Group Leadership

August 20, 2020

Challenging Paradigms

By Reid Smith

All of us come to the table with our own experience, biases, and presumptions about what works best with starting and multiplying healthy groups in a church. Over time, paradigms (or ways of thinking) about groups formulate in our minds, which in turn influence the culture of the community being built. This is natural, but should be challenged so that the culture of community in your church is being shaped strategically around informed convictions instead of unchallenged paradigms.

One of the best ways of challenging paradigms is by asking questions. As you search God’s Word and your heart, your paradigms might change or be further solidified. These inquiries are meant to be thought-provoking and are good to process with other trusted leaders whether or not you’ve launched groups in your church yet.

Are you ready to begin building a strategic culture of community in your church? Clear your mind and honestly grapple with these 10 questions:

Do you think of groups as a “ministry” of your church or as the building blocks of every ministry area of your church?
Is there a clear vision for groups? What language does leadership intentionally use to support this vision?
Does your church put more emphasis on joining or starting groups? What are the pros and cons of the language leadership uses to support this emphasis?
Do you consider it to be more advantageous to have a broad/open-ended or narrow/specific definition of what constitutes a “group” in your church? Explain.
What is the primary motivation of getting people in groups (retention, member care, increasing engagement in church activities/volunteerism, spiritual maturity, mission, etc.)? Are other critical things being under-communicated as a result of this emphasis?
On a scale of 1-10 (with ‘1’ being “if I have time and feel like it” to ‘10’ being “a vital spiritual habit I prioritize weekly”), how important do you think your average church member views their personal involvement in a group? Explain.
What are the qualifications for serving as a group leader? Would you consider yourself to have a high or low bar? Explain.
Do you have an ongoing rhythm of equipping leaders once they get started? Describe any gap you see between what this looks like now and what you hope it will look like.
What does success look like to your group leadership? How is it measured and celebrated?
How is growth and multiplication built into the way groups are communicated and stewarded in your church?

It is actually a good thing if you’re walking away from this exercise with more questions than answers. Take time to figure out how the Lord wants you to plant, prioritize, and prune your group life so that Christ-centered community can grow healthy and strong.

If you’re not the Lead/Senior Pastor, then find a way to process these questions together, agree on responses, and document them. This will establish and maintain a strategic culture of community that will start and multiply healthy groups throughout your church moving forward.

Reid Smith has been equipping leaders in churches of all sizes and stages of growth for effective disciple-making since 1996. He lives in Wellington, Florida where he serves as a Groups Pastor at Christ Fellowship. You can find more of his helpful resources at www.reidsmith.org.

Group Leadership

August 18, 2020

Five Ways to Continue Discipleship Through COVID-19

By Brian Daniel

“At the very time of greatest stress came the epidemic of influenza, and this was perhaps the most far-reaching hindrance to [small groups] work which has been known in a generation…

….We had anticipated that it would take many months for the [groups] to rally, but they came back in March. There flowed in a steady stream of orders, which indicated that the [group leaders] were well organized, full of purpose, and had rallied themselves. As a result, the year, which had been so trying for many months, ended full of hope and promise.”

(1919 SBC Annual, pp.449-450)

Early in the Twentieth Century (the Center for Disease Control doesn’t specify when it started nor its origin), what is now referred to as the Spanish Flu infected more than 500 million people worldwide, or about a third of the world’s population at the time. It was first diagnosed in the US in the spring of 1918. That was a different day. Travel wasn’t as easy or as common. Communities didn’t come into contact with one another as often or as intimately. Because of all of this, the Spanish Flu didn’t spread nearly as fast as COVID-19. According to the SBC Annual, quoted above, churches closed in September 1918 and remained closed through the fall and winter, most not re-opening until March 1919. In terms of modern pandemics, the Spanish Flu was unprecedented. According to the CDC, the “number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States.

There are two reasons for beginning this post with this brief history lesson. First, while the effects of COVID-19 in practically every area of life—ranging from how we work to job loss to school to church practice and everything in between—has been profoundly jarring, this isn’t the first time either LifeWay or the church has faced something of this sort. In fact, given the modernization of medicine and today’s technology, one can logically deduce that leaders in 1919 had a greater challenge. Second, if the results of the Spanish Flu and the subsequent revival of discipleship is any indication, we need to be ready for what’s next and look with expectancy for a similar revival when we emerge from the immediate threat of the coronavirus. Yet, while we remain between the pre-pandemic church and what God has in store for us on the other side, it’s important to remember that discipleship must continue and that we as leaders, like those in 1918-19, continue “full of hope and promise.”

