Free summer kit for small group leaders

The fastest-growing small group in America is a run club.

Nobody there is actually running. They're showing up for the thing you've been quietly building all along. Here are five low-effort ways to keep your group together this summer — without running a full program nobody has the energy for.

Not a cliquey run club. A table where nobody comes last.

Download the free kit (PDF) →

Free PDF. No email required. Forward it to anyone who leads a group.

Strava clubs nearly quadrupled in 2025 — the culture is sprinting back to in-person belonging
−34%
how far group attendance falls by July, the year's deepest month
20%+
of their people that groups lose when they go dark entirely for summer
Sources: Strava 2025 Year in Sport · Lifeway Research · Church Answers
The reframe

You're not behind the trend. You were early.

The culture just spent two years and a small fortune rediscovering the thing you do every week: a place where the activity is just the excuse and being known is the actual product.

Half of US adults report loneliness. We spend 24 more hours alone every month than we did twenty years ago. People are setting 6am alarms in the rain to manufacture community — and you already have the table.

The trap is thinking summer means pausing. It doesn't. It means lowering the bar to the floor and letting belonging do the heavy lifting.

That's what this kit is for.

What's inside

The Summer Third-Place Starter Kit

5 Five plug-and-play formats

The Walk-and-Talk, Porch Night, Taco Tuesday + One Question, the Move Club, and Park & Play — each with a "minimum viable structure" that runs even on your most exhausted week.

Copy-paste invite texts

Steal the exact wording, change the time, hit send. No staring at a blank message box.

The "rename it" swap table

Stop calling it a "study." See what to call it instead — and why people actually show up.

A "don't let summer kill your group" cheat sheet

Ten principles on a single printable page, including the fall restart move.

? A 7-question summer question bank

Drop one into any gathering. No lesson plan required.

The "came once and ghosted" text

The exact words to send the person who showed up once and disappeared — no guilt, just the door held open.

Grab the kit. Keep your group together.

Five things you can actually pull off this summer, even on a tired week. Yours free — no sign-up, no catch.

Download the free kit (PDF) →

Lead a group? It's for you. Know someone who does? Forward it.

Author

  • James Browning

    James Browning is the Pastor of Small Group Network Development and a staff member at Saddleback Church. He has over a decade of experience in marketing and digital evangelism.

    View all posts
Daniel Thomas

Connections Director

423-534-9321

daniel@smallgroupnetwork.com

Daniel serves as Executive Pastor at Community Church of Mountain City, TN.  Daniel and his family are on a mission to establish roots within their community, fight for peace and serve well.  He serves as our Connections Director in laying the groundwork for Circles. He loves great coffee and traveling with his wife Tia and two children, Deklan and Aden

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