Accelerate the health and growth of your small group ministry by attending one of these “Accelerate” Small Group Workshops!
Good heavens! When I first started in ministry, I had no idea that there would be so many meetings! With the meeting before the meeting, the meeting itself and then the debrief meeting, my days were shot and I didn’t always feel like I had accomplished much…yikes!
I wanted to be able to pour into all my leaders and help them walk out our vision to develop Christ- centered leaders that would change their world and encourage others to do the same. Many of them worked during the day and could only meet in the evening, so several times during the year I was out of the house several nights in a row. I would meet with new leaders, seasoned leaders and coaches, training them and giving them way more information than they would ever remember. I would fill their binder with everything they would ever need. It was literally the epitome of trying to drink water from a fire hose. I knew I was going to have to change something or I was going to burn out quick. I prayed for direction, it had to be the Holy Spirit because I’m not usually so brilliant…although I do have my moments. The idea was to hold all three trainings, new leaders, continuing leaders, and coaches… all on the same night! I was totally stoked to give this a try!
This is how I set it up:
The entire training is one and a half hours. For the first twenty five minutes I have everyone meet together in a large room to celebrate new leaders coming in, our wins from the previous season, and to cast vision for the next session.
After prayer, we breakout into three separate groups for focused training and small group orientation. I have my coaches who have been high-level leaders lead the topics for the breakouts. It could be anything from asking good questions to discovering your spiritual gifts. I usually lead the orientation so I can get to know my newest small group leaders. Easy right! And you’re done in one night! To help you deliver a successful and positive training I’ve added 4 tips for you to consider when meeting.
Tip 1: Regular Training Classes
With the super busy pace of our lives these days’ people need to know what’s coming…an event, appointment or meeting has to be on their calendar or it will not happen. To make this easier at the end of every season, I hold the trainings on the same day and time that they would normally meet with their small group.
Tip 2: Keep it Simple
We all know that training sessions are great for encouraging and developing your team and getting them re-focused for the new season…that is of course if you keep it simple. “Small bites” of information will help them to take it all in and utilize it much better.
Tip 3: Have Clear Objectives/Goals
Having clear objectives and goals maximizes the potential and impact of your session. By setting expectations and ensuring leaders that the topics being covered pertain to the leadership of their small group or to them personally, will build them up and give them more confidence.
Tip 4: Evaluation
The most obvious reason to send out an evaluation, and I highly recommend sending it out rather than having them fill it out at the end of the training, is that it helps you identify ways you can improve your training. Sending it out also allows them to think about it and give honest thought out responses. We want to be sure we are effectively equipping our people to lead confidently. It also demonstrates that their opinion matters, we care for them and we are in it together.
