Archive for Group Life

Reaching Young Adults

By David Adams · Comments (0)
Tuesday, January 18th, 2022

I regularly hear church leaders say, “We need to reach young adults,” usually in a church that is struggling to reach and keep young adults. If this is your church, there is hope! Here are three suggestions for reaching young adults.

1. Listen

Listen to God. Why does he want to reach young adults? How has he led you to desire to reach them? How would he have you proceed?

Listen to church members. To whom else in your church might God be speaking about reaching young adults? What wisdom do others have on the subject? (Someone has probably “tried that before,” right?)

Listen to young adults. Build friendships and hear what they are saying about faith and church participation. Avoid the urge to tell them what they should be doing differently. Make sure you are not approaching young adults with a target mentality. Young adults are not a project or a goal to achieve, but individuals to be valued, heard, and loved.

2. Evaluate

What are the possibilities for your church? There certainly nothing wrong with dreaming big, but if there are few young adults in your community or few in your church today, then starting one group or hosting a meal with young adults may be a great start! Your local Baptist association or state convention may be able to provide a demographic study that will help you understand the possibilities, or you can look for yourself at the US Census data for county population characteristics here.

Evaluate the desire of your church’s leaders and members to (1) give up some comfort and control (favorite pew, decision-making, programming, finances, traditions), and (2) mentor and bless new young leaders. These two areas may reveal the biggest barriers to reaching young adults. If you reach young adults but are not ready to invite them into significant ministry and leadership roles, they are likely to go elsewhere.

3. Get to work

Based on 1 and 2 above, recognize that simply starting a young adult class/group or adapting worship style will not reach young adults. Spiritual, relational, and organizational effort is needed.

Spiritual – Invite existing adult groups to pray regularly for young adults as well as you or others who are leading your church’s efforts to reach them. Pray for opportunities to meet needs and share the gospel.

Relational – Weddings, births, kids’ sports, Vacation Bible School, fall festivals, and other events provide natural points of connection with young adults. Be intentional in using these opportunities to begin new friendships. Invite two or three young adults to meet you for breakfast to discuss plans for starting a young adult Bible study. Ask other church members to make a point of getting to know young adult neighbors.

Organizational – Start a new Sunday School class or small group when a core group of young adults are ready to begin. In the meantime, develop one to four young adults through a personal discipleship group or less formal get-togethers. As you reach young adults, invite them to serve in the church. Young adult guests who see young adult greeters, ushers, committee members, and ministry leaders are more likely to believe your church has a place for them, too.

David Adams

Director of Discipleship

Texas Baptists

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Categories : Baptism, Bible Study, Connect, Evangelism, Group Life, Growing your Group, Outreach/Evangelism, Small Groups, Sunday School

Developing Apprentice Teachers

By Fred Creason · Comments (0)
Wednesday, August 11th, 2021

“How could I be so stupid?”  Maybe you’ve never asked yourself this question.  But I have—lots of times.  I’ll never forget the day that my perspective on Sunday School teaching changed forever.  I had always been a good Sunday School teacher.  I had shepherded my students.  I had tried to ground them in the key doctrines of Scripture.  I had tried to encourage them to live for Jesus, in church and out of church.  But I had failed to develop apprentice teachers.  I had sought to gather students in my classroom, rather than equip students to minister in other classrooms. 

I was attending a LifeWay Sunday School training, when 2 Timothy 2:2 gripped my soul.  “And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”  The verse became my life verse.  I determined that I would no longer evaluate myself based on the size of my class.  I would evaluate myself based on the Christian leaders, especially the Christian teachers, who came out of my class. 

We tend to grieve over the loss of students, even the students who leave our class to teach other classes.  In some ways, that’s understandable.  The world judges us by the number of students who sit in our classroom.  But Christ judges us based on our impact on his kingdom.  We should always be looking for that student who has the potential to teach.  We should be seeking to multiply our ministry, as the Apostle Paul did, through the lives of others.

Prepared by Dr. Fred Creason

Leadership Strategist, Wyoming Southern Baptists   

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Categories : Be a Catalyst Start New Groups, Bible Study, Enlistment, Group Life, Leadership, New Groups, Small Groups, Sunday School, Teaching, Training

A Church Disciplemaking Process: Large, Small, Smaller

By Mark Miller · Comments (0)
Wednesday, September 12th, 2018

Get Smaller! An effective disciple making strategy begins large, moves to small, and gets smaller.
Why? Because disciple making best happens in the context of relationships!
Begin Large! We are all worshippers. God is the audience of our worship. He should be the center of a disciple’s attention. Your disciple making process should encourage seekers and believers to be an active participant in worship. I saw this humorous quote on a church sign several years ago, and it has always stuck with me: “CH__CH; What is missing?” The church is not complete without “U”! Likewise, a Christian’s life can never be complete apart from a healthy, Bible believing, Spirit filled church. It goes hand in hand. Begin Large!
Why? Because disciple making happens best in the context of relationships!
Move to small. When you ask church members why they stay at a particular church there really is only one answer. They never say that they stay because of the outstanding preaching or the wonderful music. They don’t stay for the teaching or the decorations. They don’t stay for the special programs. When you ask people why they stay at a church, the overwhelming answer is: they stay because of the relationships that they have with other members. People come to a church for a lot of reasons. But people stay at a church because of the fellowship.
Your fellowship requires getting small. It requires a connection. Fellowship is about doing life together. Doing Life Together requires: Show Love, Get Involved, Have Fun, Be Engaged with each other. It’s about fostering a sense of community together. We must get small by encouraging every worship attender, church member and even the lost to get connected to a Bible Study group where relationships are formed in the context of Bible Study. Get SMALL!
Why? Because disciple making happens best in the context of relationships!

