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Ten Ways to Welcome Seekers into Your Group

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By Reid Smith

The best groups are high in health and impact for God’s Kingdom. For both to be true, a small group leader must be prepared to welcome people into their group’s life regardless of where they are at in their commitment to Christ and His Church. We reflect the beauty and greatness of our God when we accept one another just as Christ accepted us (Romans 15:7).  

The more small group leaders know how to welcome and encourage people who are seeking truth and reaching out to God (whether they realize it or not) the more effective they will be with engaging them with the gospel in transformational ways. To that end, here’s ten recommendations for how you can welcome spiritual seekers, build relationships with them, and inspire everyone to grow in their relationship with Jesus!

  1. Don’t assume. Consider newcomers as seekers until you learn otherwise. Believers who are new to a Christian gathering tend to convey something about their faith/church commitment up front. If they do not, chances are they either do not have a relationship with God or may not have a strong one. It’s important to avoid making assumptions about what your guests believe. Rather, look for ways to affirm the truth God has already started to impart to them as Paul did in Athens (Acts 17:22-23, 28-29).
  2. Be a connector. Warmly introduce seekers into your small group and connect them with a few people as they come in, helping them to strike up conversations before your study begins. If possible, learn a little about them before they show up to their first meeting as this will help you to introduce them to others in a more personal way. Do your best to remember facts they share about who they are, their family and friends, and how they found your group. Use what you know about them to ignite conversations with other group members. The likelihood of seekers returning increases by at least 50% if they experience a sense of belonging through connection with others. 
  3. Empower them. Find out what subjects your truth-seeking guests have an enthusiasm or expertise in and talk about that! People like to talk about things they know about. Seekers will feel more empowered and comfortable talking about things of interest to them. If you listen with interest, you will show that you are interested in them as people and they won’t feel like a project.
  4. Introduce your group. Take a minute on the front end to say what your small group is about and invite input from others so that guests can get exposure to some of the other personalities present. In a small group situation, most people prefer to get a good feel of the dynamic before jumping into the discussion. The more free people feel to participate, the more likely it is they will return.
  5. Include and affirm. Prioritize seekers in your small group time by making it a goal to help them feel safe and a valued part of the gathering. Look for ways to include them socially and affirm any contribution they make to the conversation. One of the simplest ways of helping a newcomer feel ‘at home’ in your small group is to repeatedly call them by their first name. Express appreciation for their input. When seekers say something that does not harmonize with Scripture, don’t be surprised or correct them. Rather, be positive and say something like, “Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!” Discipleship happens through trust-filled relationships that develop over time. 
  6. Break it down. Use relational terms to explain theological concepts in your Bible study. For example, salvation is having a relationship with Christ or being friends with God now and forever. Redemption is Jesus helping us to connect with God and know Him. Do your best to stay away from Christian jargon.
  7. Don’t over-accommodate. Most newcomers like to be acknowledged but may not like to stand out or be spotlighted in front of a group…so don’t focus on them. If you keep things normal, your small group will feel more natural and comfortable to them. You can be sensitive to your small group’s form without changing its function. Be yourself and allow the group to be itself. Don’t hesitate to pray or worship in your group if seekers are present. Sometimes this is exactly what God uses to gather lost people to Himself (see Acts 2:46-47.) If somebody needs prayer, pray for them. If you are planning to worship, just do it. Don’t attempt to explain it for seekers. They likely want to see things how they really are and would rather not have you disrupt the flow of what you do on their account.
  8. Talk about being difference makers. Healthy groups have regular conversations about how they can be Jesus’ hands and feet and impact our world with His love and message. Don’t miss the opportunity to demonstrate to seekers in your midst that you genuinely want to show God’s love to people and make a difference in your community. Have that conversation spontaneously or just say you would like to talk about it next time. This allows you to revisit your group’s commitment to evangelism and shows spiritual seekers that your group is…
    • Outward-thinking and it’s not all about those in your small group—this actually helps guests feel safer because it makes the communal nature of your group feel less cultic and more caring.
    • Serious about making a commitment to share God’s love and grace to a waiting world. People want their lives to make a positive impact on others. This helps them to see that your small group can help toward this goal, making group time a worthwhile investment of their time.
  9. Have a soft landing and end on a high note. When you have truth-seeking guests, leave plenty of time for people to socialize at the tail end of your group. Newcomers tend to be interested in being more personal toward the end of a group than the beginning. This will give time to connect your small group members to guests further and have fun and relaxed conversations. Also, studies show that when something ends positively the entire experience becomes a good memory for people, and one they are more apt to repeat. In private, let newcomers know how much you appreciated them coming and that you really hope you get to see them again!
  10. Don’t hesitate to follow-up. Let your guests know you hope to see them again! If a seeker came with somebody, encourage their friend to welcome them back. Sometimes small group leaders hold off from following up in this way because they are afraid of being intrusive or coming across as pushy. Most guests appreciate this act of kindness and it makes your small group more inviting overall. If you do not risk the remote possibility of coming across as intrusive in your follow-up, newcomers may feel like they are intruding. Revisit prayer needs when you follow-up with them by naturally weaving them into your conversation. This shows you were listening and that you care.

