Coaching Archives - Group Ministry

July 15, 2019

6 Ways to Discuss Politics in Your Small Group

It has been said that the only two things in life that are guaranteed are death and taxes. In my experience, there’s a third: it’s guaranteed you’ll blow up your Bible study group if political conversations aren’t managed well. Perhaps you’ve been in a group when politics came to the forefront of the discussion. People literally have felt more passion about political topics, candidates, and policies than they have about evangelism, financial giving, or serving! It’s crazy. But it is also reality. And in the political season we now find ourselves, with the first Democratic debates having taken place already, and Republican debates soon to hit the airwaves and internet, you can bet that there will be conversations in your Bible study group that will have the potential to be a powder keg. How can you lead and teach your group, guide them well, and manage the political conversations you know are going to come up between now and the next presidential election? Here are some ways you can do that and lead your group well.

Set ground rules. It’s not too early to lay down some ground rules in your group since the presidential election process has begun. Tell your group how you’re going to lead them when the conversation turns political. Above all, remind the group that you will follow biblical mandates such as pursuing peace (I Peter 3:8), relating to one another with humility (I Peter 5:5), and showing patience towards one another (Ephesians 4:2).
Agree that both political parties are represented in your group. Anything said to malign one political party is going to offend a large percentage of your group members in most cases. That being said, your group members need to keep in mind that if they speak against one political party, they are risking offending their brothers and sisters in Christ, and perhaps losing friendships in the process.
Acknowledge that there are no perfect candidates. There is only one perfect ruler, and his name is Jesus. While we are thankful for the leaders he allows to rule us, our ultimate allegiance is to Jesus, not the president or the president’s political party. Or governor. Or mayor. You get the idea.
Pursue the biblical mandate of unity. Unity doesn’t mean uniformity, but it does mean that I place my thoughts and actions aside for the greater goal of maintaining unity in my group and in my church. You wouldn’t want discord in the Bible study group to spill over into the church and cause the church to develop a reputation for being a divided organization. That wouldn’t be a good witness to the community.
Agree to disagree. As much as you try, you’ll never completely agree as a group about a political candidate, a policy, or issues surrounding a political party. Disagreement is going to be a part of life, and a part of group life even in the church. Generations of people’s families have voted a certain way in some cases, and no amount of reasoning or Bible thumping is going to change their minds and cause them to vote against their family’s traditions. Deal with it and move on.
Agree that a political conversation is only allowed if it directly relates to the Bible study at hand. This one simple rule will greatly reduce the impromptu speeches that can take place when a passionate member of your group waxes eloquently about politics. Call a foul and ask the group member to not introduce political comments into the Bible study. Remind them that it is acceptable only if it relates to the study at hand.

Christians and churches should talk about politics and consider the positions of candidates and parties, but it can be a powder keg. Do your best to approach political conversations with great humility and a dependence upon God to know how to guide your group’s conversations. Above all, remind people that the earthly leaders we have are temporary leaders we are placed under while on earth. We have a heavenly King who is our ultimate authority – the One who is right, just, and will one day return to establish His kingdom where righteousness will reign. Until then, we pray for our leaders as Scripture commands us to do, and we eagerly await for Jesus’ return.

Ken Braddy manages LifeWay’s adult ongoing Bible studies and leads a group at his church. He has just released a book to help churches strengthen their Bible study ministries. Find Breathing Life Into Sunday School at lifeway.com.

Group Answers Podcast

June 5, 2019

Group Answers Episode 103: Reid Smith on Soul Care

By Group Ministry

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On this episode of Group Answers, Chris and Brandon talk to Reid Smith about the importance of soul care for ourselves and the leaders we serve.

Reid Smith serves as the Director of Communities of Purpose for the Small Group Network and has been a Pastor of Groups at Christ Fellowship Church in Palm Beach County, FL since 2008. He has been equipping leaders in churches of all sizes and stages of growth for effective disciple-making since 1996. Reid has been a contributing author for Christianity Today’s smallgroups.com, LifeWay’s Ministry Grid, and he developed small group training for the North American Mission Board’s Send Network. One of the ways he expresses his love for helping leaders start and multiply healthy groups throughout their churches is through www.reidsmith.org.

