Small Group Fall Term First Week’s Guide
NB: If you are participating in a group that is ongoing with NO new members, feel free to navigate quickly through the beginning of this guide and give more time to conversation. Depending on the group, you might even skip the ice breaker and allow more time to answer one of the questions in the personal story-telling section.
Read this Small Group Recap (3 min)
We're going to spend some time discussing the structure for small groups and what we can expect. We will also have time to get to know each other a little better and share some of our story in life and with God.
Before we do that, let's look together at the Small Group "commitment or covenant.”
We want to become and continue to be a community marked by invitation and hospitality. We want our lives and homes to be open, and our dinner tables filled with laughter—glimpses of the Kingdom of God. We believe that it is through ordinary moments of community (like this) that strangers become a sort of spiritual family. We want to be a family rooted in Jesus, filled with love and affection, committed to one another.
To that end, during this 7-week small group term, we all are invited to say “yes” to this Small Group through a sort of “covenant.” This means that, by the Spirit and in God’s grace, we will all do our best to:
Attend each week of the term, proactively calling or texting the leader if you’re unable to make it for a gathering
Serve the group by helping with pot-luck meals, staying to help clean, etc.
Participate in the guided practice / discussion with honesty and charity
Be a person of safety, listening first, speaking second, offering encouragement or challenge only with discernment and permission
If you feel like you are unable to commit to this group in this way for this Small Group term, no judgment or shame! Please let us (the leader) know before you leave tonight.
Practice for Tonight (45-60 min)
(Leader: Choose one Ice Breaker question to get to know one another better.)
Let’s take a few minutes and go around in a circle sharing your answer to the following question:
If you were to show someone around your hometown, what is the first place you would take them to that holds meaning for you?
What is the best concert you have been to, and why?
What is the most memorable gift you have ever received?
Next, we’ll go around the room again, giving each of us 3-5 minutes to briefly share a part of our life stories. No one can tell their whole story in this much time, so consider one of the following questions to speak to part of it:
Share about your childhood and upbringing
Share about what made you aware you wanted to know God for yourself
Share about important changes or moments that impacted your life. Education, career, family, romance
Share about your journey of faith and in relationship with Jesus
Share if you have a sense of what God may be doing in your life in this season
We encourage you to share only what feels safe and appropriate. Remember, as we listen to one another, let’s honor one another, offer trust, don’t try to fix, and hold one another’s stories in appropriate confidence.
(Leader: Consider using a timer just so the person sharing has a rough idea of how to pace their story.)
Plan out details for this term (15 min)
Most weeks when we gather together, we’ll share some food and then have a structured conversation that helps us process the previous Sunday’s sermon. We don’t want to just know what was said, we want to honestly wrestle with what is being asked of us, how we can respond to what is true. This week, we are just going to set expectations for the weeks to come.
Before everyone leaves, let’s spend some time discussing how we can divide up some of the responsibility for the group during this term.
Every week we meet, there will always be three opportunities to serve.
(1) host the group in your home,
(2) take point on meal coordination, or
(3) facilitate the guided discussion/practice for the evening.
Some other roles you might consider sharing:
Birthday coordinator – Collecting birthdays for each member; planning a small recognition/celebration for them in the appropriate week (or month. EG, recognize all birthdays for the month of October on the 1st or last week). Please feel free to keep it simple – a special dessert, choice of meal, a card.
Prayer coordinator – we’ll often share prayer concerns as we talk together. Consider having one person collect these requests and help the group keep track of them. Some groups have shared google files, iphone notes, etc. Do what works for your group.
Service coordinator – Groups are encouraged to set aside time each term for serving. This could mean joining a work day at a local partner, having an ongoing relationship with a Shine partner, or a variety of other options. Having a point person help coordinate these details is helpful.
The church encourages us to share as much of the Small Group leadership as possible. If you are interested or open to signing up for one or multiple of these roles, please do that before you leave tonight. We will also send this out (via text/email/Google sheets/etc. - leader’s choice), in case you don’t yet know your schedule.
A couple of tips:
Meal Coordinator tends to be the role that requires the most forethought. The guides are usually written in a way that you can just read through it like a script, and you understand what hosting in your home would require
Feel free to sign up for multiple roles through the term, AND/OR for multiple roles in one night.
Sometimes it can be convenient to host and coordinate the meal on the same night.
Note for groups with Kids: If your group has kids that are not ready to participate in the discussion/practice, we encourage you to consider sharing the cost of childcare at your meeting
Close your time in prayer
Ask someone to lead the group in a closing prayer, using the words of the Lord’s Prayer. The leader can pray it line by line, pausing after each petition to allow other members to pray silently in response.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name (pause)
May your kingdom come (pause)
May your will be done on earth as in heaven. (pause)
Give us today our daily bread. (pause)
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. (pause)
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. (pause)
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen