New Year, Great Start!

If your group seemed to slump over the holiday, welcome to the club. Every group I have been a part of has had to make drastic adjustment to its schedule over the Christmas season. The key to getting back on track it to start strong in January. Here are a few tips that can help you do that successfully:

1) Schedule a meeting and communicate it! Get back on track right away. If you were meeting on the second and fourth Fridays of the month--call or email your group and let them know that you are back on. If you meet every Tuesday, get it going right away. Don't give your group members a chance to fill that night with something else.

2)Revise the study for your first meeting! If you are continuing a study from the last time you met, take a night and recap where you have been. It has probably been a few weeks since people have looked at their books so the refesher will bring everyone back to speed. When people feel lost or get behind they are more likely to stop showing up all together.

3) Reconnect and Report! People are going to be really talkative the first time back together. This is a great time to catch up with what is happening in each other's lives and to let other's know how the Holiday went for you. Build this in to your first meeting and don't stress over getting less study accomplished. Remember, connecting is a good thing!

4) Add more people to your group! This is a great time of year to include new people in your group. If you are starting a new study or if you are restarting an old one, invite someone else to join you. Two great ways to do this are personal invite or be a part of the GroupLink on January 17th.

This is a really important time for your group. Easter will be here before you know it (April 6th this year) and summer is not too far behind that. That makes the most important times of year for most groups to be January to Easter and September to Christmas. Get the year started out right and lead your group through this important time!

Brian

Leading in Community

Small group leaders are some of my favorite people in the world! I've met alot of leaders and they have several things in common. They are people who care about others. Group leaders care about the spiritual development of others and are willing to invest themselves in to seeing other people grow in the faith. Leaders of small groups are generous, opening their heart and their home to others. There are many fantastic traits that leaders share, but there is one trait that I find puzzling. We are champions of community, yet we often lead in isolation. Too many times, we set ourselves apart from our group and lead carefully, striving to model what we want people to become, but we lead from a position of solitude. Who helps you lead? Who is there to help you evaluate the health of your group? Who is there to help develope your skills as a leader? Who is there to share life with you so that you can experience the same strength you are try to help others discover? Share with us what it is that feeds you as a group leader--and is there a person tied to this, or are you leading people toward community from a point of isolation?

Introducing the GroupLife Blog!

Here is is! This blog is being rolled out to get the conversation started. Groups are something that we all have in common--launching them, leading them, or participating in them. You are invited to join the conversation. I will be posting periodic thoughts related to group life and leadership, and you are invited to share your thoughts and experiences. We will have frequent contributions from other group leaders, mostly from Southwest with the occasional "guest contributor" to help us along. What will make this a great blog? You will! Enter the discussion and then we can learn from each other. This is a great way for us, as leaders, to do life together--that's GroupLife!

I can't wait to hear from you!

Brian Wood