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How to Lead a Small Group

Thank you for participating in the training for Small Group Leaders. As you will see from the information below, small groups are an incredibly important part of church family life.

Small groups are essential. It has been said that healthy churches grow bigger and smaller at the same time. This means that a growing church stays healthy only as it continues to emphasize and encourage participation in small groups.

Small groups are unique. They provide a setting which isn't duplicated by the large Sunday morning service format. Small groups offer a rich environment for relationship building, prayer and learning through discussion and dialogue (the Sunday service format is a lecture format).

Small groups are excellent places to develop your leadership gift. Healthy churches share the leadership role with gifted lay leaders. The role of leadership is meant to be embraced by anyone with the gifting, not just the Pastor. If you are truly gifted as a leader, you'll flourish. If not given the chance to lead you would become frustrated. We want to give you the opportunity to operate in your area of giftedness.

Small groups provide accelerated growth opportunities for teachers. It has been said that the best way to learn is to teach. I believe this to be true. Therefore, leading a small group not only affords you the opportunity to flourish as a leader, but a learner as well.

Small Group Leader Responsibilities

Step #1: Find a host.
It is your job to secure a site for your study to meet. The first step is to find a host who will offer a meeting place. The host may be yourself, or someone else. Use the following as a checklist when looking for a place to meet;

  • Is it comfortable? Is it warm and inviting? Is the seating comfortable? Is it well lit?
  • Is it quiet? Is it free of distractions? (Animals, people not attending the study, etc.) People will not faithfully attend a study that is awkward and uncomfortable.
  • Is it secure? Can people share openly in this location?
  • Is it available? Can you meet in this location for the duration of the study? Try not to meet in various places.
  • Is it supported? Does the host welcome the responsibilities of serving refreshments, hosting mingle time before and afterward, etc.?

Step #2: Recruit people to attend.

It is also your job to invite people to your study. You can invite people from inside the church or outside the church or both. Resources for those inside the church are; Pastor Bob's recommendations and your own personal invitations during the "mingle time" at church. Resources for those outside of the church are endless and include; family, friends, neighbors, work mates, etc.

It's best to have 8-12 people in a study. Any less and it can become uncomfortably small if people miss a study. Anymore and it can become difficult to comfortably share and communicate. If your study grows larger than twelve or so you may want to consider dividing. Appoint another leader and become two separate studies.

Do your best to make sure everyone attends the first study. A well attended first study goes along way toward building group momentum. It is not a bad idea to call everyone and remind them of the first study a few days beforehand. However, refrain from calling everyone each week. People will decide on their own if they want to continue to attend.

There are several essential issues to discuss at the end of your first meeting. They are; childcare; refreshments, start and end time, meeting duration and whether or not your group will be "open" or "closed."

  • Childcare is an important and sensitive issue. As a group, come up with some creative options to deal with this issue. Options range from having adults share the childcare on a rotating basis, childcare paid for by the group; each person arrange for their own childcare, childcare at another home location, etc. Do your best to make sure everyone is content with the childcare arrangements. This can be the difference in someone deciding to continue to attend.
  • Ask the group to decide how they want to handle the refreshments each week. Options include; one person doing it each week, one person handling the sign-up sheet to make sure someone does it each week, etc.
  • Ask the group to agree on a starting and ending time each week. Be sure that you include "mingle" time. Mingle time is important and doesn't necessarily coincide with when the actual bible study part of the meeting begins. Allow people to mingle for 10 to 15 minutes before the formal start of the study. Ask the host for a preferable "going home" time. Be sure to allow for "mingle" time at the end of the study as well. The "mingle" time is great relationship building time, so don't eliminate or ignore it.
  • Ask the group to decide the duration of the study. A good time is between 10 to 12 weeks in length. Take holidays, summer, etc into account. Rather than cancel a study, plan special get togethers around those times. These are especially important times for people not connected to family.
  • Ask your group to decide if it wants to be "open" or "closed." There are advantages and disadvantages to both formats. The "open" group is open to newcomers as the group continues to meet. This format promotes numerical growth. The "closed" group is not open to outsiders once it begins. This format promotes relational growth. There is no right or wrong format. However, it is strongly recommended that a group not stay "closed" for more than one "season" (a 10 to 12 week period).

Step #3: Lead the study.
There are three basis aspects to a healthy study; fellowship, bible study and prayer.

  1. A healthy bible study has good Fellowship. Fellowship is defined as relationship building. In a healthy study, the people not only grow in relationship to the LORD but to each other as well. Things that facilitate relationship building include the bible study, prayer and the "mingle" time before and after each study. Refreshments before and after a study enable good mingle time. Some studies even include a meal before the study to enhance relationship building.