Questions asked:

Ministry isn’t easy. 80% of pastors feel discouraged (more so for their spouses!), 71% of pastors stated they were burned out and battle depression on a weekly, even daily basis. Only 1 out of 10 ministers actually retire as a minister. Soul-care is obviously vital. What, in essence, is “soul-care”?
Practically-speaking, how can we be proactive about our own soul-care to ensure we’re healthy and effective in ministry for the long-haul?
What are the biggest threats to soul-care and how do you overcome them?
What’s most challenging for you in your personal soul-care?
What do you look for in potential coaches?
Many leaders see the value of coaching, but they’ve had a hard time making it work. Why do you think that is?
Give us a picture of success. Ideally, what does healthy coaching look like? How do you encourage it?

Quotes:

If you have been in ministry for some time, you have probably battled with burnout or depression.

Soul care is addressing a person’s inner world that is largely hidden from other people.

When we are spiritually healthy, our ministry can be sustainable and strong.

Bring others around you that will be lifting you up in prayer.

The enemy wants to take you and your family out.

Replenish yourself on a regular basis. Find out what fills your tank and do it.

Don’t try to please everyone and do everything yourself.

I have to constantly remind myself of things that are true.

The second time that I got run down, I didn’t feel it.

Coaches are the lynchpin for knowing that your group life is healthy.

Relationships have to take priority over the reporting.

This Episode’s Sponsor: Feeling unequipped for marriage ministry? Woo Marriage is here to help. Backed by research and designed with your church in mind, Woo Marriageprovides Christ-centered marriage coaching for your entire church. Get your first month free with offer code LEADERSHIP at WooMarriage.com/FreeTrial.

The Group Answers Podcast is a weekly show designed to resource, train, and encourage small group leaders. Each episode considers current trends and resources as well as timeless truths and methods of discipleship. It is hosted by Brian Daniel, a Bible study and discipleship expert in LifeWay’s Groups Ministry, and Chris Surratt, the small group and discipleship specialist at LifeWay and author of Leading Small Groups: How to Gather, Launch, Lead and Multiply your Small Group.

Church Leadership

May 23, 2019

Character and Competencies of the Small Group Coach

By Group Ministry

by Jared Musgrove and Justin Elafros

Group coaching is not an approach to manage leaders. Group coaching is an approach to lead leaders. It is one of the most recognized necessities in our group ministries but one of the most underutilized. It does not have to stay that way.

Our friend Joel Deacon of City On A Hill Church in Melbourne, Australia shared with us recently that “Good leaders desire coaches and have coaches, top athletes have coaches, successful executives have coaches and our Group Leaders need coaches.” And we find this to be true. But the key for us in coaching was focusing first on the who of coaching and then the what. So who is the person of character and what are the competencies of a group coach?

First, not every great group leader needs to be a group coach, in much the same way as not every great history teacher needs to be a vice-principal. Some of our greatest leaders are needed (and happiest) leading life lessons in living rooms full of group members. Not every leader needs to lead leaders. But some will desire to do so in a way that identifies, develops, and influences. These men and women of character are good initial candidates for coaching a group. But you first have to know who it is exactly you might have coaching your leaders.

Who

Who can coach the heart of the leader? Who has the capacity? A man or woman doesn’t need to be the most dynamic personality to coach, but they need to be curious and biblically serious about leading leaders into increased spiritual vitality.

Identifying a coach who is able to identify leaders is more art than science. To know who needs to be a coach, you first need to develop a relationship with the people in your group ministry. Who is already living the coaching life you want to reproduce? Your group coaches may not be deacons, but you may find the character described in 1 Timothy 3:3:8-13 helpful as you consider the character of the coach.

Once you identify a coaching candidate, meet regularly with them for a time and talk through the role of a coach. Perhaps even create a group of coaches and equip qualified saints for the work of coaching ministry. Some books we have found particularly helpful on coaching are The COACH Model, Sending Well, and Organic Discipleship. You may enjoy summarizing them or reading them with your coaches. This allows you to equip them as well as get to know who you are inviting into the role.

