Fueling Life

Here’s some things you can do as a leader to help people coming back (and these aren’t any extra responsibilities):

1. Make sure good contact is happening with everyone through emails and that there is follow up happening with those who are absent.  If people feel like you care, they’ll be more apt to show up!   (In the email contact make sure to let people know where you are at the in the book or study, so that way if they’ve missed a couple of weeks, they at least feel they know where the group is at.)

2.  Greet everyone who comes and say bye to everyone when they leave. Believe it or not, but the quality of your welcome and your goodbye has a huge impact on what people feel about the group.

3. Include everyone in the discussion and make sure the discussion feels safe and accepting.   (Subgrouping is a great technique to get everyone talking).

4. Have people sign up to bring dessert…they have to turn up if they have a responsibility!

5. Make sure you are prepared…an unprepared leader is a real demotivator for the members of the group (especially new ones).

6. Plan either your party or outreach not too far into the trimester to encourage people to get connected more.  Make sure to personally invite those who haven’t been attending regularly – so they feel they can come even if they missed a few meetings.

7. Stick to time. If your group starts late and finishes late, people can easily get demotivated.

8. Teach your group to reach out to each other (and in particular the newer people).

9.  Consider if you’re glad/excited to be able to meet that week?  If not, why not?  Your vibrancy as a leader comes out in how you lead – and if you’re not glad to be at growth group, it will come out – and others won’t want to be there either!

I’m sure there’s more to this list (and I’d love to hear your ideas!).

So what does a healthy Growth Group look like?  Here’s seven points (adapted from Mike Mack):

1. Christ-Centered: Jesus is the real group leader.  Growth Groups meet in his presence and power and for his purposes. (Matthew 18:20)
2. Healthy, Growing Leaders: The Growth Group Leader is growing in his or her faith by being involved in daily disciplines such as Bible study and prayer. (1 Corinthians 11:1)
3. Group Ownership: The group is led by the group, not just the leader.  Especially there will be a coordinator in the group. No one leads alone. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

4. Agreements, Goals & Plans: The group has an agreement that includes purpose, guidelines, expectations and an action plan (Proverbs 16:3)

5. Connecting with One Another in Authentic Biblical Community: The group meets regularly & consistently, does life together outside of meetings, and regularly prays for and ministers to one another.  (Acts 2:42-47)

6. Growing in Christ: Group members are intentionally being discipled. The group engages regularly in Bible study and application. (Colossians 2:6-8)

7. Serving Others: Christ’s mission (Matthew 28:18-20) is the Growth Group’s mission. The group regularly prays for their lost friends and is sharing their faith with others. The group is serving others together and individually. (Colossians 4:5-6)

This wonderful list originated with Dr. Neil T. Anderson… download a printer-friendly page for your group here.

1. Why should I say I cannot when the Bible says in Phil 4:13: I can do all things through Christ.
2. Why should I lack when the Bible says in Phil 4:19 and Mt. 6:25-32.:
   My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
3. Why should I fear when the Bible says in 2 Tim 1:7: God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.
4. Why should I lack faith to fulfill my calling when the Bible says in Romans 12:3: Think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to me a measure of faith.
5. Why should I be weak when the Bible says in Ps 27:1 and Dan 11:3:
   The Lord is the strength of my life and I will show strength and take action.
6. Why should I accept defeat when the Bible says in 2 Cor 2:14:
   God will lead me out in triumph.
7. Why should I allow Satan to rule over my life when the Bible says in 1 Jo 4:4: He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world.
8. Why should I lack wisdom when the Bible says in 1 Cor 1:30 and Jas 1:5: Christ became wisdom to me and God gives wisdom to me when I ask Him.
9. Why should I be depressed when the Bible says in Lam 3:21-23: Call to mind God’s loving kindness, compassion and faithfulness and have hope.
10. Why should I worry and fret when the Bible says in 1 Pet 5:7:
    I can cast all my anxiety on Christ knowing that He cares for me.
11. Why should I live in bondage (physically, mentally or emotionally in my thinking) when the Bible says in Is 61:1, Gal 5:1 and 2 Cor 3:17:
    There is liberty where the spirit of the Lord is and He came to set the prisoners free.
12. Why should I feel condemned when the Bible says in Rom 8:1:
    I am not condemned because I am in Christ walking in the spirit.
13. Why should I feel alone when the Bible says in Mat 18:20 and Heb 13:5: Jesus is with me always and He will never leave me or forsake me.
14. Why should I feel accursed or that I am the victim of bad luck when the Bible says in Gal 3:13-14: Christ has redeemed me from the curse of the law that I might receive His Spirit.
15. Why should I be discontented when the Bible says in Phil 4:6-7 & 11:
    I can learn to be content in all circumstances and experience God’s peace upon me.
16. Why should I feel worthless when the Bible says in 2 Cor 5:21:
    Christ became sin on my behalf that I might become the righteousness of God in Christ.
17. Why should I have a persecution complex when the Bible says in Rom 8:31: No one can stand against me when God is for me.
18. Why should I be confused when the Bible says in 1 Cor 14:33 and 2:12:
    God is the author of peace and He gives me knowledge through His indwelling Spirit.
19. Why should I feel like a failure when the Bible says in Rom 8:37:
    I am more than a conqueror in all things through Christ.
20. Why should I let the pressures of life bother me when the Bible says in Jn 16:33: I can take courage knowing that Jesus has overcome the world and its tribulations.