As we wait and take measures to perpetuate discipleship—encouraging group members to immerse themselves in the Bible and maintain our own discipleship and spiritual growth—we have created a handful opportunities to keep on the path God has called us to in this season. During this time when it’s such a challenge for groups to convene, whether due to municipal restrictions, Zoom fatigue, or health concerns, it’s important to stay on the right track even at an individual level. Below are five ways in different formats to remain on the road to greater Christ-likeness.

The Good Life Online Bible Study

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thegoodlifeonlinebiblestudy

This experience is for anyone with an interest in learning more about the good life espoused in the Beatitudes. Pastor Derwin Gray’s new Bible Study, The Good Life, will be made available for anyone that signs up using the link above. Invite group members, family, or friends to engage in community built around this 8-session study. We recommend ordering the Bible study guide at LifeWay.com as a complement to the weekly video event. In the description with each video, we’ll add questions regarding the teaching. Then, you’ll comment with your answers to start the discussion!

Pray Like This: A 52-Week Prayer Journal https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/pray-like-this-a-52-week-prayer-journal-P005826967

We talk a lot about prayer. We ask for prayer and commit to prayer. Scripture describes prayer as crucial in our relationship with God through Jesus. But do you find it hard to remain grounded? Has consistent prayer been a challenge over the years? Are you in a season in which your prayer life might have become stale? This journal has been created to get you in the habit of reading Scripture daily, to serve as a guide to improve your prayer life, and discover the path to knowing God more intimately.

No More Excuses 90-Day Devotion for Men https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/no-more-excuses-a-90-day-devotional-for-men-P005826966

Adapted from the popular No More Excuses Bible study for men, No More Excuses: A 90-Day Devotional for Men will challenge you to lay down your excuses, stop compromising, and fight to be a man of character and commitment. Each day, you’ll find a Scripture verse, short devotion, and thought-provoking question to help you find purpose, meaning, and direction in life and become the man God has called you to be.

Unanswered Personal Bible Study https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/unanswered-personal-bible-study-book-P005819108

This Bible study provides precisely what many of us need today: tools and answers! It addresses several challenging topics, including mental health and suicide, paranormal activity, the resurrection, how we got the Bible, suffering, and why God is sometimes silent. The study will show you how to answer, how to explain, and how to respond in a deeply personal and effective way, as a thoughtful ambassador of Jesus. You will leave this study enriched, characterized by a thinking faith, capable of communicating confidently, and committed to escape the tendency to offer trite answers to a skeptical world. It’s also great to work through with a friend, co-worker, or spouse.

The Power of God’s Names Personal Bible Study https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/the-power-of-god-s-names-personal-bible-study-book-P005819105

The study examines 11 names of God. The words translated as name show up over one thousand times in Scripture and routinely carry with them power, responsibility, purpose, and authority. The study for personal discipleship offers biblically rooted content on the meaning and power of God’s names and encourages us to call on God through the names that speak to their needs. Like the Unanswered Personal Bible Study, this experience from Dr. Tony Evans is a great opportunity to share with a friend.

Group Leadership

August 13, 2020

Learning from Biblical Characters

By Deborah Spooner

We’re human.

We make mistakes, experience pain, learn to love, and so much more. But, we are not humans who live in a vacuum. People lived before us, and we can learn a lot from their experiences. We find a legacy of believers in the Bible. Studying these characters can allow us to learn from their lessons and avoid their mistakes.

Whether seeking to increase your own personal learning or equip your group members to engage with deeper biblical study, try these four steps to learn from biblical characters.

Look around

Once you’ve selected a person in the Bible to study, first look around to see what you can learn about their world. This “looking around” is asking what they might have seen in their context. What was happening in the moment of history where they lived? Where were they living? What type of people might they have had contact with? Then, look around to where this character appears in the Bible. What comes in the chapters before and after? What is the bigger story being told throughout the entire book where they appear?

Look to articles, commentaries, and other resources to aid your search.

Look in

Next, look in to see what you can learn about the person. What type of character traits might be evident in what’s written about them? How are they shown interacting with people around them? What do their words say about them? Asking these questions can give us insight into characteristics and responses that we might want to emulate or show us warnings that we might want to avoid.

Many resources have biographical information about the characters that can lend assistance in this area.

