Conversations on Group Practices
The pandemic has certainly affected the way we do church, including Sunday School. Church leaders are quickly adapting but many still have questions. Ken Braddy and Chris Surratt will address several of the current issues that churches are dealing with now. And they’ll explore the possibilities on the horizon. How will COVID-19 shape the future of Sunday School? Tune in this Thursday, April 30 at 1:00pm CDT to find out.
| Click Here to Watch |
Now that social distancing restrictions are starting to be slowly lifted around the country, churches are planning how they will operate safely in this new world. Weekend gatherings will be limited because of ongoing restrictions on capacity and people’s proximity to each other. This will alter the number of worship services, how children’s ministry is offered, the ingress and egress of people in the building, on-campus classes, and many other ministries, but what about small groups?
Small groups in homes seem like a logical place to start since they are decentralized and mostly come under the gathering restriction numbers, but before you flip the switch back on for your in-person small group, you need to think through the same types of questions every church, restaurant, and retail business is pondering right now.
There is a trust that has to be rebuilt between host and attendee in every environment. We have been conditioned to keep at least six feet between us and the next human being, and that surfaces outside of our home are not to be trusted. Wearing masks in public to protect those around us is also encouraged, and in some localities, enforced.
With that in mind, here are a few questions to think about before you throw the doors open to the small group in your home.
Some of these changes may be temporary and some may be permanent. I would encourage thinking through every detail and having a plan before reopening our homes so group members can come back confidently and safely.
Thankfully, the team at LifeWay and many Christian leaders have partnered on resources that can aid your group during such a season. For those still adjusting to gathering back together or wanting individualized study resources, check out Pray Like This: A 52 Week Prayer Journal, No More Excuses: A 90-Day Devotional for Men, Foundations: A 260-Day Bible Reading Plan for Busy Believers, or Foundations New Testament: A 260-Day Bible Reading Plan for Busy Believers.
As we continue to have conversations about social distancing (the term that has been used widely up to this point), we need to sharpen our pencils and not use that term, or at least use it correctly. Social distancing is harmful to people. Social distancing isolates people, and that’s not a good thing. Even Scripture affirms that being alone is not preferable when it says, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him” (Genesis 2:18, CSB).
Physical distancing is what we’re aiming for. People should keep six feet of space between them, wear masks, wash hands, and exercise good judgment and forego even larger family gatherings.
If we encourage “social distancing,” we’re advocating something that is very different from physical distancing. What the church needs is smart ways to practice physical distancing, but we need to be proactive in meeting people’s social needs by staying connected relationally and spiritually. Phone calls, text messages, Zoom meetings, and letters are just some ways to connect relationally. Online worship and group Bible studies are other ways to help people connect spiritually.
So going forward, let’s commit to practice physical distancing, but not social distancing. Care for one another, look out for neighbors and older adults who may be alone, and pray fervently that God brings an end to this pandemic.
Over the last month, you have seen practical blog posts on how to virtually lead your group during this time whether through FaceTime, Zoom, Google Hangouts, or other means. Hopefully this has positively impacted your group!
But if you have been a reader of this blog for any length of time, you know that group discipleship goes hand in hand with simply hanging out as a group. Outings, fun group meetings, game nights. These “lower pressure” times are just as important to growing in faith in your small group as the more study-focused meetings. But that presents us with a challenge.
How in the world can we possibly “have fun” in this season?
Glad you asked. Here are 3 ways that we’ve seen small groups keeping the fun in their group meetings.
In these unprecedented times, sometimes it’s just best to embrace the weirdness of the situation where we find ourselves. Acting like everything is normal (when it is clearly not) can sometimes lead to more anxiety. When doing these video calls, there will be technical glitches, people will talk over each other, and sometimes you will have that one person that can’t quite figure out their video camera. As we navigate this season let’s approach these odd moments of disconnection with humor and grace–and maybe just a little more fun.
We are all trying to figure out what life will look on the other side of the Covid-19 crisis. Will our groups and church return to “normal,” or is there some kind of new normal that we should start preparing for?
We will have this conversation on Facebook Live this Wednesday, April 22 at 2:00pm CDT. It will be hosted by the Group Answers Podcast hosts, Chris Surratt and Brian Daniel. Come join us and bring your thoughts and questions!
| Watch here at 2 p.m. on April 22 |
We are facing a lot of uncharted challenges right now with the threat of COVID-19. Churches, schools, restaurants, and businesses are all being asked to eliminate gatherings of over 10 people. This “social distancing” will eventually help stop the spread of this virus and limit the number of deaths around the world. This challenge is changing how we live our lives, but it doesn’t change our mandate to share the gospel and disciple people in our care. Our groups may not be able to meet physically together for a while, but that doesn’t mean they cannot meet. We are seeing this take place with online streaming weekend worship services, and with free internet-based tools, our groups can gather as well.
