Do your Small Groups follow the Sermon Series? Perhaps your groups use a set of sermon-based questions for their group discussion. A Facebook Group provides another great opportunity for you to engage people with the weekly sermon message. This group can be open to anyone, which makes it another tool for reaching the unconnected and helping them to get connected! This Facebook Group could also be shared with outsiders, making this an outreach opportunity as well. It is helpful if your pastor shares his sermon manuscript with you (or your Social Media team, if you have one) each week. You can review it often, mark it up, and highlight key points or quotes, which will help you create engaging questions and posts. If you have access to Canva (or other tools), they can help make a Facebook Group’s posts more appealing to the eye (rather than just plain text). Here are 6 post ideas that will help you to engage everyone consistently throughout a series:
- SUNDAY TAKEAWAYS: While the sermon message is fresh in everyone’s mind, invite group members to share their main takeaway from the message. Be sure to share yours too!
- MOTIVATION MONDAY or MISSION MONDAY: What was the overall theme of the sermon message? Monday’s are the perfect day to remind everyone what our motivation is beyond doing what we do (in response to the message). For example, our Lenten series is called “The Cross-Shaped Life,” which speaks to how the cross wasn’t just the way Jesus died – it was the way He lived. Therefore, our motivation comes from Jesus’ example, and each week we zoomed in on a specific example from His life. If your series is more mission-focused, you can start the week by asking group members to share ONE thing they plan to do in the week ahead to accomplish the desired mission. Encourage group members to share stories or photos of anything they did in response to the message! This will serve to inspire others.
- TUESDAY TRUTH or TUESDAY TUNE: Find a Scripture Verse within the sermon message and ask the group to meditate on it throughout the day. Ask group members to share how that truth speaks to them, and encourage them to think of someone they can share it with. Worship songs also make for another really popular post. Choose a worship song that connects to the theme of the message. Share the link and encourage everyone to listen.
- WEDNESDAY’S WISDOM: If you’re up to the challenge, create a short devotional video message on this sermon message and/or even better, perhaps your pastor is willing to help! This could be a little “re-cap” of the message and include a little challenge for everyone to dig deeper and apply the message. A much simpler option would be to pull a key quote from the sermon message, and ask people to share their insights into that quote.
- TRANSFORMATION THURSDAY: Consider how you can encourage group members to share their transformation as a result of hearing this message/series. Ask questions that will get them sharing stories: what were they convicted of in the message, that they needed to change? What changes have they made? What have been the results?
- FORWARD FOCUS FRIDAY: How will life be different as a result of this message and the changes you’ve made? Are there any new and exciting opportunities that might result from this message? For example, if your message focused on service, perhaps there is an exciting new service opportunity that you can share which will lead to connecting and engaging even more people! Maybe there is a follow up small group opportunity or study – find out who might be interested! Always be thinking ahead — how can we connect even more, especially in relation to the sermon series.
There are plenty of additional posts that you can add at random times, such as fun connection activities, like random polls or posts with humor (who couldn’t use a little laughter each day?). You could also have a post asking for prayer requests, and encourage the group members to be praying for one another. Encourage group members to also feel free to contribute as well. The more that others contribute and engage with each post, the more others will will want to as well. Many Small Group leaders have found the daily Facebook posts to be encouraging and helpful in bringing about a better group discussion, because people are engaging with the message on a daily basis. Why not give it a try?!
