Big Ideas about Small Groups

WCA GroupLife Blog picks a fight!

Eric Metcalf **NewThing Adult Ministry Champion

I'm a big fan from learning from other leaders in the small group world and the team at WCA (Willow Creek Association) are some of the best to learn from.  Well, Dave Treat (Group Life Director of Innovation, WCA) picked a fight about a very hot topic among those who lead small group ministries and I decided to join in. 

Take a look and join the RUMBLE!

We're Moving!

Don't you just love change?  Or not? Well we have a big change coming to this Small Groups Blog, and it's definitely a change for the better.

What's Changing:

Our location!  This blog will now be located in 2 different places, so it can better serve the 2 primary audiences who benefit from it. 

We are moving part of the blog to our main COMMUNITY website (www.communitychristian.org) - this is for the many COMMUNITY Small Group apprentices, leaders, coaches, and staff who get their COMMUNITY-specific information and resources from this blog.

The other part of the blog is moving to our NewThing website (www.newthing.org) - this is for the many churches and people outside of COMMUNITY who use our blog for training, discussion guides, info, resources, and more.

What's Not Changing:

The blog will continue to provide access to all the quality resources produced by COMMUNITY/NewThing for Adult Small Groups.  And it will continue to provide training content, start discussions, share stories of what's working and what's not, and allow for lots of feedback.

Why Change?  Becase we don't really have anything better to do, so we thought we could mess people up and...no, not really.  We are trying to be more efficient with our COMMUNITY stuff by sending all COMMUNITY people to one website to find everything they need.  And we want to continue serving those outside of COMMUNITY/NewThing by continuing to share resources/training/ideas all in one place - www.newthing.org.

It's all going down by March 3rd.  So bring on the change and see you there soon!

 

New Discussion Guide: Tough Times

This weekend at COMMUNITY we kick off our brand-new series, Tough Times, which will be a very powerful and timely series. It's all about how God responds and wants us to respond when we are going through tough times. So whether you're in one or know someone who is, it should be very valuable stuff.

To go along with this series, we have written an excellent Small Group Discussion Guide that help facilitate discussion around the 3 weeks of this series. So be the first to download a copy--HERE!

Generosity Conference

Eric Metcalf **NewThing Adult Ministry Director

In case you or your small group weren't able to attend the Generosity Conference you can now watch the entire conference online!  Check it out HERE.

D-Groups: The Rest of the Story

Steve Kerby | CCC Montgomery Small Groups Director

A few months (actually over a year!) ago I wrote about a new Discipleship Group (D-Group) that I was starting.  A group of four (4) guys concentrating on developing a passion for God's Word, holding one-another accountable and reproducing Christ-followers and D-Groups.  Thought I'd give you an update!

 

There are now ten (10) different groups!  Five (5) Men's.  Three (3) Women's.  Two (2) High-schoolers.  All concentrating on the above mentioned disciplines.  Exciting!

 

Check out the following comments from "Kevin" a "forty-something" guy in a group with a couple of "twenty-somethings!" 

 

"I sometimes think you think, 'What are we doing here with this old dude?'  And then I remember that it's truly not you who need me but I who need you...I love both of your perspectives and take on life and wish I had more of that wonder and possiblity thinking in my life." 

 

He then quotes some of Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life" devotionals entitled "We Know God's Truth through Careful Consideration" and ends with the following thoughts. 

"So, thanks for spending time with me as I learn to follow the Bible as this D-Group has given me the opportunity to have that 'careful consideration' time with you and Him."

 

Good stuff!  Any thoughts?  Love to hear 'em--post a Comment and share.

Small Group Training Videos

Eric Metcalf **NewThing Adult Ministry Champion

I got a chance to speak at the Willow Small Groups Conference this last year and bluefishtv.com gave me and others an opportunity to answer some common questions in regards to small groups.  Check out how myself and others responded to those questions HERE.

Alignment in Small Groups (and Why I Love the Big Idea)

Beth Kolar | CCC Yorkville Small Groups Director

 

I like to ask questions. I am big on principles that guide decisions rather than rules guiding them.  I enjoy free thinking people; Christ-followers testing and proving the Word of God and the weekend message for themselves.  I love community as it best represents God’s being. (you know, Father, Son, Spirit…that stuff)

 

So for me, Small Groups are definitely the place to be, but even more specifically, a small group that uses the Big Idea.  No, I don't mean one that only uses the curriculum and questions laid out in the CCC Big Idea Discussion Guides, but a group that dares to discover and integrate the essence of the teaching at a weekend Celebration service. 

 

Most people –maybe not you, have forgotten by Monday whatever it was they heard on Sunday.  We often treat the message like it has special properties of osmosis – just be ‘around’ it and it will sink in. I really don’t see that happening a whole lot.  Living a life of Christ, allowing the word of God, spoken or read, to sink in and bring about life change requires intentionality. Even then I still regard the life change as a miracle!

 

When your church is full of people who have just found their way back to God, you will find that many of them don’t really know how to “chew” on the message and aren't even aware that it’s a welcome option! The Big Idea Discussion Guide is a tool created to spur conversation, to help start the message digestion process.

 

Here is what preparation for my group time looks like:

Sunday morning –Attend service, take notes on my Blackberry (You thought I was texting my friends, didn’t you!?) Add questions about what I didn’t get, tangents in my own mind and quotes of interest.

Sunday afternoon – Read my notes, pray, review the Big Idea Guide in the light of who is in my group, recent conversations, or what I really want them to ‘get’.  I use an online Bible and search the concordance for related verses, chapters, stories, etc…I copy and paste them to a Word doc and print to take with me to group, for reference. Try to think of any visual aid or activity that may supplement the learning.  (Most often the Big Idea Guide has something)

Monday morning – pray, go to work 9-6, pray

Monday afternoon – Call my apprentice to share my heart about tonight’s lesson and review where I think God is taking us – being sure to share the essence of the teaching and empowering him/her to help the conversation move in that direction, asking for input.

 

This week we talked about Contributing, and last week about Community and it occurred to me that if we are the “Body” of Christ, how on earth can we accomplish things according to His greatness, if we are all moving in different directions?  It’s not about legalistically following dogma, but about each person, according to their giftings, playing a part in who we are, as this body. As smaller parts of the body align themselves with the rest of the body, Christ now has a functioning, focused person that can truly impact the surrounding community--and even the world.

Small Group DVD Series

Eric Metcalf **NewThing Adult Ministry Champion

In case you didn't know, you can view the Chasing the Almighty DVD series HERE (alongside of The Story of Everything and You 2.0).  And you can download the questions, plus leader guide HERE.  Enjoy!