Technology
The two most prominent platforms for hosting meetings online are Zoom and Google Hangouts. There are pros and cons to each one.
Zoom
Google Hangouts
Our groups may not be able to meet physically together for a while, but that doesn’t mean they cannot meet at all. Consider making use of these wonderful online platforms with your groups during this season and watch God do amazing things in and through all of you.
by Tyler Quillet
Years ago, I was asked to lead a discipleship group with 5 men who had recently given their lives to the Lord. I was excited! I’d discipled many in my short time as a pastor, but over those few first few years, it was mostly teens and those closer to my age. This would be with a number of men who were old enough to be my dad. So, I went in with the assumption that due to their years on this earth, they had to know something about life in Jesus. Certainly there was a foundation there to build off of. I was young and naive and I was wrong.
I began to talk about big theological terms like, justification, sanctification, and repentance. It didn’t take long (their blank stares told the story) for me to realize that they had no understanding of these things. Not only did they not understand that, they didn’t really know anything. They’d rarely, if ever, opened a Bible. They’d not attended church growing up. They knew nothing. That’s not a shot at them, it’s just the reality of our situation, and it was awesome because they had such a deep desire to learn and grow!
Here we had 5 guys who were hungry for God’s word, but they couldn’t take it in big chunks. So, we went slowly and simply through scripture. We took on the book of John at their pace. Some weeks, we’d auger into a singular verse and that’s as far as we got. Sometimes, they were so confused that we had to go backwards to chew on some truths again to make sure they got it. It was hard work, sometimes frustrating, but always rewarding! Five years into our time together, it oftentimes felt like we were still building a foundation, working on that ground level of their faith. But, that’s where they were and we weren’t going to begin overwhelming them and leaving them to feel like maybe this life in Jesus wasn’t for them because they didn’t get it all.
Not every person you disciple is going to be in this place. Some will have grown up in the church, know scripture front ways and back, and are turning their life over to Jesus. Some will have grown up in the church and have been away for a considerable amount of time. Some never experienced time in the church or in God’s word and this is all new to them. No matter their past, here are four things we can all keep in mind as we disciple a new Christian.
It’s easy to throw together a scope and sequence of your Bible study and say, “here’s everything we’re going to cover and here’s our timeline to cover it in.” That’s going to overwhelm them right out of the gate. Let them choose the pace. You may sit on a single topic or text for multiple meetings. That’s ok. Sometimes, as the leader, it’s good for you to press on, but be sure that whatever pace you are going, the person being discipled isn’t feeling overwhelmed.
Be sure to ask the person you are discipling a lot of questions. Make sure they are grasping the content being covered and ask how it is changing their heart. One of the most dangerous questions a discipler or teacher can ask after reading scripture is, “What do you think about this?” By asking their opinion, you are validating what they think…and what they think may not be truth. Be sure to speak truth and ask questions like:
Be sure that everything you say and teach is grounded in God’s word. Statements that begin with, “I think….” are dangerous, because you are training your disciple to follow/trust in you. Ground everything in scripture. If they have a question about something, instead of saying, “I think”, say, “Let’s see what scripture tells us.” Always be reminded that Jesus is their savior, not you. A day is coming where you will not be available to them. Where are they going to turn? Will they be reminded to turn to God’s word when they are in need, or will be feel hopeless because they no longer have you? At every opportunity you get, point them to Jesus!
The words you use, the way you respond to difficulty, the spoken thoughts you have of others, they are all training the person you are discipling. If you speak negatively of others or of the church, you are training them to feel/say/do the same. How you respond to difficulty is training them to do as you do. Remember, the majority of new Christians are a sponge. They’re going to soak up everything they can and if you are pouring into them, they’re going to respect and look up to you in a way that they will seek to model how you do life in Jesus. That’s why the point above is so important. Point them to Jesus. Point them to Jesus with your words, your actions, your thoughts, your body language, everything you have. They’re following your lead like a child does a parent. Model holiness!