You want group members to have more than permission to invite their friends…let them know you WANT them to invite their friends. This attitude is one of the greatest contributing factors to a small group making an evangelistic impact. Small groups can and should always serve to encourage personal outreach. 

A small group that has an open home, open hearts, and open hands is a group that is replete with life-giving possibilities. By following the ten recommendations above, you will create an environment where the hospitality of biblical community will receive and reach many spiritual seekers for Jesus Christ!

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.

Church Leadership

What Does The Bible Say About ______?

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by Will Johnston

“The Bible says that the wages of sin is death.”

“The Bible says Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.”

“The Bible says unless you repent, you will perish.”

“The Bible says…”

I sometimes cringe when I hear those words.  It’s not because I don’t believe the Bible. I do.

I cringe when Christians say them to people who don’t believe the Bible.  Think for a second about how you view religious texts you don’t believe. If someone were to quote the Koran to you, how would you respond?  Would your thought be, “Oh, wow. It was written in the Koran, so it must be true!”?

I’m guessing not.  You’d probably be skeptical.  You’d evaluate the statement against your own set of beliefs, but you wouldn’t be any more convinced of its truth just because it came from the Koran.  Quite the contrary, the fact that it came from the Koran might actually make you more skeptical.

So if we’re not convinced when someone quotes from a religious text we don’t believe is reliable, why would someone who doesn’t think the Bible is reliable be convinced when we quote from it?

So how do we use Scripture with people who aren’t convinced it’s true?

Well, first, we share our own experience and relate the Bible to our lives.

If I’m having a conversation with someone about a business deal, and they mention that they’re considering cutting corners to make more money, I could quote Proverbs 12:22, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.”

Or, I could talk about how I try to run my business with integrity, and how that has worked out better for me in the long run. I might throw in that initially I acted with integrity because of what the Bible teaches, and I’ve continued because I’ve found that it works out better when I do.

The great part about the Bible isn’t just that it’s true. It’s that it works. When we follow what we find in the Bible, things do work better in the long run. And when we can show others how it has worked in our lives and keep the focus on the decisions we’ve made rather than using it to tell someone else what they should or shouldn’t do, people are usually a lot more receptive.

Second, we share Biblical teachings that will resonate with people.

If we catch a coworker lying to their boss, quoting Proverbs 12:22 will probably just make them feel judged and upset them.  It might be true, but it’s not helpful.

But if we’re having a conversation about homelessness in our community, and we talk about how Jesus told his followers to care for the poor (Matthew 25), the end result will likely be that people think of Jesus and people who follow Jesus as the kind of folks who care about those in need.

Or if we’re having a conversation about what to do when someone wrongs you, and we talk about how Jesus stressed the importance of forgiveness, perhaps we can help change the perception that Christians are judgmental and help them understand that we serve a God of second (and third and fourth and fifth) chances.

The goal isn’t to hide the more difficult to accept parts of the Bible, but those parts tend to make a lot more sense in context.  When we pull them out and present them as truth to someone who doesn’t know Jesus without the larger context, we often just put people off.