Look up

Then, look up and ask what we learn about God through the character’s story. Are they speaking directly about the truth and character of the Lord? Are they speaking directly against Him? What can we learn about God’s plan through how their story played out? How can the events, actions, and words in the story help us to honor the Lord further and more deeply desire to understand Him?

Bible studies can offer discussion questions that lead you in the right direction to unpack what is learned about God through each situation.

Look out

Finally, look outward into your own life and see how your day-to-day existence should be impacted through what you’ve learned about the biblical person and what you’ve learned about the Creator. Maybe you’ve found some characteristic that you want to emulate. Maybe you’ve seen the wisdom with which a situation was handled or the grace that was extended, and you are able to find a parallel in your own life (even as we recognize the importance of not over-extending the passage’s intended context). Maybe you’ve been reminded of attributes of the Lord for which you can pause and thank Him.

Additional articles and resources can help you bridge the lessons from the story into applications for your own life.

We have much to learn from each other and much to learn from the legacy of believers or other characters within Scripture.

LifeWay has a team of dedicated writers and editors that wanted to make these lessons from biblical characters more accessible to you and your small group. They’ve developed seven Bible studies that focus on different characters in the Bible. These lessons help you learn in all of the four categories listed above. Timeline information teaches you about looking around; biographical insight reveals more about looking in; the discussion questions and descriptions teach you about looking up; and the application sections aid you in looking out.

For more information (and for many free resources such as timelines, devos, trivia, and more) visit lifeway.com/characters.

Group Leadership

August 11, 2020

Best Practices for Online Groups

By Chris Surratt

As you might imagine, having an online group experience is considerably different than sharing a living room or classroom in person. Here are a few tips for participating in or facilitating an online group experience.

Recommend group members to download meeting software at least 30 minutes prior to meeting, just in case they have technology issues they need to work out.
Make sure your face has sufficient lighting.
- Lighting works best in front of your face, not behind.
Make sure your face is centered in the video camera.
- Members probably don’t want to see only your forehead or neck throughout the meeting, so position your camera accordingly.
Select the quietest room/location you can find.
- Turn off anything making noise in the background (TV, radio, appliances).
- Put pets in a different room or have them in a place where they will be most quiet.
Only use one device per household.
- When two devices are used in the same room, it produces feedback that affects all group participants.
- If two people feel more comfortable participating with their own devices than sharing the same one, each should have his or her own room for doing so.
Mute your computer unless you’re talking.
- If everyone’s microphone is turned on at the same time, the sound quality can be an issue and it can be hard to hear the person who is talking. The best policy is to mute yourself when you are not talking.
- If you are muted, make sure to nod your head and listen well so people can recognize you are following them.
- You will be muting and unmuting a lot, so get used to it.
- Also, you’ll get called out if you don’t unmute, so don’t be offended.
- The host may mute you if you don’t do this yourself, so don’t take that personally.
Be an assertive moderator.
- The moderator/host of the group will need to be welcoming and in charge. Make sure as host you jump on a few minutes early to welcome everyone.
- Redirect the conversation or mute participants as necessary. This may feel rude at times, but it is necessary to manage a good online experience for the group.
- Generally speaking, the moderator should talk 30% of the time and listen 70% of the time.
Create a plan for participants to indicate they’d like to talk.
- Since participants will often be muted, having a plan will help you know when to mute and unmute.
- You may try something like raising a hand, answering in a specific order, or another signal.
- Utilize the “chat” features to post questions for discussion.
Give your full attention to the group experience, resisting the urge to multi-task.
- When participants are not paying full attention it can be a big distraction online just like an in-person group.
- When talking, spend some time looking at the camera, not just the screen. This digital form of “eye-contact” goes a long way toward creating a sense of connection and community.
Stay in touch afterwards.
- Assign prayer partners to call each other after group is over and pray with them.
- Or text each other in gender specific text chats to share requests.
- Leverage GroupMe, Facebook Groups, WhatsApp, etc. as a place to stay connected and keep the conversation going throughout the week.

As we implement best practices for online groups, can we find best resources? Turns out LifeWay and various Christian leaders have partnered for resources that are especially timely in this current season. Check out an online Bible study group for Derwin Gray’s The Good Life, a multitude of teaching video options, and individualized resources such as Pray Like This: A 52-Week Prayer Journal or Foundations: A 260-Day Bible Reading Plan for Busy Believers.