What

The joy of coaching is seeing saints equip saints. A manual for coaches can be helpful, but coaching is a lifestyle. Have guidelines and expectations but also leave freedom for the coaches to develop in their styles and spiritual gifts as they coach.

Some of the essential components are that they have the time and capacity to coach. Can they make regular meetings to coach the leader (not the group) with personalized, open-ended questions that minister to the leader and increase their own influence on the men and women they lead in the small group? Your group coaches may not be deacons, but you may find the competencies described in Acts 6:1-7 helpful as you consider the capacity of the coach.

Good coaches coach apart from distraction. They set a space and place to listen and then summarize what the leader(s) is saying. They ask more than advise. They take notes. They talk no more than a ¼ of the time. Along with their minister, they create personalized and ongoing development plans for each leader. They keep up on current and classic resources on group leadership so they can share them at the ready.

Good coaches know to ask one crucial question, “What are you asking God to do in and through your group?” All coaching catapults out of the answer to that question. The coach is able to continually clarify the goal of group as well as coach the heart of the leader. And join them in prayer, asking God for what He has for the leader and group.

Good coaches do pray specifically with and over their leaders. Coaches ask the Lord for insight, words, verses, and pictures for the leaders they coach. If the heart of our leaders is deep waters, we need coaches of understanding to draw them out (Proverbs 20:5).

There is much more to the coaching discussion, and we love having that conversation with our own coaches and with you, our colleagues in groups ministry.

—

Dr. Jared Steven Musgrove is Groups Pastor and an elder serving The Village Church in Flower Mound TX where he oversees Home Groups and Recovery Groups. He is a contributor to For The Church, PreachingSource.com,and LifeWay Groups. He serves on boards for Southwestern Seminary and Beta Upsilon Chi, is the co-founder of the Community Leadership Cohort, and authored the small group guide to B&H Academic’s Superheroes Can’t Save You: Epic Examples of Historic Heresies. He is the proud husband of Jenny and father of Jordan and Joshua. You can follow him on Twitter at @jsmusgrove.

Justin Elafros is Groups Minister serving The Village Church in Flower Mound, TX where he leads the church’s largest area of Home Groups, leaders, and coaches in addition to directing the Groups ministry internship. He is the co-founder of the Community Leadership Cohort. Justin earned his B.A. from Moody Bible Institute and his M.A. in ministry from Cedarville University. He specializes in shepherding ministry through small groups, care and counsel strategies in the local church, recruiting and equipping group leaders and coaches to meet the community needs of local congregations. He is married to Christy and they have three children, Cooper, Beckham, and Adelyn.

Church Leadership

April 4, 2019

Planning Leader Training in the Fall

By Group Ministry

by Reid Smith

Training is not a one-time exercise with group leaders. It is one among many facets of how you provide ongoing care and development for your leaders. This is important to remember as you look ahead to the fall and consider how you want to equip your leaders to start and stay strong with their groups.

The fall is a primetime opportunity to invite people to start or join a group. However, before somebody can start their own group, they need to be vetted and trained. Don’t make this a complicated process because you want to make it easy for people to engage in your community life (as a leader or participant) any time of the year. At my church, we tell people they can begin the process of starting or joining a group 365 days of the year and we will come alongside of them to help.

Howyou train depends on whoyou’re training. For pre-existing leaders, it’s more about connecting with other leaders, celebrating Kingdom wins, and delivering targeted training with an inspirational element. For new leaders, the training component would be more intensive, ensuring everyone is equipped, clear, and excited about their next steps. Another whole article could be devoted to howyou choose to identify, invite, interview (screen), and initiate new group leaders – all of which will influence how you train new leaders.