Get smaller. Disciples are best made in a community of close relationships. Jesus had Peter, James, and John. The apostle Paul had Timothy, Silas, and Luke. David has his inner circle of three mighty men. Consider starting a D-Group. A D-Group is a smaller group of about four people who meet together to share the Word of God with each other; learn Scripture together, and support and encourage each other through prayer and relationships.

Why? Because disciple making happens best in the context of relationships!

Disciplemaking is a process! That process should move from Large, to small, to even smaller. Why? Because disciple making happens best in the context of relationships!

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Categories : Bible Study, Disciplemaking, Group Life, New Groups

A D-Group Covenant

By Bobby Howard · Comments (0)
Friday, September 7th, 2018

Holy Bible on a wooden desk in church

Is a formal D-Group Covenant really necessary? This question can stir some spirited debate. In many cases, however, when leaders evaluate the reasons a D-Group has failed, issues go back to things that could have been covered in some type of written or verbal covenant between the members of the group. Whether there is a formally signed covenant or simply a conversation about making a verbal covenant with one another, a D-Group Covenant can help build a foundation for a true disciple-making small group experience. Essential elements for a covenant can be summarized in three categories: goals of the group, expectations concerning commitment level, confidentiality.

Goals of the Group
The purpose of the D-Group sets the stage for everything that happens in the context of the group. It is vitally important that individuals in a group understand the purpose or goals of the group. For example, if a primary goal of a church is to use a D-Group structure to multiply disciples, then letting participants know from the outset that a goal is for them to be a leader of a group in the future will help them prepare for this next step. Communicating a clear purpose in a written or verbal covenant will also keep a group focused on a path toward discipleship and will help avoid wandering in wilderness of proverbial “rabbit-chasing” or becoming a social gathering with no spiritual growth among the participants.

Expectations of Commitment Level
The success of a D-Group is in part based on active and consistent participation by the members of the group. A covenant should outline expectations for the group member’s commitment. There may be time expectations that let members know how much time they need to commit for the regular meetings. If the plan is to meet weekly for one hour, then the members need to know this and the leader must honor this commitment and the time of the members by managing time well during the meetings. People are often reluctant to sign up for indefinite involvement in a group in terms of how many weeks/months the group will meet. If the intent is to meet for one year, specifically outline the start and end dates in a D-Group Covenant. Expectations in terms of the work load could also be clearly communicated in a verbal or written covenant. If participants are asked to do certain things in advance so that group meetings are meaningful times of spiritual growth then these tasks should be outlined in the covenant. The tasks may include Scripture reading, journaling, reading other books/resources, sharing a testimony with someone, Scripture memory, and more. D-Group leaders can facilitate a successful group by communicating the expectations in a covenant.

Confidentiality
When a group is meeting together, learning together, sharing stories of personal growth or possibly some personal struggles, and praying together, it is important for participants to commit to confidentiality. The group will remain superficial and deeper authentic relationships will not develop among the participants if they are fearful that information they share may become public knowledge. Hold individuals accountable to this commitment more consistently by including it as a clear expectation in a verbal or written D-Group Covenant.

There are many variables that may create an environment for a thriving D-Group Ministry. A written and/or verbal covenant is one that should considered.

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Categories : Disciplemaking, Group Life, Ministry, New Groups, Sunday School
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Building Accountability in a D-Group

By Dr. Tim S. Smith · Comments (0)
Monday, September 3rd, 2018

The topic of accountability is not very popular with many church leaders. I understand their reluctance because there have been those that have abused their leadership position and been very heavy-handed in holding others accountable. Meaningful accountability will exist only if all those involved benefit from the steps toward the goal. Everyone must benefit and none should be abused or belittled. It is also important to realize that no spiritual growth takes place outside the realm of accountability.

The first step in building accountability in your group is to share and understand all expectations. Make sure that all expectations are understood from the leader/mentor as well as the group members. The basic expectation that builds accountability is attendance and participation. In my group I still take attendance every week.

Another thing I do to build accountably is waiting until the week before I give them the materials to be studied the following week. In many groups they get three to six months’ worth of study materials at the beginning of the group. I’ve found that it works best to give it to them just one-week or one-session at a time.

The thing that I’ve found that works the best is giving my group members responsibilities related to the group time. I share the leadership roles. They know well in advance of when they have a leadership responsibility and it is never a surprise thrown at them. The roles to be shared are leading the ice-breaker, taking prayer requests, telling or reading the Bible passage, and guiding the discussion.

During the week it’s also important to work to build accountability. Everyone needs to be prayed for and know that others care. To make this happen assign your group members a different accountability partner every month for the purpose of talking every week for prayer requests and then praying for each other.

These are just a few ideas of helping you build accountability in your group, but please remember that accountability does happen without first building trust. Show people you care and then accountability will come natural to your group.

Dr. Smith serves as a state missionary with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board and is the Sunday School, Small Groups and Faith Development Specialist. Visit their website at gabaptist.org/groups/ for more information and other resources to aid your Sunday School or Small Group. You can also connect with Dr. Smith at facebook.com/GABaptistGroups or twitter.com/GABaptistGroups. Dr. Smith is available for conferences or other speaking opportunities and can be contacted at tsmith@gabaptist.org.

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Categories : Disciplemaking, Group Life, Small Groups
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