CHRIS SURRATT (@ChrisSurratt) is the discipleship and small groups specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources, a ministry consultant and coach with more than 20 years of experience, and the author of Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead, and Multiply Your Small Group.

Group Leadership

August 10, 2020

How to Choose a Bible Study for Your Online Group

By Chris Surratt

After several months of social distancing, most of us are now accustomed to gathering with our communities online.

It took us a few attempts to understand how online conferencing platforms work, but we did it, and now it’s time to utilize this new normal for more than just catching up with our groups.

For a lot of small groups, that means figuring out how to successfully choose and work through a Bible study virtually. It’s not always an easy task under normal circumstances, but now it’s especially difficult.

What worked well with a group sitting around a living room or classroom, may not translate as well to a video call. Here are a few things to think about as you decide what study might work best for your online group.

TYPE OF CONTENT

There are natural limitations to how deep a conversation can go in an online format. It’s more difficult to read body language and have the back-and-forth necessary to get too far below the surface of a line of discussion. That limitation will narrow the choices for the type of study content you offer.

Sermon-based. If everyone in the group is a member of the same church, then a sermon-based discussion is an easy option. Most church services are now online only, so it’s easy for a group member to watch the message before the group meeting–even if they didn’t catch it on Sunday.

If your church doesn’t offer discussion questions to go along with the messages, Smallgroup.com is an easy-to-use website to help you write your own. You can get a free 30-day trial with no obligation to continue.

Short-term. If you would rather do a short-term (6-weeks or less), stand-alone type Bible study, this is a great opportunity to poll the group to find out where the felt needs are right now.

They may be battling feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and/or depression during this uncertain and isolated time, so choose a study that brings biblical truth to those very real issues.

Dealing with doubt? Try Help My Unbelief by Barnabas Piper. Struggling with purpose? Consider Pathways by Tony Evans. Wondering how to engage with injustice? Study The Church and The Racial Divide by Trevor Atwood.

Video Study. Video supported studies are always a good choice for groups. It takes the burden of teaching the content off of the group leader, and allows him or her to facilitate a conversation around the teaching.

However, watching a video online with a group is more difficult than in-person. There are sometimes technical and legal issues with sharing a video, and longer videos will take up too much discussion time.

Look for studies with shorter teaching videos (10 minutes or less) or ask the members to watch them ahead of the group meeting. You can even rent or buy videos to send to your group or use individually. Smallgroup.com allows you to easily distribute the video by email or post a link anywhere on the web to share.

You’ll even see teaching from past live events you can incorporate into any small group experience. Or consider an “online Bible study,” hosted by LifeWay Groups, that allows your group members to access the teaching videos for free and to engage in a Facebook Group (as well as your own small group) with comments and discussion.

GROUP ENGAGEMENT

The way the group engages the content will be slightly different in an online environment. This will require the host/facilitator to be more active in bringing people into the discussion.

Where making eye contact with someone in an in-person group is sometimes enough to encourage them to speak, that is not possible online.

Until the group is more comfortable with the format, the facilitator may need to audibly call on someone if no-one jumps in. This will get less awkward the longer the group meets virtually.

The number of questions you get through will probably be fewer than normal, and that’s okay. Don’t feel pressured to finish every question in the study.

Choose two or three in advance that will adequately cover the topic in the allotted time, and give the rest as “homework” for the group to work through during the week between meetings.

Follow-up with group members is more important now than ever before. Because the online group discussions will probably stay more on the surface level, it’s important to connect by phone or text with individuals for those soul check-ins that we all need right now.

Some group members will be more open with their feelings, and others will need some in-between the lines discernment. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom as you make these phone calls.

It’s time for our online groups to continue the mission of creating disciples within the context of community. The study of God’s Word is an important part of that process.

Group Leadership

August 6, 2020

Leadership Investment Rhythms

By Group Ministry

By Reid Smith

Intentional investments made over time into developing group leaders will empower them to create healthy environments where biblical community can grow. This requires meaningful touchpoints in different ways with enough frequency that leaders feel known, loved, included, and challenged and they continue learning and growing.

Different leaders need different kinds of care. This care will look different for each leader based on their experience in leading groups. There are repeatable investment rhythms you can easily put into motion to build relationships for healthy leadership development. A group leader will fall somewhere on the spectrum of new to experienced. For simplicity sake, we will only look at these two general categories:

New leaders typically want time to interface with you in person and be connected with other leaders. They are helped by a higher frequency of touchpoints that are more personalized. You want to love on these leaders and provide ample attention and direction, especially within the first few months as they begin leading.