There are two general pathways: Initial orientation and ongoing equipping (leadership communities) and here are the suggested topics you could cover with each:

Initial Orientation

(Greater frequency, smaller gatherings)

Leadership Communities

(Less frequency, larger gatherings)

Why Groups? (biblical references & benefits)
How Groups Support Your Church’s Vision (Dream) & Mission (Purpose)
What’s a Group? (definition, types, etc.)
Role & responsibilities of a Group Leader
Group leadership (reporting) structure & how groups are organized at your church
Leadership Investment Rhythms (how leadership & resources will help you)
Best practices for well-rounded group life
Guidance for your first gathering
How your group can be missional & transformational
Introduce to their coach/community leader
Q&A

Welcome & prayer
Connecting with other leaders (include food)
Optional: Fun element (ice-breaker type game / mixer)
Appreciation (share a life-change story)
Inspiration (how your achieving your church’s vision)
Value-adding skill development (determined by feedback from leaders)
Sub-group by “coach-leader” relationship or affinity for more specific / relevant conversations
Regroup for final announcements & next steps

A third option is “turbo groups.” This is a short-term group experience designed to build relationships and leadership among participants, each of whom start with the expectation they will launch out and lead their own group. (The list of topics covered under “Initial Orientation” can serve as an outline for a turbo group, an example of which is available through Christianity Today’s smallgroups.com HERE.) This can be a first step toward developing a core team that will ultimately serve the growing body of groups at your church.

Lastly, there are three keys to success to keep in mind as you’re planning your equipping experiences:

Awareness over Assumption–Don’t assume you know what your leaders-in-training need. Survey the people you plan to invite before you invite them and find out what would make your training timely, relevant, and most meaningful to them. The best experience for participants is when they walk away with their felt-needs addressed and burning questions answered.

Interaction over Information– Reserve your training time to engage and talk with participating leaders and promote peer-learning through conversation versus unilaterally dispensing information in a lecture format that you could alternatively convey digitally so they can refer back to it repeatedly and customize it for future use.

Rhythmic over Sporadic– It instills confidence in your leaders when you preplan predictable rhythms for initial orientations and leadership communities. Think through how to thread training throughout the ebb and flow of your church’s unique family and ministry calendar. Schedule a full year’s worth and then communicate all of your dates together with a clear explanation of why it’s important they’re a part of leadership gatherings. At my church, we offer new leader orientations every month and leadership communities for active leaders every other month.

You might even have an annual gathering or retreat with all group leadership to celebrate what God has done, love on your leaders, and cast vision for the year ahead. There’s no one-size-fits-all formula to this so find what works best for your church and stay with it for at least a year. Don’t change things too often on your leaders or your voice will begin to lose its potency.

One of things I’ve learned to stress with leaders, especially as they get started, is the importance of communicating with the person who looks after them (e.g. a “coach” or “community leader”) and staying connected with the larger community of leaders at your church. The foundation for this to happen consistently begins with monthly “connects” between coaches and their group leaders, which can happen in the way that’s most convenient for your leaders.

Satan loves to isolate leaders. Whereas God sets us apart forHis work, the enemy seeks to set us aside fromGod’s work. When this happens, the devil knows victory is within sight and the leader’s soul-care becomes a long, painful uphill battle. Conversely, when leaders are interconnected relationally and faithful to communicate with one another, it forms a shield wallthe enemy struggles to penetrate.

Plan ahead and create predictable leadership equipping rhythms that provide on-ramps and touchpoints to ensure everyone continues to run healthy and strong. This fall can serve as the entry-point for leaders to connect with one another and plug into a larger system for ongoing care and development of allof your leaders!

Reid Smith has been equipping leaders in churches of all sizes and stages of growth for effective disciple-making since 1996. He currently serves as a Pastor of Groups at Christ Fellowship in Palm Beach County, FL and has been a contributing author for various publications, including LifeWay’s Ministry Grid. Learn more about how to start and multiply healthy groups throughout your church at www.reidsmith.org.

Church Leadership

December 14, 2018

3 Ingredients for a Satisfying Bible Study

By Ken Braddy

How would you like to eat a spoon of flour? Thought so. What about gulping down 1/4 cup of vegetable oil? No takers? How about eating a tablespoon of salt? No way? How about letting a couple of farm fresh eggs slide down your throat like Rocky Balboa? You’ll pass? But what if I mixed all of

those ingredients together and added some chocolate chips (and sugar) and baked them for for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees until golden brown? Any takers for some hot, out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies? Now we’re talking! Any of of the ingredients by themselves aren’t palatable, but when mixed together, something wonderful is created.

