Group Leader Resource Page

Practical Tips

First Meeting Recommendations

1) Start on Time!  This establishes that you will plan on beginning on time and ending on time.  If you linger, people will think that they can pop in whenever they want.

2) Introduce yourself and welcome the group members.  Take a couple of minutes to pray for your time together.  This will be a great way to quiet on going conversations and gain the focus of the group.  

3) Immediately after prayer, while you have everyone’s attention, explain the time expectations to the group.  “We will begin at ___________ and end at_________.  If you come late, please come in quietly with out disrupting the group and be mindful of the conversations that are already taking place.”

4) Have group members introduce themselves and quickly share why they joined that particular group study.  You may even say, “There are 15 of us so please leave time for others share.” 

5) After the group introductions, explain the lessons and what group members can expect during your time together.  Here are some examples of things you may say: 

“Each week we will discuss a lesson/ chapter/ sermon.…” 

“You can expect homework will take you________ minutes a day”

“We want you to come even if you are not able to do your lesson.”

“We want to hear your thoughts; it doesn’t matter if you are brand new to church or have been attending all your life, we want to hear how you are learning and how God is growing you in your faith.”

“We want to have full discussion so if there is a lull, we may call on someone.  If that makes you uncomfortable, feel free to say ‘pass’ or let us know in advance.  We want this to be a safe place to share but we do want sharing to happen.”

6) Explain prayer requests.  If you plan on doing prayer request during your time together, you will need to allow time at the end of your meeting together to do so.  Written requests always take less time.  You can have group members write down their requests and each person leaves with someone else’s request, or you can collect them all and email them out to your group.  It is a wonderful thing to be able to pray for one another, however, verbal requests can take a lot of time.  

If you prefer for group members to share their request, plan for 5-7 minutes of sharing.  If you tell them, “We are going to save the last few minutes of each meeting for prayer requests. We ask that all requests apply to you and your immediate family, not your best friend’s neighbor’s, cousin’s favorite bank teller.  We also ask that you be aware of our group size and make your request concise.”