I just finished reading this book by John Maxwell. It’s one of the most thorough books on leadership I’ve read in several years. In fact, it’s rare that I do this but I’m planning on reading it again pretty much right away.

Maxwell’s aim in the book is to show how you can be a leader and develop your influence from anywhere in your organization. He shows how to lead up to your boss, lead across to your peers and lead down to your direct reports. Each of these areas requires different skills – and Maxwell brings some fantastic points to light.

I encourage you to check it out!

Here are nine ways which you can effectively kill off any growth group quickly; it is not exhaustive.  You may well have a technique of your own which is just as effective as any of these.  (Thanks to A. Morgan Denham for this content).

1.  This ploy is for use before the group meets – but it is one of the deadliest.  It is, quite simply, a matter of arranging the furniture in straight rows instead of an informal circle.  As a variation on this, where straight rows are not possible, put low-slung easy chairs behind the more upright version, so that the rear row is lost to sight.  A formal seating arrangement will make a formal meeting; and it will help you to be regarded as the leader ‘up front’ doing all the work (is that what you really wanted?).

2. Take full charge of the group right from the start.  Make it plain that you are the leader, intervene with a well stated and direct answer as soon as a question is raised, and decide when to change the subject.  If you can do this while still putting on a show of ‘democracy’, of being willing to listen to the group, so much the better.  They will get doubly frustrated.

3. As soon as you get the opportunity, sail right in with a long statement or lecture or statement on the subject in hand.  This will probably lead someone to suggest that there is nothing more to discuss, which should suit you splendidly.  It will also kill off the group in record time.

4. Pay no real attention to the comments and observations of the other members of the group. While they are speaking you have the opportunity of framing your next masterpiece of a statement.  Such entirely ‘empty’ observations as ‘That’s a point of view’, ‘Very interesting indeed’, and ‘We must come back to that’ will serve to give the impression that you heard what you were not listening to.

5. Allow the opinionated and vocal members of the group to dominate it.  His strong opinions are, of course, a mask for his own deep uncertainties, so that unless you intervene, he is bound to go on making more and more dogmatic assertions in order to make sure that he does not have to look at his own inner difficulties.  Since he may very well be covering up for you also, do not interrupt him.

6. At the same time, do not do anything to draw the more reserved members of the group into the discussion.  If they stay silent for awhile, assume that they have nothing to say, and leave them in limbo.  The talkative ones, after all, are the ones who are likely to stay in the area of nice comfortable platitudes, so that will make your job easier.

7. Don’t let any strong feelings like resentment or anger find expression in the group. Keep up the fiction that it is all controlled by sweetness and warm, sticky sentiment.  If people get angry with one another, after all, they might begin to learn something – and where will that stop?  Besides, they might begin to get really involved with one another, and then they would insist on working as a genuine group, not as a gang of stooges, and that would not suit you one little bit, would it?

8. In fact, the most experienced group-quenchers have an unerring ear for anything that reflects genuine personal feeling or involvement (as distinct from the mouthing of evangelical clichés and platitudes); such personal feeling must be suppressed at once, and the subject must be lifted smartly to the ideological stratosphere.  “What doctrine does this illustrate?” is as good a gambit as any for this purpose?

9. Finally, and most effective in the long run, allow the discussion to drag on and, when it is already over time, introduce the question of the time and place of the next meeting, and the subject to be discussed.  This is guaranteed to keep everyone going for another half-hour, and then they will be so late home that either they or someone else will regretfully ensure that they do not come next time.

Follow these suggestions faithfully, and success-destructive-is guaranteed.