Likewise, every Bible study you teach has certain ingredients that go into it. When you learn to mix them together in just the right order and quantity, something great takes place. Any one of the by itself is not nearly as good as when they are all mixed together to form a Bible study.

There are three key ingredients.

First, you need a strong opening. Some educators call this the “hook,” while others use a term like the “motivation” stage. Whatever you call it, it’s the part of the lesson where the group leader captures everyone’s interest and directs the group members’ attention to the session title, the teaching aim, and a central truth that will be explored. Some group leaders will ask a great discussion question to open the study. Others will refer to a current event. Still others may show a video clip or read a quote from a book. No matter what the hook is, the goal is to redirect group members’ attention toward the lesson. Don’t make the assumption that people have arrived to your Bible study with an eagerness to learn and apply Scripture. You must get their attention first – this is the very first ingredient that must be present.

Second, you want to sprinkle in a variety of learning approaches. Appeal to your group members’ preferred learning styles and make sure to include a variety of learning approaches over time. Create smaller groups and use triads or quads to help group members open up and discuss their answers to a discussion question. Use visuals like a PowerPoint slideshow, a poster, a map, or something you’ve written on a marker board to appeal to visual learners. The list goes on, but the idea is to have enough variety over time that each of your group members feels you’ve crafted an activity just for them – one they really get into and appreciate – and learn from! An excellent resource to learn more about the various learning approaches is the book 7 Kinds of Smart.

Third, finish with a strong closing. If you’re going to create a masterpiece, you can’t fall short at the end! The application stage of Bible study is the time when you can help your group members answer the question, “So what?” as they think about the Bible study. Give practical suggestions for applying the truths from the Bible study session. Make sure that the suggested applications are achievable and measurable. Take into account the spiritual maturity level of your group as you craft these. If you use an “ongoing” curriculum, the creators of those Bible studies have built this into each of the studies.

Creating a pleasing Bible study isn’t hard at all if you’ll base it on these 3 ingredients (strong opening, a variety of activities, and a strong closing). Think of your Bible study in 3 stages: motivation, examination, and application. When you break a Bible study down into these three ingredients, you are well on your way to creating an experience your group members will love.

Ken Braddy manages LifeWay’s adult ongoing Bible studies, has written several books on Sunday School and group ministry, and blogs daily at kenbraddy.com

Church Leadership

November 9, 2018

Identifying Potential Leaders Within Your Small Group

By Group Ministry

by Brian Phipps

Moses identified and developed Joshua.

Elijah identified and developed Elisha.

Jesus identified and developed Peter.

Paul identified and developed Timothy.

Who have you identified and developed to lead in your group?

Identifying and developing new leaders can be one of the most exciting and fulfilling practices for a small group leader. Yet based on my experience and the experience of many others I have spoken to, developing new leaders seems to be a lost art that only a few enjoy. Current leaders simply are not raising up new leaders. It does not need to be this way.

The process of developing new leaders is simple:

Identify your new leader.

Partner with your new leader.

Release your new leader.

This article’s focus is on identifying potential leaders. Many leaders falter at this step because they start by looking for a person’s group-leading competency. I often hear leaders say, “No one in this group is ready to lead.” While that statement may be true, it is partly true because they have never been given a chance to lead or they were asked to lead without adequate preparation.

If you want to see more potential leaders in your current group, don’t start by looking for their competency. Start by looking for the following four criteria:

Character

Is this person growing? Are they taking next steps in their faith? If so, they have character. They do not need to have “arrived” at a certain level to begin developing their leadership ability.

Consistency

Does this person regularly show up for group? Are they consistently prepared for the conversation? Do their actions correlate with their words? If so, they are consistent.

Chemistry

Does this person get along with most everyone else? If so, they have favorable chemistry. I do not know anyone who gets along with everyone, but I do know some who do not get along with many. Good group leaders are generally those who get along with most people.

Charisma

Do you and other people in the group listen when this person speaks? Does this person have people hanging around them before and after the group? If so, this person has charisma.