This all feels like a lot of pressure, I know. Be reminded that it’s the Spirit working in and through you that is doing the heart change. You be faithful with what you’ve been called to and He will be faithful to give you what you need to point them back to Him. Cling to Jesus’ words here from Matthew 28:19-20….
19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
For a free resource on how to disciple new christians, check out the free PDF guide of the study My New Life. To be entered into a drawing for a free physical copy of this study, head over to our Instagram page for details!
Lifeway.com/MyNewLife
Tyler Quillet is the Discipleship Strategist for the Custom Church Resources team at LifeWay Christian Resources. He lives in the Nashville, TN area with his incredible wife, Cathie, and two boys, Cylas and Bowen. Tyler also speaks, writes, and coaches alongside Cathie as they pour into and love on those battling infertility through Cathie’s “The Quillet Institute”. Tyler previously spent 15 years as a pastor and is passionate about serving churches and pouring into church leaders in a variety of ways.
Perhaps never before have churches and small groups been so grateful for the technologies that allow for online group meetings. Likewise, perhaps never before have they been so aware of the challenges and shortcomings associated with them. It’s simply not easy to build community through a screen.
That said, it’s not impossible. Consider these three principles to help you establish and build community in an online group.
I wish I could rightly attribute this quote that I picked up many years ago because it’s been very powerful in many different ways throughout my life and ministry. Expectations are premeditated resentments. Applied to this scenario, we should not come to an online group experience expecting it to be anything remotely like meeting in person. Further, we should press that principle down into every single aspect of the group experience. Conversations won’t be the same. Interaction won’t be the same. The depth of the study won’t be the same. Very little, if anything, will be the same in an online group experience compared to meeting in person. But the online experience will go better for everyone involved if all have told themselves again and again to adjust their expectations accordingly. If they don’t, they’ll come to resent the online group experience and be less likely to participate.
So, adjust your expectations. You can’t build community with people in an environment you resent. Speak truth to yourself about what you’re likely to experience so that you don’t come to resent the best possible solution for meeting with others when you can’t gather in person.
Because meeting online is significantly different than meeting in person, I have found that every participant, especially the group leader, has to strive for simplicity in every facet of the experience. It may be nothing for your group to meet for up to two hours in person, but you’ll likely find an online group experience should be much shorter, probably not more than 45 minutes. You might tackle many different questions and concepts in person, but online you’re probably better off discussing one big idea, two at the most. You might expect everyone in the group to participate in the conversation when meeting in person, but online it’s more likely that three or four people will truly engage in a meaningful way.
I could go on, but let me keep this simple: by making simplicity a core value, you’ll make the online group experience better for everyone involved because meeting online is inherently more complex than meeting in person. So, look for ways you can simplify the experience to help everyone engage in the experience.
While some in your group may have lots of experience with online meetings, it will be a brand new thing for many. Because technology is involved, there will be many potential points of frustration and confusion. There are different “rules” for etiquette and behavior that apply to online groups, and practicing them requires, well, practice and patience. All of this, combined with the stress of our current circumstances, can quickly lead to disappointment and even anger toward individuals in the group who just can’t seem to “get it together”.
In short, participating in an online group experience requires everyone to have more grace. Everyone must be willing to bear more wrongs. Everyone must be willing to let many more things go. Everyone must accept others for exactly who they are in that moment, not what they think the others should be in that moment. They must be willing to give more grace.
In these times when we cannot gather in person, meeting online is a grace of God to us. No surprise, then, that doing so requires us to be all the more gracious with those we meet with. By changing our expectations and fighting for simplicity in the experience, we make showing that grace easier.
Please enjoy this replay of our webinar: How to Lead Your Groups in a Time of Social Distancing.
Topic:
With most churches now not meeting physically, and most gatherings in general discouraged, how can churches effectively lead groups through this time of social distancing and isolation?
Panelists:
Steve Gladen has been Executive Pastor of Small Groups at Saddleback Church since 1998 and serves as an elder of the church. He oversees the strategic launch and spiritual development of more than 9,000 adult small groups on multiple campuses. He is the author of Small Groups with Purpose, which has been translated into eleven languages, and Planning Small Groups with Purpose.
Jared Steven Musgrove serves as Groups Pastor and elder at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Oklahoma, a Master of Divinity in preaching from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate of Ministry in leadership from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with more than twenty years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Teams at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN., and Seacoast Church in Charleston, S.C., prior to becoming the Discipleship and Small Groups Specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. He is the author of Small Groups for the Rest of Us, and Leading Small Groups.
Resources:
LifeWay.com/Coronavirus