So, keep bringing the Bible into your conversations, but when people aren’t sure the Bible is true–and that may be some of the people in your small group–don’t just quote it at them, reference Biblical teachings in a way that helps them begin to see the Bible as both true and useful.

Will Johnston is the Director of Build Community at Eastside Community Church in Anaheim, California. Will graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in theology, did a two-and-a-half year stint on Capitol Hill, and then joined the staff of National Community Church in Washington D.C., where he oversaw small groups.
Group Answers Podcast

Group Answers Episode 110: David Platt

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On this episode of Group Answers, Chris and Brian talk to David Platt about missions and discipleship.

Dr. David Platt serves as pastor at McLean Bible Church in Washington, D.C. He is the founder and president of Radical.

Books by David Platt include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, and the forthcoming book Something Needs to Change.

David Platt received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Along with his wife and four children, he lives in the Washington D.C. metro area.

Questions:

  • David, the book Something Needs to Change doesn’t release until September, but the manuscript has been turned in and it’s for the most part complete. Let’s start there — how does this book mark this season of the journey you’re on and that God continues to guide?
  • We were just in SE Asia for a relatively extended time. In what ways was this last trip similar to others and how was it different?
  • Perhaps the most noticeable attribute of Something Needs to Change is the level of transparency you’ve undertaken. In what ways have your visits to Asia, processing the content of Something Needs to Change, and how you plan to lead from this point forward taken on such a personal nature? In other words, what has changed in you?
  • As you know, our listeners are comprised mostly of group and educational leaders in some capacity. How can we lead our groups to become involved with our mission to the nations?
  • Our team is adapting Something Needs to Change for small groups and I believe this is one of the most important projects we’ve taken on. Tell about your hope for this Bible study experience and why it’s important not only to engage the content in book form but to essentially “live” with it as an 8-week Bible study experience.
  • What are some ways we can support missionaries in our small groups?
  • How are missions and discipleship both intertwined with a sincere and regular devotion to God’s Word?

Quotes:

  • How does my life need to change, right where I live, in light of these realities in the world?
  • I feel like ever since that first trip years ago, there is a greater urgency in my life.
  • I want to show a more intentional focus on urgent spiritual and physical need.
  • Start where you are.
  • Show those you lead that their lives were created for the spread of God’s grace and glory among the nations.
  • “Unreached” is not the same as “lost.” There is access to the gospel here that does not exist in the Himalayas.
  • If somebody doesn’t cross geographic barriers to get to these people, they will continue to be born, live, and die without the gospel.
  • We want to make the good news of Jesus’ name and his love known in all the world.

This Episode’s Sponsor: The Overcomer movie has inspired the creation of several resources. For small groups, there is the Overcomer Bible study. For individuals, there is a book called Defined. Both are based upon powerful insights from the Book of Ephesians. Learn more about all the resources at LifeWay.com/Overcomer

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.

Church Leadership

3 Ways Your Group Can Be Kind

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What comes after Valentine’s Day? Although we might only imagine the gray and cold months that wrap up winter, there’s a growing holiday gaining attention: February 17, National Random Acts of Kindness Day.

What does this mean for your group?

We often make it a group goal to be people of kindness. It’s a fruit of the Spirit after all (Galatians 5:22-23). We even say we want to be people living on compassionate mission—people who serve others outside our group, or friends who carry the burdens of those inside our small group or Sunday school.

So, if this is something we value, what if we made it a priority to intentionally and creatively engage with this holiday?

As National Random Acts of Kindness Day approaches, consider these ideas with your group:

  1. Try words

Our culture is saturated with words. From media to meetings and passing conversations, we have a lot of input. But, something powerful happens when we set aside the time to build others up. What if we, during Acts of Kindness Day and the entire week, were intentional to reach out to specific members of our group and tell them truth? Share the positive character traits we see in them? Point out the ways we see Christ working in their lives? Tell of the growth we’ve witnessed and the ways they have impacted our lives and contributed to the group? The impact of intention, kind words, is astounding.