The ICNU (I see in you) Conversation

If a person meets these four criteria, it is time to initiate an “I see in you” conversation with them. Invite this person to come 15 minutes early to a group meeting to share what you see in them. This is such an encouraging exercise! After sharing the specific ways you see character, consistency, chemistry, and charisma in them, tell them that these are the four most important qualities you look for in a new group leader. Before they have a chance to respond, let them know that you want to work with them over the next few weeks to prepare them to lead the group. It is during this process that you will measure their competency.

If a person meets three of the four criteria, you can have a similar conversation with them. Have the ICNU conversation and how the three criteria you see are three of the four you look for in a new leader. The only difference in this conversation is that you will encourage them to consider asking Jesus to develop the one criteria that is missing.

For example, if consistency is missing encourage them to ask Jesus to give them a desire and commitment to be more consistent. If they are missing the chemistry element, you can encourage them to pray for Jesus to bear more spiritual fruit in them. Developing this fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control goes a long way in developing chemistry with more people. The most difficult of these criteria to develop is charisma. Even so, God can develop confidence and vision in them that can elevate their potential to lead. If they develop that forth criteria, they too are ready to begin the process that will help you measure their competency.

Four Progressive Steps to Measuring Competency

1. I do. You watch. We talk.

2. I do. You help. We talk.

3. You do. I help. We talk.

4. You do. I watch. We talk.

Much has been written about these four steps of leadership development. The brilliance of this process is the ability to measure person’s competency incrementally, minimizing embarrassment and perceived failure by thrusting them into a leadership situation prematurely. If a person moves through all four phases of this process successfully, it is time to enter the second phase of developing a leader, partnering with a new leader. I will cover that exciting topic in a later blog.

A Simple Tool

Identifying a new leader is not difficult, but it does take intentionality. One helpful tip for keeping this a priority is to have a notepad that you keep with you while leading your group. List out the four criteria on that notebook with space between each of them. When you notice someone demonstrating a given criteria, put their initials under that heading. When they get their initials under three or four of them, it is time to have those conversations.

A Promise

Over and over I hear how awesome it is to be a grandparent. Almost every grandparent I know says it is WAY better than being a parent! Currently, I have three kids but no grandchildren. If these people are correct, my wife and I have some awesome days ahead because being a parent has been awesome!

While I am not a grandparent physically, I am a grandparent spiritually. I know the joys of watching those I have invested in turn and invest in others. Their spiritual growth went into in hyper-drive when they started leading just like mine did when I was first asked to lead a Sunday school group many years ago. Their joy went up and my delight in them went up. I believe God smiled too. His kingdom just made room for more people to join and grow.

Start identifying a new leader today!

Brian Phipps is the founder of Disciples Made, a Not For Profit 501c3 Ministry that provides turn-key and custom disciple-making tools that integrate online and in person experiences. Brian coined the “Outcome Focused, Habit Fueled, and Content Flavored” language of the intentional disciple-making environment which provides increased spiritual effectiveness in traditional small group systems. Brian’s vision is to leverage the small group strategy to catalyze 50 Disciple-Making Movements in 50 Cities by 2040.

Brian served for nine years as the Next Steps pastor at Westside Family Church in Kansas City, KS. Brian is also experienced as a church planter and senior pastor. Brian received his BA in religion from the University of South Carolina, and a Masters of Divinity and M.A. in Counseling from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. Brian and Carol were married in 1994 and have three children, Hannah, Sam, and Caleb.

Church Leadership

October 23, 2018

Tuesday Thoughts: The 4 D’s – The Debater

By Chris Surratt

Okay, we’re having a conversation about the EGRs in your group and that stands for extra grace required people. And Those are just simply people that may take a little bit more of your patience, a little bit more of your time than everybody else in the group. Also refer to these as the four D’s and the first week we talked about the dominator. That’s somebody who just dominates the conversation during the group time. Then you’ve got the dodger, which is the opposite of the dominator, and they’re somebody who doesn’t enter into the conversation. Then you have the debater and the drainer. And today for just a minute, I just want to talk about what do you do if you have a debater or debaters in your group time. So these are people who want to debate the study. They want to debate the conversation. Now, some debate is, okay, and if you’re studying the whole Bible, you’re going to have some controversial topics that are going to require some discussion, but at the end of the night, we want the truth of God’s word to the land. So what do you if you have somebody who always wants to debate it, there are four things that you can do that I think will help as you lead your discussion.