Experienced leaders typically prefer a lower frequency of touchpoints that don’t require as many in person meetings. They need to know you’re there and care, but they don’t need the same level of engagement as new leaders. Keep these people in the loop and show your appreciation for them.

NEW	EXPERIENCED
Pray for them regularly Call or text 1x/mo* Meet in person 1:1 or group format 1x/1-2 mos Send email or note 1-2x/mo Visit group twice in first 6 mos Be available as needed	Pray for them regularly Call or text 1x/mo Meet in person 1:1 or group format once per semester Send email or note 1x/mo Visit group 1x/yr Be available as needed

* Weekly frequency during their initial training & up through their first study

The concept of “span of care” applies as the scale of your group leadership grows. For example, let’s say you have eight group leaders. You’ve built relationships with them over time and have been able to provide the necessary care, but you want to do more. About this time, four new leaders emerge out of these groups who are eager to launch their own groups.

You quickly realize that you can’t maintain the same level of care with your first wave of leaders and also pour into the next wave. To meet this growing demand, you select one of your most capable and available leaders to function as a “coach” and invest into half of your experienced leaders (4) and half of the new leaders (2). Instead of your span of care becoming unmanageable at twelve, you equally divide care for the whole group of leaders between you and your new coach resulting in a 1:6 span of care.

Keep in mind that span of care is an elastic concept in practice. For example, coaches with greater margin and leadership competency can care for a greater number of leaders. Yet, it is important to continually assess what level of care leaders need because even the most experienced leaders face personal crises and challenges in group life that will require greater investment at times.

Occasionally, you and your coaches should plan to substitute an in-person touchpoint with a half-day retreat or conference that will develop your leadership community. There is an array of top-notch content available on demand for this type of setting. Adding variety into how you invest in your leaders will help guard against these rhythms falling into ruts.

The table above can serve as a rule of thumb to help you determine what healthy investment rhythms should look like in your church as you assess the maturity and specific needs of your group leadership.

Group Leadership

July 30, 2020

Three Ways to Overcome During Difficult Seasons

By Deborah Spooner

What does it take to be an overcomer?

As you launched your groups at the beginning of this year, you likely had certain goals set—solid ideas of what success would look like and hopes for conversations, relationships, or service opportunities that your group would progress toward as meetings continued. Then, challenges—as they always do—arose.

Yet, the challenges of the past several months have exceeded even the typical trials of life. A pandemic is causing chaos. Many are dealing with the long lasting economic consequences. Churches are facing difficult decisions for reopening and are seeking how to best serve as the body of Christ. Groups are facing childcare challenges amid social distancing. Mental health is a growing concern. Relational dynamics are being pushed to their limits.

Yet in the midst of this difficulty, we all have opportunities to overcome. As your group members work through external challenges that often pose internal struggles, here are three ways you can step in to help.

Ask Core Questions

As circumstances around us reveal deeper realities transpiring within us, you have the opportunity to have crucial conversations with members of your group. They might realize they are struggling in particular areas: relationally, emotionally, or spiritually. Questions they’ve grappled with beneath the surface about God, purpose, or their identity might now be on the forefront of their minds. Asking questions such as “What are you learning about God in this season?”, “What sin is God revealing to you during this time?”, “What thoughts and questions are taking up a lot of your time?”, or “In what areas of your life do you feel defeated?” can lead you towards Christ-centered conversations, gently helping your leaders dive deeper into how the truth of the Bible can help us overcome weakness.

Remember Brokenness

Many group members may feel discouraged, defeated, overwhelmed, purposeless, or tractionless during this time. In a lot of ways, many of us are coming face-to-face with the simple reality that we are not in control. Even though we might have believed we could control our next hour, day, week, or year, it has been made clear that so much is beyond our grasp. This can make us feel helpless and broken, unable to succeed in loving others, in our jobs, or in our ministries as we once did. However, we can remind our group members that this brokenness is human and points us to the Perfect One—Christ. He can show us the way to overcome. Instead of focusing on our failures and brokenness, we can overcome through turning our eyes to the truth of what Christ says about us and how He enables us to face each day.

