I lead will begin using the Explore the Bible Daily Discipleship Guide in the fall. How I prepare will be different, but I think the process will give me more time to focus on other responsibilities I have as the leader of the group. Here is the process I plan on using to prepare to lead my group.

First of all, on Sunday evening I will read the Bible passage listing key words, phrases, places, and people. I will then review the first five pages of the Daily Discipleship Guide for that session and the commentary provided in the Leader Helps in the back of the book. As information is discovered about the words, phrases, places, and people listed, I will record that on my sheet of paper. If needed, I will look at other helps such as the keywords in QuickSource, consult the Explore the Bible Adult Commentary, and read any Biblical Illustrator articles that give biblical backgrounds to the passage. I will pay careful attention to the Apply the Text section for that session, looking for ways I need to apply that passage to my life. The last thing I will do on that Sunday will be to review the teaching plans. Since these are available digitally in the digital bundle and the Leader Pack CD-ROM, I will make adjustments to the plans and then send that file to my smartphone.

On Monday through Friday, I will complete the Daily Exploration activities, one a day. Since I have my group plans on my phone, I can add notes each day as I go deeper into the passage. As the week progresses, I will gather the items I plan to use in the group time including the posters and handouts in the Leader Pack.

On Friday, I will meet with three or four other teachers to share and pray with them. We will also use the Talk It Out feature to spur on our conversation. I am doing what I am asking my group members to do, but I am doing it prior to the group time and will encourage members to meet with a small group after the group study time.

On Saturday, I will pray for group members, send emails reminding them of the passage we will study the next day, and review the plans one more time. A quick double check of posters, handouts, and other items I plan on using will be conducted.

On that Sunday, I will arrive early so I can make sure the area we use is ready and so I can pray. When the first person arrives, the study time will begin. I will follow my plan but will also be ready to adjust as I go.

After the group time is over, I may need to contact the group to encourage them to complete the Daily Exploration section, share gathered prayer requests, and other appropriate information. I will also record insights gained about the act of teaching, group members, and Scripture. Then the process starts all over again.

Using the Daily Exploration features should help me manage my study time better without compromising the quality of my study. Meeting with other teachers will give me a way to bounce around ideas, and hold me accountable for my own spiritual growth. I believe this process will make me a better teacher, for I will have chewed on the truth of a passage throughout the week and will be ready to help my class do the same thing in the week that follows group time.

Download four free sessions of the Daily Discipleship Guide.

Summer Serving: Finding the Right Project for Your Small Group

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