The first thing is to prepare. Be prepared before the group time. Read through the discussion guide, make sure you know where the finish line of the discussion needs to go, so when you have that debate, you can kind of move them towards God’s word.

Second thing that you want to do is study. So make sure that you study the whole passage, the whole scripture that it’s not just one or two verses, so as you studied together with the group, refer to other passages that kind of bring more light to the topic than just one or two verses refer.

Refer to a study Bible like the CSB Study Bible that will help shed a little bit more light on the topic that you’re studying.

And then finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help. If there’s a debate in the discussion and you don’t know the answer or you don’t know where to take it, be okay with saying, you know what? We’re going to stop it right here for tonight. I’m going to ask a pastor this week and then we’ll refer back to it in our group meeting next week, and that’s okay to do so. Make sure that you prepare you study, you refer, and then be okay to ask for help.

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: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes. You can follow his blog at www.chrissurratt.com.

Church Leadership, Group Leadership

October 16, 2018

Take Sunday out of Sunday School if you want a Healthier Ministry

By Ken Braddy

“Sunday” is quite the misnomer. My understanding of Sunday School is that the best Sunday School happens after noon on Sundays and continues through late Saturday night six days later. As I’ve told training conference attendees before, “There isn’t anything ‘Sunday’ about Sunday School done right.” Sunday School done right is a 24/7 ministry that should find group members engaging with one another and their communities weekly.

“School” also may not have quite the right connotation about what happens in many Bible study groups. School is a term that may conjure up images of boring times, uninteresting subject matter, and teachers who didn’t “get us.” In many Sunday School groups, the teaching is discussion-centered and learner-centric. It is a far cry from the mental image some people have about Sunday School.

The best thing many of our groups could do is to take Sunday out of Sunday School. We should see Sunday School as a 24/7 ministry and not something we only do for an hour on Sunday morning. A few ways to do this include:

Contacting every absentee each week.
Fellowshipping together as a group regularly
Engaging in ministry as a group
Contacting and praying for one another throughout the week
Challenging group members to remain in God’s Word daily as they continue to wrestle with the truths discussed in the group’s Bible study

If Sunday School is only about Sunday, I believe it will struggle to be attractive to current and new members of our churches. It can be so much more than an hour of Bible study before or after the morning worship service. If, however, we take the “Sunday” out of Sunday School, it will become a vital part of who we are as the body of Christ. If we make Sunday School a true 24/7 ministry, its best days are still ahead.

Ken Braddy manages LifeWay’s ongoing adult Bible studies and is a 20+ year veteran in Sunday School ministry. His new book, Breathing Life Into Sunday School, releases in April 2019.

Church Leadership

September 7, 2018

Three Key Areas to Target in Group Studies

By Group Ministry

by Deborah Spooner

Yesterday was the day.

While the first week of September means Labor Day plans for many, many overlook September 6th: National Read a Book Day.

Read a book day? Yes. If we want to lead, we need to read. If we want to grow, we need to read. If we want to bring others deeper into God’s Word, we have to digest words ourselves. After all, a key way God gave us His message was through the written Word itself.

What would reading specifically targeted studies do for you, your group leaders, and your groups? We often miss out as we chose and read studies, but we can make a change. Be intentional as you use studies to…

Develop your group leaders.

You have your leaders leading studies; yet are you prioritizing developing them as not only group leaders, but also followers of Christ? With a little more intentionality, you can help prepare your leaders to maximize their time with the group. When they’re better at what they do, they can better guide others.

This developing is simple. Help develop their understanding of why groups and classes matter through studies such as Allan Taylor’s Sunday School Matters: 12 Matters that Matter to Your Church. Fuel their passion for their role as mentor through studies such as Chuck Lawless’s Mentor: How Along-the-Way- Discipleship Will Change Your Life.

Equip others to engage with culture.

Culture. It’s a buzzword, but we often get caught in the buzz and don’t engage the world around us deeply through our words. We share opinions, but are we sharing strategies and tactics to both truthfully and lovingly engage real people in real places? If we are not intentional in equipping our groups to engage, they will turn elsewhere to learn how.