Pursue the Overcomer

Even when much seems out of our control, we can still choose how we spend our time and where we fix our thoughts. Encourage your group members to overcome the challenges of this time through pursuing the Overcomer by spending time in the Word and in prayer. Challenge them to join with one or two other group members (even if virtually) for prayer, Bible reading, and accountability whenever possible. Encourage them to memorize key verses that can fill them with hope and strength throughout the day. Challenge them to set reminders on their phones to stop and pray throughout the day for their own situations and for others in their group. The best way to overcome is to consistently seek out the Overcomer who sought us first.

Even though this season is challenging, there is hope. Overcoming is possible. Through whatever means possible, encourage your group not to lose sight of this.

If you’d like additional resources on core questions of who we are and how to Overcome (where some of these ideas are expanded), check out the two Bible study resources below. These are available as DVD kits with teaching sessions for group use or as digital video sessions for group or individual use.

Overcomer Bible Study

Many people feel they are less than who God says they are. We get our identity from our careers, our political positions, our roles in the family, and a number of other lesser things. However, when we understand who God is, we more fully understand who we are. This small group study uses clips from the film Overcomer to examine how we determine our identity and how we can find our true identity in Christ (5 sessions).

Defined Bible Study

When you introduce yourself to someone for the first time, you have an opportunity to define yourself. You disclose your name, profession, and interests. These factors help our culture define us, but are those answers enough? There are bigger answers our culture can’t answer: Who am I? Why do I matter? And before asking, who am I? You must first answer, who is God?

The Scripture teaches that we are all made in the image of God. We do not define ourselves–the Creator does. We were all created to be known and loved by God. Once the answers are clear, we can move forward and discover all God has called us to be (8 sessions).

Group Leadership

July 28, 2020

5 Bible Studies for Fall

By Deborah Spooner

Groups are adapting. Each week might look different than the previous as we learn to be comfortable planning one day at a time.

However, fall is still coming. And fall? Is one of our favorite times for groups. New groups launch. Existing groups get a reset. New leaders begin their journey. Experienced leaders grow from the previous year’s learning.

What studies might be right for this fall in particular? We’ve rounded up five of our favorite studies for you and your group. The traditional leader kits are still available, but digital video sessions and eBooks are also offered for each of the titles below. Whether you are handing out Bible study books during an in person gathering or sending around a link to purchase an eBook version, we have a solution for you.

The Good Life by Derwin L. Gray

Everyone wants to be happy. We spend our money, time, and energy chasing our version of the good life. And on the way, we run ourselves into physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. But what if the happiness we’re all striving for isn’t the happiness we were created for?

Pastor and author Dr. Derwin L. Gray believes there is a better road to happiness, and it is found in the Beatitudes of Jesus. In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus revealed the shocking, countercultural path to true flourishing. It comes not through wealth, fame, or laughter but through poverty, obscurity, and mourning. True happiness comes from a heart directed toward the kingdom of God and satisfied in Jesus the King (8 sessions).

Help My Unbelief by Barnabas Piper

All of us have questions about faith, but we often feel awkward or uncomfortable asking them. We assume doubt is always a bad thing. But instead of making Himself smaller and easily understood, God invites us into a larger faith—one that has room for questions, victories, failures, and mystery. This Bible study will help you see that belief in an infinite God by finite humans is an act of exploration. It’s a process of learning all we can understand and trusting God in all we can’t. (6 sessions)

The Church and The Racial Divide by Trevor Atwood (eds. Trillia Newbell and Dan Darling)

Featuring contributors: Walter Strickland, Juan Sánchez, and Russell Moore

In light of racial tension in America, many Christian leaders are talking earnestly about racial reconciliation. Many pastors and lay leaders look at the growing tensions in our churches and wonder how they can be a healing force in our culture. The problem is they don’t know where to begin. The average evangelical Christian may not understand why racial reconciliation is a gospel imperative. The average pastor may not know how to pursue it. This resource features video teaching from key leaders discussing race, culture, and the gospel. Using these evangelical voices and Bible study, participants will learn about racial reconciliation and be equipped to be part of the solution (6 sessions).

Defined by Alex Kendrick & Stephen Kendrick

When you introduce yourself to someone for the first time, you have an opportunity to define yourself. You disclose your name, professions, and interests. These factors help our culture define us, but are those answers enough? There are bigger questions our culture can’t answer: Who am I? Why do I matter? And before asking, who am I? You must first answer, who is God?

