Small Groups
Following Jesus Together
Very little of importance happens outside of relationships. God designed his people to live in the context of relationships… with him, with the created world, and with other people. It should be no surprise then that the life of faith is designed to be lived out in the context of relationships.
Groups help us grow as disciples, connect with God and each other, and serve in our communities. In this relational context we can live life on mission together, experiencing transformation as we follow Jesus.
A shortcut for your group leaders
Ever wish there was an easy way to prepare your leaders to facilitate a group discussion on scripture? Many people are so afraid that they won’t know enough about scripture that they won’t even sign up for the job. Here’s the easiest way I’ve found: give them...
Multi-site tip #5: Localizing small groups
This blog entry is part of a series of reflections on the multi-site model of church. After the whole series has been posted, you can do a search for multi-site within the blog to pull up the whole series. I know some multi-site churches may handle this differently,...
Three simple questions to transform your group
Are you leading a group? Most Christian leaders are facilitating a group of some kind. Why not try something different to breathe some new life into it? Try asking these three questions of the people in your group: • How are you experiencing God? • How is God...
Bring your leaders together
As you start missional communities, you’ll see leaders arising. Get them together! You’ll need to provide support of some kind; they won’t be able to run on autopilot. When you do get them together, here are 5 good questions you can ask: What’s working What’s not...
Community Journey Guides
Need a resource to help you or those you lead bring people together more effectively to live out the one-another commands of Jesus? Our bundle of three Community-focused Journey Guides may be just what you're looking for. Love Others Jesus said that all of the Law...
New resources available
You may remember that a while back I launched Journey Together Now, a new website for lay leaders. The site includes a “map” of the 9 foosteps of Jesus that people in discipling relationships can work through together on their spiritual journeys. Now Journey Guides...
A group study on incarnational ministry in the life of Jesus
Here is a group study that you can use together with others to process the question, “What does it look like to live incarnationally?” Select one of the gospels. Each time your group meets, follow these steps: Read the following paragraph aloud. Read one chapter (or...
Making Life Count
Not to be self-promotional or anything, but my most recent book saw its biggest bulk purchase ever over the holidays. One church bought a copy of Making Life Count for each person in their congregation as a Christmas present—over 3,000 copies. In case you haven’t seen...
Finding the Flow
My colleague Tara Miller has a book out on small groups called Finding the Flow. If any of your churches are working on this area, I suggest you check it out. Far from taking a programmatic or model-based approach, this book works just as well for missional groups as...
Tangible Kingdom Primer– teenager-style
About three months ago a woman at my church started going through the Tangible Kingdom Primer in a unique way—with her teenage kids. Lena ran across the book, began praying about who to read through it with, and when she showed it to her kids, ages 19, 15, and 12, she...