We can constructively discuss social and political issues through studies such as Russell Moore’s Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel. We can delve deeper into issues such as sexual immorality and abortion through David Platt’s Counter Culture.

Catalyze groups to rethink the mundane.

What if ordinary was actually opportunity? People in our groups can become so disillusioned with life’s daily tasks that we miss what life could (and is) able to be. Daily can mean daily opportunities to make a difference, and each moment is a chance to not only serve but also to actually be happy.

Start shifting perspectives through delving into how we can, regularly, make acts of service a part of life’s rhythms in Tony Merida’s Ordinary: How to Turn the World Upside Down. Uncover how, each day, God doesn’t even just want us to be happy but also commands it through Randy Alcorn’s Happiness: God’s Invitation to Delight, Celebration, and Joy.

Reading matters. Not just on National Read a Book Day, but every day. Targeting specific, often underemphasized areas to read and study might just even bring more growth to your group than you think.

Deborah Spooner is a Minnesota-born analytical creative serving as a Marketing Strategist for LifeWay’s Groups Ministry. As a pastor’s daughter with a background in Digital Communications and Media and Biblical & Theological Studies, you can find her at her local church, in deep conversation, or with a book or pen in hand as she seeks to know Christ more and make Him known.

Group Leadership

March 15, 2018

Leadership Development is Like Coaching Baseball

By Group Ministry

by Eddie Mosley

You may have completed your annual planning schedule for this year. You and your team have thought through the training, connecting, and celebrating needs for the year. Your hopes of success in each of these have you excitedly nervous. I have been where you are and know the planning and team preparation that it takes to bring each of these to fruition. But I want to challenge you on a development area that we often overlook in our training events: the needs of the individual.

After years of being involved in baseball, clearly a team sport but heavily dependent on the individual, I discovered the need for individual training. The team will practice several days a week working on plays, defensive positions, and hitting. The hours fly by and practice comes to an end, but the first baseman has not improved on scooping the bouncing throws from the shortstop. A couple of the pitchers fail to hit the strike zone. And of course, three of the hitters did not hit a single ball to the outfield. Some teams will end practice feeling that they have completed a “good practice.” However, the successful teams realize the value and necessity of individual workouts and lessons after the practice. Some players pay a lot of money to have experts train them individually on the areas of the game they need improvement.

Compare a baseball team’s experience to your small group ministry. We brag on how many or what percentage of our leaders attending the annual (or even better, quarterly) small group leader training event. We walk proudly through the halls of the church having completed another “good” training event. But wait a minute, what about the leader who still feels inadequate to field the Bible study questions? Or the leader, who continually hits the same conclusion, but fails to develop a co-leader. Or the leader who gets through the material, but fails to hit the strike zone of application for the individuals in his or her group? What if we learned from baseball and adjusted our training to include the development of individual small group leaders?

Our small group team did just that. Just like the successful baseball teams, we do not leave the “success” of our small group ministry to a few mega-training events per year. We plan the institutional training events, and then add individual coaching and development for the leader’s needs. Here are a few coaching questions that have influenced our leader development:

Tell me about your devotional/quiet time life.
Where do you seem to connect with God more deeply: Worship, Solitude, Prayer, Bible study?
What do you find most fulfilling or rewarding as a small group leader?
How can I pray for you?

A few of the ways we implement the individual training is through breakfast or lunch meetings and/or individual meetings with the leaders. Just like the players who seek out individual instruction to hone their skills, leaders need to know they have the same opportunity in your ministry.

Eddie Mosley has served as Small Groups Pastor at LifePoint Church, a multi-site campus in Smyrna, TN, since 2005. His enthusiasm for seeing life change happen in the lives of individuals in his church, neighborhood and community is infectious. Eddie is author of Connecting in Communities, Understanding the Dynamics of Small Groups and various other articles on practical approaches to reaching people for Bible study. Eddie earned a M.Div at Southern Seminary and a D.Min at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a sought after speaker for small group ministry as well as neighborhood impact. His passion is to help pastors and leaders develop strategy to implement Small Groups in the local church which build community and impacts their communities.

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