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Prepare small group
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Davis john ochola
Ways to Prepare for a New Small Group
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Davis ochola
Preparing for a new small group need not be a source of worry or stress. Veteran group leader
Maegan Stout offers some things to keep in mind.
How do I prepare for my small group? If you are a first-time leader, this question should be
taken seriously but does not need to be a source of worry or stress. Regardless of where you are
in your leadership, here are some things to keep in mind that will be helpful to you as you
prepare for your group:
1) Pray.
This is the most important thing you can do to prepare for your group. Pray for the people that
God will bring to your group. Pray that you would be a leader worth following. Pray for his
blessing on your group. Pray that friendships would form and that people would grow in their
relationship with Christ.
2) Content.
Decide what to go over in your group. The ultimate goal of any small group is discipleship:
growing more like Jesus in the context of community. The content can be whatever you’d like…
from photography to a Romans book study. We have a free market system here � Whatever you
decide, just make sure that it is leveraged for a disciple-making opportunity. If you just can’t
figure out what the content should be, consider a sermon-based group. Those groups have
discussion based around the Sunday message so folks really get a chance to digest it throughout
the week. Each Sunday, discussion questions are emailed to the group leader.
3) Structure.
Decide before the group begins how the flow of the evening will go. Some questions to ask
yourself are:
• What is your start and end time?
• How is your group going to have prayer? (In groups? Pairs? All together? Be creative!)
• If you have a co-leader, how are you planning to share leadership?
• How are you going to include the group in leadership responsibilities? (Snacks? Prayer
list? Social planning?)
• How are you going to facilitate relationships within the group? (With a covenant? By
disciplining somebody to lead next semester? Meet with people 1 on 1 outside the group?
Serve together?)
4) Lead Yourself Well.
One of the biggest predicaments group leaders can fall into is facilitating community for others
and never entering into it themselves.
• Be intentional about building relationships.
• Get the most out of coaching. If you are a small group leader at NCC you have access to
a coach. These coaches are there to help you grow in your leadership, in your relationship
with God, and in community with other people. Even if you are a seasoned leader don’t
neglect this.
• Create rhythms for your spiritual life.
5) Be prepared for the first night.
Have snacks. Get name tags. Unless you are the one-in-a-million who remembers names the first
time you meet people, you will be thankful for name tags! Have a fun ice-breaker. My favorite
ice-breaker is “two truths and a lie.” It’s silly, you learn things about people that wouldn’t
normally come up in regular conversation, and you have a tendency to remember the things they
share.
6) Have an “overflow situation” plan.
We are growing so much as a church, but we never want God to grow us beyond our capacity to
care for people. It is becoming more and more common that group leaders have an unexpected
amount of people show up during the first few weeks. Remember that these are small groups, not
large groups! Get creative in how you handle this, but here are three things you can do:
• Familiarize yourself with other groups similar to yours to recommend.
• Split the group into two smaller groups for discussion time.
• Completely birth a new group if somebody within the larger group is qualified and
capable to host and lead.
We are excited for this next semester! You play such a critical role in the lives of those in your
group. To prepare yourself further, read the books of 1 & 2 Timothy and the book of Titus.
Timothy and Titus were leaders in the early church that Paul discipled; these letters are to
instruct them in their leadership.
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