Here are some of the core elements of small group ministry:
* Life-on-life is the optimum environment for spiritual growth. I’ve often said that what happens in a worship service is closest in kind to a defibrillator. A great message and inspiring worship can jump start your heart spiritually, but it’s not permanent change. It’s temporary. As soon as you’re in the traffic jam on the way out of the parking lot you’re heart is back to where it was. What does bring change? Life on life. Surgery or therapy happens when the Holy Spirit uses relationships.
* The best delivery system for life-on-life is a small group. Will it work for everybody every time? No. But the easiest way to impact the most people is through small groups.
* Interaction is a key to life-change. Facilitated discussion leading to personal application combined with the support and nurture of shared lives leads to life-change.
* Every believer is the relative shepherd to someone (and in most circumstances a group of someones). The leader should be a step or two ahead of the ones he/she leads. I don’t have to be Jesus Junior. Only a step ahead.
* Groups have a life span. The normal life span of a group is about 18 to 24 meetings. Groups can meet much longer than that but barring the infusion of new blood and a very proactive leader, groups that continue to meet become more about fellowship and less about transformation.
* Providing life support for dying groups is counter-productive. When I proactively send new members to a dwindling group I am usually keeping alive something that needs something a few new members won’t provide. Better to build leaders and groups that are intentionally building new relationships outside the group.
* The easiest way to impact a community is through an ever growing network of outward looking groups. With the right curriculum and the right strategy…a church can impact the neighbors and friends of every member.
By Mark Howell
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Ways to Find New Group Members
Who makes the best new members for your group? That’s easy. Unconnected people with whom you are actively building a relationship. Here are some ideas that will help you find new members:
1. Look for people who are already doing the same things you are. If your kids are in High School, make it a point to get to know other parents. If your kids are younger…make it a point to meet other parents as you check them into Sunday morning connect groups. Whether you’re in a bunko group, on a softball team, do scrapbooking, or regularly watch your kids’ little league games…be on the lookout for people who are already doing the same things that you are.
2. If you sit in the same area at the same service every week, you’ll often begin to notice some of the same people. Get in the habit of getting to know one or two new people every week. In the “say hello to a few people around you” part of the service…make it a point to remember their names. Write their name(s) down as soon as you sit down. As the service ends tell them you’ll see them next week.
3. Take a few minutes in your next meeting to talk about who your members know that would be a good fit in your group. Sometimes all you need is something to jog your memory.
4. Plan a social get-together (potluck, cookout, theme dinner, chili cookoff, etc.) and invite unconnected friends over. This is a great idea to schedule on a regular basis between studies. The perfect way to get to know a few new people.
5. Volunteer to serve the GBC 101 class. Think about it. Everyone at the class is taking a next step…the perfect time to join a small group.
6. Volunteer to serve as an usher or greeter. You’ll see a lot of the same people. Easy to be friendly and invite them to your group.
7. Volunteer to serve with…(see a pattern developing? almost any volunteer opportunity will put you in contact with unconnected people).
8. Make sure your group is absolutely, positively, up-to-date in the Small Group Finder on www.gladevillechurch.org
By: Mark Howell
1. Look for people who are already doing the same things you are. If your kids are in High School, make it a point to get to know other parents. If your kids are younger…make it a point to meet other parents as you check them into Sunday morning connect groups. Whether you’re in a bunko group, on a softball team, do scrapbooking, or regularly watch your kids’ little league games…be on the lookout for people who are already doing the same things that you are.
2. If you sit in the same area at the same service every week, you’ll often begin to notice some of the same people. Get in the habit of getting to know one or two new people every week. In the “say hello to a few people around you” part of the service…make it a point to remember their names. Write their name(s) down as soon as you sit down. As the service ends tell them you’ll see them next week.
3. Take a few minutes in your next meeting to talk about who your members know that would be a good fit in your group. Sometimes all you need is something to jog your memory.
