This year I’m starting with a brand new small group of 7th graders. This will be my 5th year leading small groups, and it will be my co-leader’s 4th year. Because of those years of experience, I’ve been thinking a lot over the summer about what changes we need to make in our personal ministries to make this group the most successful yet. I also read through Doug Fields’s Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry and that got me thinking even more. As I read, I jotted down a list of notes for Kyle (my co-leader) and I to pray, think and talk through. That list is below. Maybe there are some things on the list you need to add to your small group ministry.
Leader development (Kyle and me)
- Consistent quiet times and check-ups (at least once a week)
- What are you reading? What is God teaching you? How are you being challenged?
- Prayer (at least once a week, before Life Group each week?)
- For each other
- For our own relationships and growth in God
- For our students
- For Life Group families
- Seek God first, ministry second
- We can only be effective if our own spiritual wells are full
- Rest
- Intentional time away from work and ministry
- One day every week
- One week every six months
Relational ministry
- 5-3-1 relationships
- Know five, develop three, focus on one
- One-on-ones/Two-on-ones
- Ask strategic questions
- Relationship with God
- Family stuff
- Struggles/temptations
- Prayer requests
- Nudge toward Jesus when appropriate
- Ask strategic questions
- Remember the little things
- Birthday cards
- Random notes
- Phone calls on strategic days (first day of school, etc.)
- Attend the last part of sports games (last quarter, inning, etc.)
- Let them into our world
- Pick them up when we’re running errands, grabbing a bite to eat, shopping, working
- FOLLOW UP ON PRAYER REQUESTS
Ministry to families (parents)
- Remember that we aren’t parents
- We aren’t the primary influence in a student’s life
- Pray for parents
- Know every parent’s name and who their kid is
- Always have at least one of us greeting/saying bye at the curb
- Communication
- Concise (no more than a 2 minute read)
- In advance
- Weekly emails by Monday
- Event notices several weeks ahead
- Consistent
Evaluation
- Evaluate the state of our students once a month
- Evaluate our program style once every two months
- Keep an eye out for too much consistency/not enough variety
- Evaluate our fulfillment of the goals of Life Group (fellowship and discipleship) once a quarter
[...] Yesterday Steven posted some ideas he has for his new small group. I knew he formulated this list last week but I hadn’t read his ideas until they showed up in his blog . It made me start thinking about some things. I asked myself what was one area I really want to do different. Being more intentional was the first thing that came to mind. Here’s what I want to do: [...]