  1. Take time

In the American culture, time can seem to be our resource in shortest supply. Busier is, after all, better. What if, during Act of Kindness Day and throughout the week, we sought to find just a little time? Time to linger slightly longer after group and ask a few more questions to some of the members. Time to pick one person to take to coffee this week. Time to babysit for some of the group members’ kids. Or, you can give time—sharing a gift certificate for the newly married couple to have a date night. We can show kindness by taking time and giving time.

  1. Train others

We compete sometimes more than we show care. Instead of training others in our group, we can get caught up in trying to be the best group leader as we are more concerned with having the most eloquent answers to our member’s questions than trying to train the members to find answers themselves and to even take their own steps towards leadership positions. What if we saw Act of Kindness Day and the following week as a landmark where our role shifted from being a leader to being a leader who develops leaders? Put another way, what if we focused on being a disciple using their gifts and seeking to develop other disciples to also use theirs? You might be surprised by the results you would find if you picked one group member and made a plan to equip them–to train them in how you prepare to lead group, to teach them how to use resources to better understand the Bible, to develop them in hospitality. The greatest kindness might be in training others to be people of kindness themselves.

No matter whether you already are a devoted celebrator of National Acts of Kindness Day or have never heard of the holiday, you can take action. Seeking to be kind to others is one simple way that we can follow Jesus and lead others toward him, pursuing loving God and others in any way we can (Mark 12:30-31).

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 Answers Podcast

Group Answers Episode 79: Dean Inserra

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Our guest today is Pastor Dean Inserra. Dean is the Lead Pastor of City Church, a church he started in his hometown of Tallahassee, Florida in 2007. Dean has a passion to reach his hometown for Christ through the local church and to see healthy churches planted across the South and the nation. He is a graduate of Midwestern Seminary and is pursing a doctoral degree from Southern Seminary and serves on the Leadership Council for the Southern Baptist Convention’s ERLC. Dean is married to his wife Krissie and they have three children, Tommy, Ty, and Sally Ashlyn. He loves baseball, Starbucks, the New England Patriots, and the indoors.

Questions:

1. What do you think it is about the Bible belt that is different when it comes to group life?

2. What have you learned about cracking cultural Christianity that might help a group leader?

3. What approaches have you found to be successful in making groups more missional and engaged in their cities and towns?

4. On the show we’ve had several people address the political division we’re currently seeing, particularly in group life. I’d be interested in your thoughts about managing differing political and social positions and perspectives within a community or small group.

Quotes:

Church is not something that is treated with hostility in the south.

A group is another thing that would inconvenience people.

There are no next steps taken to live out the Christian life.

We have a lot of unsaved Christians who carry the label, but there’s no context to it.

We need to equip group leaders on how to unpack years of this theistic – where Jesus isn’t necessary – kind of Bible Belt Christianity.

You’ve got to get them lost before you can get them saved.

Resources mentioned:

The Unsaved Christian: Reaching Cultural Christianity with the Gospel

This Episode’s Sponsor:
What happens when the Bible and humanity collide? Not what you’d expect. Living & Effective, a podcast collaboration between Christianity Today and the Christian Standard Bible, journeys through history, current events, theology, and the human condition to uncover surprising ways the Bible accomplishes God’s plan in the world.”

 

 

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 Small Groups for the Rest of Us.

Church Leadership

When the Local Bar Acts More Like the Church Than the Church Does

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For the record, I don’t frequent bars. But I do watch a lot of movies. And if Hollywood—that bastion of truth—has taught me anything about bars, it’s two things the church should embrace:

  1. People in bars talk to each other. OK, so maybe it’s because a little alcohol works on our inhibitions, but people talk. They talk to whoever walked in with them, the bartender, or just the random guy sitting on the next bar stool. They talk problems at home, hassles of work, or whatever. They talk about life.
  2. People in bars accept you just as you are.This is the part that fascinates me. People will talk about themselves, and those listening just listen. No judgments. There’s a sense of shared humanity: we’ve all got problems and we’re in this together.