My New Life

The new Christian can become easily overwhelmed trying to figure out how to be a Christ-follower. For the believer to grow, it’s necessary to have an understanding of God’s Word, God’s character, prayer, the gospel, and so much more. This study explains these deep truths in short and simple to understand chapters. Whether completed individually or with a mentor, this study, it will help a new believer grow in knowledge of God’s Word and provide a foundation on which daily trust in Jesus will grow for the rest of their lives.

Group Leadership

July 23, 2020

Politics and Your Small Group

By Group Ministry

By Jared Steven Musgrove

As group leaders, we take a lead role in maturing disciples of Jesus Christ. Tense conversations are often part of growth together. Perhaps nowhere is that more apparent in the 21st century than in our politics.

Even when we aren’t facing a global pandemic, fruitful, meaningful, and productive political conversations can’t be had if we jump to conclusions about each other.

Politics may be defined as “the struggle that determines who gets what, when and how.” This struggle is rife with contention, war, conflict, influence, and power.

Yet, the church does not wrestle against flesh and blood. We are in a spiritual battle of Word, love, and actions and our call is to maintain the unity of the Spirit.

Below are some ground rules for navigating political conversations in your group. You might even consider sharing these points in your group meeting, letting group members know that you are praying about the coming elections and your time together as brothers and sisters. Invite them to join you in this.

Talk face-to-face. If you want to talk politics, it’s best to do so face-to-face.
Respect one another. Does this conversation seek to practice the “one anothers” of Scripture?
Speak with honesty and candor. If you disagree, say so politely. If a statement is hurtful, say that it was, and be quick to forgive. If you make a hurtful statement, be quick to apologize and seek forgiveness.
Give goodwill. Are you seeking to understand over being understood or validated? Are you seeking to be righteous over being right?
Be informed. Be okay with admitting if you are not informed and wish to talk about something else.

Dr. Jared Steven Musgrove is Groups Pastor at The Village Church in Flower Mound, TX and co-founder and Executive Director of communityleadership.org. He is married to Jenny and father to Jordan and Joshua.

Group Leadership

July 20, 2020

Five Reasons We Need Unchurched People in Our Groups

By Dwayne McCrary

After the Spanish flu pandemic, believers expressed a renewed interest in Bible study groups. We can certainly see why today! We miss the community found in the company of other believers. Talking through a Bible passage and listening to how others receive the truths found in that passage encourages us to process the passage further and gives us food for thought. We come to understand that our questions and doubts may be close to normal. The value of these groups is seen further through time spent praying with one another in person.

However following the Spanish flu, some began to see Bible study groups as places for believers to be nurtured and moved away from groups built for all people including the skeptic, searcher, and non-believer. People who are not yet believers need to study the Bible and we need them to be in our groups. Here’s why.

We need the dialogue. The longer we live as a believer, the more likely our friends will be believers. We begin to talk in “believer” terms and lose our “unbeliever” dialect. Losing some of that language is a good thing, but we must still find a way to communicate with unbelievers. We are called to share the gospel and we need contact with unbelievers to do so. Keeping our Bible study group open to all people puts us in a position to share the gospel more readily.
We need the accountability. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul called on them to imitate him as he imitated Christ (11:1). The Corinthian believers needed someone to show them what a follower of Christ looked like and Paul was willing for them to examine him. By placing himself on this pedestal, Paul was making himself accountable to all who were looking to him as an example. We need to know others that need an example and we need the accountability to be such an example.
We need to remember. The longer we live as a believer, the more likely we are to forget the guilt, the search, and the sense of lostness that comes with being separated from God. Losing that sense impacts our gratitude for the cross and the salvation Christ provides us. We need to always be mindful of the grace granted to us.
We need to be challenged. We sometimes get comfortable with our beliefs and rarely revisit them. Being around unbelievers will lead us to explain why we believe what we believe. Doing so will help us refine and sharpen our beliefs, while keeping us from becoming complacent about what we believe and why.
We need to learn to love. We are directed to love our neighbors, all of them. The best way for breaking down a “them” and “us” mentality is spending time with whomever we consider to be “them.”

The believers in Bible study groups that purposefully remain open to all who join gain a great deal from the presence of unbelievers. Believers need those who don’t yet follow Christ to be in our Bible study group just as much as they need to study the Bible for themselves.

Dwayne McCrary leads some teams that create ongoing Bible study resources at LifeWay including Explore the Bible (goExploreTheBible.com). He teaches two groups in his church (one for empty nesters and one for three year olds) and is an adjunct professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City.

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