  2. A healthy study has a good bible study. A good bible study has several elements;


    • It is conversational. Each person has the chance to contribute by offering comments, giving input, asking and answering questions, etc. True back and forth dialogue takes place in a healthy small group bible study. It is the job of the leader to guide the conversation. It is also his/her job to draw out the "mice" and quiet down the "lions" in each study. Small group Bible studies are not lectures by the group leader or one person in the study.

    • It is inductive. An inductive study asks three basis questions of a Bible text. Observation questions ("what do you see?"), interpretation questions ("what does it mean?") and application questions ("what are you going to do about it?"). Ideally each question flows from the other. For instance;
      Verse; Observation question (s)
      Interpretation question
      Application Question

    • It asks good questions. Good bible studies ask good questions. Try not to ask too many "yes" or "no" questions. If you do, ask the responder to "explain." Try not to answer the questions for the group. A good bible study enables "self discovery." Let the group discover the answer for themselves. Only offer an answer if the group can't discover it for themselves. Lead them to the answer with suggested verses.

      Try not to ask "guess the answer" questions. Ask questions that have more than one acceptable answer. This is especially true for the application questions. Observation and especially interpretation questions often have only one correct answer. A good resource for developing good inductive studies is; Living By The Book by Howard Hendrix.

    • It encourages the use of resources. Encourage your group to bring commentaries, study bibles, paraphrased versions of Scripture, etc. Encourage them to use the resources as a means of discovering the answers to the questions. Good inexpensive resources include commentaries by Warren Wiersbe and J. Vernon McGee.

    • It is occasionally taught by an "apprentice." Be on the look out for someone in the group who shows the potential to develop into a teacher. Let them lead the group one week. Meet with this person outside of the study setting to develop a study together and then when they are guaranteed success, turn them loose as the leader.

    • It goes after the "MIA's". Have someone contact the "MIA's" in the group. People who have gone "missing action." People who faithfully attended the study but have not attend in a few weeks. A "how are you doing?" or a "we sure miss you" call can work wonders. Make sure some one is seeking out the "MIA's."

    • It is bible centered. Rather than reading a book about the bible a good bible study focuses on the bible itself. People at the study should have to open their own bibles to follow along and find the answers to the questions being asked. Curriculum should be adapted so that people have to read their own bibles not a study booklet.

    • It stays on target. Instead of wandering down "rabbit trails" the healthy Bible study stays focused on the issues of Scripture.

  3. A healthy bible study has a good time of prayer. There are few elements that go into to a good time of prayer.


    • It is creative. Don't always pray at the end of your study. Sometimes, pray at the beginning. Occasionally, make it the main focus of the study by reading several verses related to prayer and then asking the group to pray about them. Ask people to pray for the person on their right, etc.

    • It is public and personal. Encourage everyone to offer at least a sentence prayer during prayer time. Even prompt them by asking them to thank God for something. Even the study time itself. Encourage them to offer praises and prayer requests related to them. Use your last question to guide them into a prayer time.

    • It is focused on important issues. Don't let the group pray over issues that don't really matter. Be sensitive about this. Even discuss it with the group it if becomes an issue.

    • It is sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It may be necessary to pray over some one or about one issue rather than follow a prepared lesson plan.

Step #4: Evaluate your study.
A good tool to evaluate your group health is the "one another" list from Scripture. Use the list below to evaluate your group health. You may even want to teach it to the group over several weeks.

  • Love one another (I Peter 1:22, John 13:34, 35, I John 4:7, Colossians 3:14)
  • Encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25, I Thessalonians 4:18, 5:11)
  • Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:13, Matthew 6:14, 15)
  • Be kind, compassionate, sympathetic and gentle with one another (Ephesians 4:32) ("EGR's")
  • Live in harmony (peace, unity, agreement) with one another (Romans 12:16, I Peter 3:8, Romans 12:18, I Corinthians 7:15, Ephesians 4:13, Romans 15:5, 6, Ephesians 4:3)
  • Be humble (serve, help, submit) to each other (Ephesians 5:21, Galatians 5:13, 6:2)
  • Bear with one another (Colossians 3:13,
  • Confess your sins to and pray for one another (James 5:16)
  • Be hospitable toward one another (I Peter 4:9)
  • Instruct (admonish but don=t judge) one another (Colossians 3:16)
  • Don=t envy one another (Galatians 5:26)
  • Don=t grumble to or about one another (James 5:9)

Step #5: and attend Small Group Leader meetings.
Occasionally, there will Small Group Leader meetings. These meetings are designed to train, develop and encourage current and potential leaders