Sure, people at church talk to each other, but there’s often a superficiality to it. We talk about the Bible, we talk about Jesus—and in all we talk about, we want to appear spiritual. We want to look like we’ve got it all together. After all, if we’re Christians and we love Jesus, shouldn’t we have it all together?

We don’t have it all together.

And because we don’t have it all together—but we assume other believers do—we don’t want to open up, lest we look inferior or unspiritual. We’re afraid people won’t accept us as we are—or worse, they’ll reject us. So we pretend. And when it comes to praying together, we talk about a distant relative’s gall bladder rather than our own doubts and struggles. Unfortunately, this lack of openness means we miss out on the deep sense of family and fellowship—sharing all things in common—Christ intends for His church.

I lead a small group Bible study. One week as we closed in prayer, one of the group members requested prayer because she had been struggling with feeling down all week. At the end of our prayer time, another person commented, “I didn’t know she struggled with that too. I sometimes get down, but I didn’t want to say anything.” A connection was formed that day, and it created more openness in the group.

I always thought the theme song to Cheers would be a great theme song for the local church. Just for the moment, don’t picture Norm on a bar stool; picture Norm on a church pew. Shouldn’t the lyrics of this song reflect a key motivation for going to church?

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see our troubles are all the same.
You wanna be where everybody knows your name.

When we come to Christ, we come to His family. Let’s be family, talking and accepting each other.

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (Rom. 15:7).

Lynn Pryor is the publishing team leader for Bible Studies for Life. He is serving a Nashville church as their transitional interim pastor. Lynn and his wife, Mary, have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com. Follow him @lynnpryor.
Church Leadership

Tuesday Thoughts: Being on Mission

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Okay, we’re talking about the three distinctions of a biblical small group, if you remember. The first one is discipleship, so we want to make sure that we are creating disciples in our small group. Second, we want to make sure that we’re building community, that discipleship happens best within the context of community, so we want to schedule it into our group meetings and into our calendar. And then third, what I want to focus on today is mission. How can we make sure that our group is on mission? So I’m gonna give you four things to maybe look at to think about for your group to help your group to start thinking missionally. The first thing you want to do is you want to study it.

Choose study that forces your group to think missionally. Lot of the studies that we do are something that we’re passionate about, so kind of revert back to the same types of topics. So if you’re not naturally, if your group’s not naturally bent towards being on mission, choose a study that forces them to think about serving people outside of themselves. So maybe you go to lifeway.com, look at the balance discipleship plan and choose a steady from the serving God and others category, something that’s about six weeks long and take some time to study what does it look like to be on mission and then number two you want to plan for it.

Choose somebody in your group that will organize something that you can do maybe on a weekend and something that fits the skills of your group. So choose somebody, talk about it, talk about where are we skilled, and then pick a project for your group to start with to start thinking outside of the group. And the number three, it’s pretty obvious, but we want to do it. So actually make it happen. We can study it, we can plan for it, but if we don’t actually go out and do it than it was for nothing. And so make sure you get a good day and time when the entire group can do something. Maybe a weekend, Saturday morning, a couple hours where you can serve alongside another organization and become missional. The number four, and this is important and we forget this part a lot of times, is talk about it. So as soon as possible, maybe the next group meeting after your project, take some time to debrief. How did it go? How did it make you feel? What can we do differently or better next time? Because what we want to do is we want to move the mindset from a project to a lifestyle. So we go from just thinking about how do we do this project to how do we actually live missionally day by day. So study it, plan for it, do it, talk about it, and let’s become missional as a small group.

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with over 22 years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Team at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN, and was on staff at Seacoast Church in Charleston, SC, for 15 years. He is also the Small Group Specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. Chris’s first book, Small Groups For The Rest Of Us: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes, was just released by Thomas Nelson. You can follow his blog at chrissurratt.com or follow him on Twitter @chrissurratt.