4. Plan a social get-together (potluck, cookout, theme dinner, chili cookoff, etc.) and invite unconnected friends over. This is a great idea to schedule on a regular basis between studies. The perfect way to get to know a few new people.
5. Volunteer to serve the GBC 101 class. Think about it. Everyone at the class is taking a next step…the perfect time to join a small group.
6. Volunteer to serve as an usher or greeter. You’ll see a lot of the same people. Easy to be friendly and invite them to your group.
7. Volunteer to serve with…(see a pattern developing? almost any volunteer opportunity will put you in contact with unconnected people).
8. Make sure your group is absolutely, positively, up-to-date in the Small Group Finder on www.gladevillechurch.org
By: Mark Howell
Monday, March 22, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
What Does "Get Organized" Really Mean?
You are disorganized if you need something somewhere that you don't have or have something somewhere that you don't need. If you have a phone and discretionary time (and you want to be productive), you need to have easily viewable the complete list of every single phone call you need to make. Otherwise you don't have the information you need, in the format you need, to remind you of what you've agreed with yourself you need to be reminded of, when. If you are trying to prepare a lovely five-course dinner but the kitchen counters are still full of last night's dishes, you're not organized. There's stuff in the way that you don't need. In either case you're not organized—at least as much as you could be, from your own perspective.
An exercise I've done in my seminars is that I've had everyone reach into their purses or wallets and get something that doesn't belong there permanently and which has been there longer than a few hours (besides money). Almost all have at least one thing in that category—a receipt, a business card, a scrap of paper with scribbled notes, an old parking ticket. These are things whose location does not map to their meaning to the person who has them. If the item has no further usefulness, it is trash, but it's not in the trash. Often it is something they need to store somewhere else—it is reference, but it's not appropriately accessible as such. Sometimes it's something that they need to do something about, but it is not in a place to remind them to do it. There is lack of coherence between what the thing is and where it is.
Lots of folks contend that their "stacks" are what they want and that's the best way to be organized. But most piles that people have around them have a blended mixture of stuff to read (actions when they have time to read), stuff to store away that they want access to (reference), stuff to throw away (trash), and stuff they still need to decide what to do about (in-basket). The background stress from those constipated stacks generates a psychic callous—we stop noticing the piles, at least enough to really do something about them.
But, to be exact, with those stacks, you could conceivably be "organized." It's all relative—if you truly have decided that fifty pounds of miscellaneous paper material piled up all around your office is reflective of what it really means (these are all things that I just want to feel slightly pressured by but not actually do anything about, that I want to be able to find in a relatively short period of time, if I have to), then you're organized. As a matter of fact, you'd be disorganized if you actually changed anything about those stacks.
So, how does the meaning of something translate into organization? Pick up anything around you that you're wondering what to do with, and apply a simple set of formulae:
I don't need or want it = trash
I still need to decide what this means to me = In-basket item
I might need to know this information = reference
I use it = equipment and supplies
I like to see it = decoration
When I could possibly move on it, I want to see the action as an option = next action reminder, reviewed when and where it could be done
I need to be reminded of this short-term outcome I've committed to = project list item, reviewed weekly
I need to have this when I focus on a project = support material
I might want to commit to this at any time in the future = Someday/Maybe list item
I might want to commit to this on or after a specific time in the future = calendared or "tickled" item incubated for review on a specific future date
I want to achieve this "bigger" outcome = goals, objectives, visions that you review on some longer interval (a.k.a. your higher level Horizons of Focus)
It's something someone else is doing that I care about = item on Waiting-For list, reviewed at least weekly
I need to consider it when I do certain recurring activities = item on a checklist
Test these against anything you find lying around you in work or life that you think you need to know how to organize. Organizing tools should not be so mysterious—they are merely to support these various functions.
