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As we considered how best to train our group leaders, we came up with some irreducible minimums - the essentials that are critical to leading well. If each of us will implement these priorities, we believe we will be effective in leading our groups. Because we have two types of small groups with two distinct purposes, we have developed Community Group Leader Essentials and Starting Point Leader Essentials.
Community group leaders are charged with an incredible responsibility. Because they are involved in the day-to-day lives of their group members, they have tremendous influence on the spiritual lives of the people in their groups. With this in mind, we encourage them to prioritize their own relationship with God. From there, we ask them to focus on six key aspects of group leadership - six essentials that are critical to the success of their groups.
Think Life Change
Bill Hybels has said that vision leaks. And that is definitely true when it comes to the vision and purpose for groups. It is easy for groups to drift away from their main purpose. So this value reminds us why we have groups: to create predictable environments where participants experience authentic community and spiritual growth; an environment where God is active in the lives of its members; a small group where people change. Keeping the life-change goal front and center challenges us to keep our groups purposeful.
Cultivate Relationships
This essential focuses on how we build a sense of community in our groups. Relationships are like bank accounts: They don't just happen. They require regular intentional deposits. Starting early to build the relational capital of the group is one of the most important steps we can take. Planning an activity like an overnight in the first six months of a group's run is a terrific way to set the stage. Then we must make ongoing deposits to continually cultivate relationship among the group members. Planned deposits bring greater relational satisfaction to a group's balance sheet.
Promote Participation
This essential focuses on how we lead the group meeting. It reminds us that since shared participation creates broader ownership of the group, all group members should be encouraged to participate often in the facilitation and leadership of the group meeting. This essential also reminds us to promote participation by being navigators of discussion, not teachers of curriculum. The difference is critical. Every time we ask open-ended questions, we are inviting participation. More than sharing the right answers, we want people to share their lives.
Replace Yourself
This essential encourages us to intentionally apprentice someone in our group for future leadership. The apprentice is someone who has the potential to replace a leader, not simply assist him. Since adults often learn on a need-to-know basis, apprenticing is the most effective way to identify and train group leaders. When we put someone into the game, he or she learns quickly. Ideally, we should identify an apprentice within the first six months of the group. This assures that the group is fully prepared to multiply at the end of the covenant period.
Provide Care
This essential reminds us that the primary way North Point provides care to its attendees is through community groups. We are equipped on how to deal with challenging situations in our groups. We are provided access to additional care ministry resources available from the church.
Multiply Influence
This final essential reminds us that multiplying our groups opens the door for others to participate in group life. It also allows us the opportunity to multiply our influence. While we recognize this to be the most difficult aspect of group leadership, it can also be the most rewarding.
Starting Point leaders face a unique challenge. They are charged with leading groups whose members bring with them a wide variety of spiritual backgrounds and perspectives. Because of this, Starting Point leaders seek to create environments where group members can experience community and explore faith. While this goal is rewarding when met, it can test the faith and patience of even the most experienced leaders and requires a distinct skills set. As a ministry, we expect a lot from our leaders. But there are five particular objectives we put before them - five essentials that are critical to the success of their groups.
Develop Your Skills
The first thing we ask is that they work to become better leaders. Whether they're reading a book that will build their skills base or going online to learn more about a particularly relevant topic, we encourage them to take the initiative. In addition, we coach leaders to recognize those opportunities within their groups to develop skills, such as facilitating discussion or resolving conflict. Both the leaders and group members win when leaders focus on developing their skills.
Prioritize Preparation
Preparation is essential to a leader's success. Starting Point leaders need to be confident in their knowledge of the material and understand the underlying objective for that week. Given the purpose of Starting Point, however, it is just as important that the leaders know their group members. Leaders should review their members' biographical information so they have a sense of where each member is coming from in terms of religious background or culture. Finally, leaders prepare by praying because ultimately, God is the one responsible for drawing people to himself.
Promote Participation
Starting Point is a "conversational environment", so one of the key functions of a leader is to encourage conversation. Part of this is balancing the tension between teaching the curriculum and encouraging discussion, and part of it is in developing skills such as active listening and asking good questions. The leader's attitude and philosophy are essential as well. Promoting participation means modeling vulnerability, transparency, and humility. And sometimes it means being willing to discuss wrong answers or misguided theology for the sake of continuing the conversation.
Cultivate Relationships
Because members join a Starting Point group to explore faith, Starting Point leaders have incredible opportunities to influence members' faith journeys - if they have connected relationally with those members. Leaders need to invest in their group members: taking the initiative to call, email, and/or meet with individual group members and leaders; being easily available to group members during the life of the group. As we say in Starting Point, if leaders are to help members find their places in God's story, then the first step in that effort is to understand the group member's story.
Encourage Long-Term Community
We call this "Starting Point" because we intend it to be just that - a place where people can begin to explore faith and experience community. Implicit in this name is the hope that group members will continue on, both in their faith journeys and in community. Leaders should be in community groups themselves, so they can communicate how God has worked in their lives through community. Additionally, leaders should actively encourage members to join small groups or service teams. We believe that life change happens best in the context of community; if we have done well, group members will have experienced a tasted of community that will cause them to desire more. |