Tuesday Thoughts

Tuesday Thought: Ensuring Community in Your Group

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Okay, we’ve talked about the three distinctions of a biblical small group. Number one, are we creating disciples in our small group? Number two, are we experiencing community because we know that discipleship happens best within the context of community? Then number three is our small group on mission? Are we making a difference in the world that we find ourselves in and so today I want to focus on community. How do we ensure that community is happening with our small group? I think we have to be intentional in two ways. The first one is in our schedule with our group meeting. So as you schedule out your actual meeting, you want to look at the different segments and the first part of the group you want to make sure you have time set aside for community. So about 20 to 25 minutes of just hanging out, getting to know each other, maybe have a snack or dinner food of some sort. Just to give the group the chance to have community at the beginning of the group time.

And then after that you’re going to have your study, which is going to be about 40 to 45 minutes, but then you want to set aside the end of the group time, another 20 to 25 minutes for more community building. And a lot of times this is when the best conversations are going to happen. So someone who didn’t want to speak up during the Bible study might find somebody during this last segment when you’re having dessert, just hanging out to ask that critical question that leads to discipleship. And so make sure that you’re intentional with your group meeting. Schedule the built in times for community. And then second scheduling times on your calendar for community. So as you set up kind of your calendar days to meet, make sure that about once a semester or once a quarter that you have at least one day just for community. So that means you can even do like a game night or get outside of the house or the room where you meet and have a picnic together. Go to the zoo or just do something fun that makes sure there’s community built into your calendar, into your schedule, so schedule it into your meetings and then put it on your calendar and let’s make sure we have community in our small group.

 

Group Answers Podcast

Group Answers Episode 61: Summer With Your Group

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On this week’s episode, Brian and Chris discuss service and fun in small groups. Click on the following articles to follow along:

https://groupministry.lifeway.com/2017/06/08/four-activities-for-your-groups-this-summer/

https://groupministry.lifeway.com/2018/05/17/summer-serving-finding-the-right-project-for-your-small-group/

Chris Surratt is a ministry consultant and coach with over 23 years of experience serving the local church. Chris served on the Executive Team at Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN, and was on staff at Seacoast Church in Charleston, SC, for 15 years. He is also the Small Group Specialist for LifeWay Christian Resources. Chris’s first book, Small Groups For The Rest Of Us: How to Design Your Small Groups System to Reach the Fringes, was recently released by Thomas Nelson. You can follow his blog at chrissurratt.com or follow him on Twitter @chrissurratt.

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 Small Groups For The Rest Of Us.

Church Leadership

Summer Serving: Finding the Right Project for Your Small Group

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

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

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

  • Hospitals—while some may want to become “official volunteers” at a local hospital, there are other projects to take on. Talk to the hospital administration about the needs their staff have especially during holidays including July 4th.
  • Local Schools—contact local school administrators about their needs. Don’t forget to look for ways of encouraging the teachers. You may want to join with other groups to provide a thank you meal or snack on occasion.
  • Local colleges and or universities—many on-campus ministries provide meals and other support for students through the year, usually through volunteers.
  • Public servants—your local police and fire departments are always on duty. Your class could adopt a precinct office or firehouse, doing special things for them through the year.
  • Community organizations/events—there are all kinds of organizations in your community that depend upon volunteers to survive. Special Olympics, sports leagues, after-school programs, adopt-a-highway programs, annual parades, Red Cross, and other organizations are full of opportunities.
  • Counseling centers and support groups—Abortion alternatives, financial help, grief support, cancer support, and drug rehab need volunteers. (Tip: Be aware that there may be some training involved in some of these projects. Most organizations will help you get the training needed or at least point you in the right direction. There may be background checks involved in some cases as well. You want to make sure that you meet the expectations of the group with whom you are partnering. If the organization is a faith based organization, you will also want to make sure that their beliefs and practices are in line with your church’s beliefs.)
  1. Select a project. Include the group in the decision, presenting them with two or three options. Be sure to explain the expectations for each project and why that project was selected as a potential project. It would be best to do one project well than to do several poorly.
  2. Get after it. Seek to fulfill the requirements of the project with excellence. Remind the group that they are doing this project as a means of representing Christ in your community. When asked by those you serve about why you are doing these things, explain that you are doing it because of the difference Jesus has made in your life. Be sure to take photos and encourage each participant to record interactions (journal) if you are aligning the project with a specific Bible study (for more on this, see the post on service learning).

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

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