This is simple common sense. So why do so many people feel like they need to be more organized? Because most avoid deciding what so many things actually mean to them, which makes it impossible to know what to do with them. And what's even thornier is that even if they "get organized" according to these simple criteria, it is highly likely that they can become disorganized rapidly. Over time (and often not that much time) things change in meaning. The magazine is no longer the current issue, the project is no longer something we're committing to action, and the good idea isn't so good any more. So even if we get our ducks in a row, they wander off of their own accord. Being organized is a dynamic process, demanding consistent reevaluation, rethinking, and renegotiating the relevance of things in our physical and psychological environment.
We don't tell people how to get organized. We only assist them to marry what things mean to where they are. Simple, tricky business.
"We must strive to reach that simplicity that lies beyond sophistication."
-John Gardner
David Allen
http://www.davidco.com/newsletters/archive/0210b.html
An exercise I've done in my seminars is that I've had everyone reach into their purses or wallets and get something that doesn't belong there permanently and which has been there longer than a few hours (besides money). Almost all have at least one thing in that category—a receipt, a business card, a scrap of paper with scribbled notes, an old parking ticket. These are things whose location does not map to their meaning to the person who has them. If the item has no further usefulness, it is trash, but it's not in the trash. Often it is something they need to store somewhere else—it is reference, but it's not appropriately accessible as such. Sometimes it's something that they need to do something about, but it is not in a place to remind them to do it. There is lack of coherence between what the thing is and where it is.
Lots of folks contend that their "stacks" are what they want and that's the best way to be organized. But most piles that people have around them have a blended mixture of stuff to read (actions when they have time to read), stuff to store away that they want access to (reference), stuff to throw away (trash), and stuff they still need to decide what to do about (in-basket). The background stress from those constipated stacks generates a psychic callous—we stop noticing the piles, at least enough to really do something about them.
But, to be exact, with those stacks, you could conceivably be "organized." It's all relative—if you truly have decided that fifty pounds of miscellaneous paper material piled up all around your office is reflective of what it really means (these are all things that I just want to feel slightly pressured by but not actually do anything about, that I want to be able to find in a relatively short period of time, if I have to), then you're organized. As a matter of fact, you'd be disorganized if you actually changed anything about those stacks.
So, how does the meaning of something translate into organization? Pick up anything around you that you're wondering what to do with, and apply a simple set of formulae:
I don't need or want it = trash
I still need to decide what this means to me = In-basket item
I might need to know this information = reference
I use it = equipment and supplies
I like to see it = decoration
When I could possibly move on it, I want to see the action as an option = next action reminder, reviewed when and where it could be done
I need to be reminded of this short-term outcome I've committed to = project list item, reviewed weekly
I need to have this when I focus on a project = support material
I might want to commit to this at any time in the future = Someday/Maybe list item
I might want to commit to this on or after a specific time in the future = calendared or "tickled" item incubated for review on a specific future date
I want to achieve this "bigger" outcome = goals, objectives, visions that you review on some longer interval (a.k.a. your higher level Horizons of Focus)
It's something someone else is doing that I care about = item on Waiting-For list, reviewed at least weekly
I need to consider it when I do certain recurring activities = item on a checklist
Test these against anything you find lying around you in work or life that you think you need to know how to organize. Organizing tools should not be so mysterious—they are merely to support these various functions.
This is simple common sense. So why do so many people feel like they need to be more organized? Because most avoid deciding what so many things actually mean to them, which makes it impossible to know what to do with them. And what's even thornier is that even if they "get organized" according to these simple criteria, it is highly likely that they can become disorganized rapidly. Over time (and often not that much time) things change in meaning. The magazine is no longer the current issue, the project is no longer something we're committing to action, and the good idea isn't so good any more. So even if we get our ducks in a row, they wander off of their own accord. Being organized is a dynamic process, demanding consistent reevaluation, rethinking, and renegotiating the relevance of things in our physical and psychological environment.
We don't tell people how to get organized. We only assist them to marry what things mean to where they are. Simple, tricky business.
"We must strive to reach that simplicity that lies beyond sophistication."
-John Gardner
David Allen
http://www.davidco.com/newsletters/archive/0210b.html
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