Rebecca Ligtenberg

Our council agendas include much the same topics/information as the description given by James. Our President of Council sets the agenda and runs the meeting. Meeting agendas and other relevant information are distributed by email and hard copy on the Friday before the meeting (most people pick up their printouts on Sunday.) The Clerk records the meeting minutes and distributes those. Our Clerk also has an archive of minutes and decisions and is often the person called on to research questions about past events/decisions. We also have an office of "Vice-All". In the absence of either Council President or Clerk, the Vice-All will fill in.

I went through a Network class about 10 years ago, and liked it. It wasn't a DVD curriculum then, local church members led the class.

We are currently using the SHAPE curriculum, which was developed at Saddleback church and is free to use and share. This was recommended to me by another CRC in our area. I teach this class 1-2 times per year, and it has been well-received by those who have attended, although interest in the class is not as high as we'd like.

I'm always interested in hearing other ideas, too, so will look forward to seeing what others have to add to this discussion.

Our small groups ("Life Groups") are on a schedule where there are 3 "seasons" per year where church members sign up each season for a group. Because of that, many of the tasks of our coordinator are related to the cyclical nature of organizing and promoting the groups, but here are a few bullet points from our description that might be relevant to working with group leaders:

• Recruit, Train, Develop and Recognize Life Group Leaders
• Provide Life Group Leader training
• Recognize and thank Life Group Leaders
• Follow up with Group Leaders throughout the season to provide support and assistance as needed

Other tasks that might be helpful for any small group ministry:

• Champion and promote the Life Groups mission: Grow, Connect, Serve
• Seek out stories of Crossroads members who grew through Life Groups and who will share their story with the church (testimonies) and/or tell the story of Life Groups through videos or other creative presentations.

• Create and send surveys to church members, and review results for effectiveness of Life Groups
• Manage Life Groups budget

I think training is a big one, and in a scenario where groups are ongoing, providing training on a periodic basis both helps your leaders learn ways to develop and keep a healthy group going.

We run on an 8-12 week season typically, and each leader is contacted as often as weekly through the season. All are contacted after their first meeting, and then the small group leader is asked how often they want to be contacted and in what way (phone or email usually.) I am in a different ministry role, but one that also means that I "check in" regularly with various leaders. Even if they don't need anything, they appreciate a call. Often, however, they have a question or two, and it gives me a chance to help them and just remind them I'm available if they ever need anything. 

We also ask our leaders to help us find future leaders by identifying group members who demonstrate gifts that would make them a good leader. Sometimes these people are asked to fill in as leaders when the main leader can't be there, for example, and/or are approached to lead or co-lead a group in the next season.

I attended a small group training earlier this year that was produced by Saddleback church, and they had a strategy for splitting larger groups into two smaller groups so that the healthy group could multiply. Essentially, the leader would identify 1-2 people in the large group who might make good leaders, and over time, gradually trained them by asking them to lead smaller, then larger portions of the meetings. Or, the one large group would sometimes split into two smaller groups for a some parts of the discussion, then reconvene later to share what they talked about and close the meeting. Over time, then, some groups are able to split and then make room for more members.

They also said that in response to someone who wants to join a group, they will ask them to consider starting a new group (instead of joining an existing group) by finding others who are interested in meeting. They also mentioned that their church has a variety of "off the shelf" materials they can hand out to a leader to make it easy for them to get started, which may not be the case in your church. 

Just food for thought, and I've heard before that smallgroups.com (as a previous poster suggested) is a great resources.

We mail a note to thank visitors for worshipping with us. Our Communication Card also offers people the chance to request more information, so we send information about ministries, Life Groups (our small groups), serving, children's ministries, etc. as requested. I've thought about the gift idea, but haven't ever implemented anything, although now thanks to Brad's suggestion, that might change. I like that it's low-cost, yet can be personalized to our church, and has intrinsic value for both Christians and/or seekers.

9nineteen & Joyce, thanks for commenting!

Although we aren't using Planning Center, and I don't think we are using CCLI Song Select, we do project words (no music) using MediaShout. I am not on that team so can't speak to details (version, effectiveness) but if you want more info, I can ask someone else from my church to comment on this discussion.

I don't know the answer to your question, but I would suggest you might get some ideas if you post this over in Church Administration. This seems like the kind of topic that group might be able to help you with. 

Karl, thanks for chiming in with some great ideas, and for all your thoughtful posts on this forum! Rebecca