Thirteen Boring Things to Think About as a Life Group Leader - Jake Kampe

Warning:  This is not an exciting, deeply spiritual or insightful blog!  But sometimes the simple things are the easiest to overlook.  So, today I just spent some time thinking about the "little" things involved in leading a Life Group.  The "little" things you do to prepare for your Life Group meetings are sometimes the most important.

So, here's some practical, and maybe boring, ideas that I came up with.  Some I stole from other blogs:

1. Always take time to prepare!  Preview the lesson during the week. Highlight questions that might be important for your individual Life Group, and make to note of any supplies or materials that you might need.

2. Before your Life Group is scheduled to meet, make sure the meeting environment is ready. Is the temperature comfortable? Do you have enough chairs? Are the chairs arranged so that no one is outside the circle? How’s the lighting?  Is the entry way to the home clean and clear?  Is the bathroom presentable? People notice these details and believe it or not, they are important components of a great meeting.

3. Prior to the start of your Life Group meeting, make an effort to personally welcome and greet each person as he or she arrives.  Make them feel at home and comfortable.  How would you want to be welcome?

4. Have refreshments available at the start of a meeting. If you don't do this already, build in ten to fifteen minutes of snack time before officially starting. This way, if people are running a few minutes late, they won’t miss the beginning of the session.

5. Always try to avoid interruptions during the Life Group. If practical, don’t answer the phone. Also, at the start of the lesson, ask people to turn off or down cell phones.

6. You know this one from training, but always start on time. If you do this faithfully from the first meeting, you’ll avoid the group arriving and starting later and later each week.

7. If your group is larger, don’t hesitate to divide into smaller groups to discuss questions during your study or for prayer times. This encourages greater participation by everyone in the group and starts to develop leadership in others.  This also opens some people up that don't usually participate.

8. Encourage participation, but be careful not to put anyone on the spot. Let the group members know upfront that they can pass on questions they’re not comfortable answering.

9. As always, keep your group on track. Encourage good discussion, but don’t be timid about calling time on a given question and moving on. Part of your job is time management. If the group decides to spend extra time on a given question or activity, consider skipping or spending less time on a later question or activity in order to stay on schedule.

10. Before dismissing the group, confirm the time and place of your next gathering. Also, make sure that whoever is responsible for refreshments at the next meeting is aware of his or her responsibility.

11. End on time. Regardless of where you are in the lesson, when the clock rolls around to the “advertised” ending time, call time and give group members the opportunity to leave if they need to. Then wrap up as quickly as you can. This communicates that you value and respect people’s time.  This is a big deal for a lot of people. 

12. Be prepared for people who want to hang out and talk after the meeting. If for any reason you (or the host) need people to leave by a certain time, be sure to make this clear during the meeting.

       13. Thank people for coming!
         

Hope these ideas help you with your Life Groups, and hope you're still awake!  WAKE UP!