Adults

Posts Tagged relationship

Apr
21
F Leader , I Leader , Jay Fennell , Susan Hill

Building Community in LIFE Groups: The Importance of a Mid-Week Touch

 by Jay Fennell & Susan Hill

Over the years of leading my own LIFE Group and also leading LIFE Groups ministries in various churches, I’ve noticed that the healthiest and most relationally connected groups communicate with each other through the week. Communication matters. If you’re not communicating with your group members on a weekly basis, apart from your weekly gathering time, you’re missing a tremendous opportunity to build community in your LIFE Group.
As LIFE Group Leaders, the primary goal is to lead group members to grow in love for God and each other. Building community is a key component in creating an environment where this happens. However, building community, especially in a new group takes intentionality. In fact, it seldom happens on its own.
One of the most important steps in building LIFE Group community is reaching out with a mid-week touch to your group members. Here are 3 suggestions:

  1. Send out a mid-week email. This might include prayer requests that were shared in your group time. (Be sure to make sure group members agree to share prayer requests via email.) Also, this is a way to communicate dates for social outings, mission projects, and updates from group members. It’s also a great way to introduce the following week’s lesson plan.
  2. Consider Using Social Media. Some groups have their own Facebook page where both the leader and group members can easily post updates, group photos, announcements, and mid-week encouragement.
  3. Calls and Texts. Even though this isn’t something that all group leaders can pull off every week, as your schedule permits, send group members a quick text or call to encourage them or let them know you are praying for them. This is especially important if you have a group member who is going through a difficult season. Also, if you have a group member who has been absent for a while, it’s important to reconnect.

Although we sometimes forget, LIFE Group leaders have an incredible amount of influence in the lives of those we lead. It just takes a few minutes to reach out with a mid-week touch and communicate with group members. This simple gesture has a great impact on building relationships and biblical community. Growth is most likely to happen within the context of relationship. Let’s do all we can to build a strong sense of biblical community in our LIFE Groups.
 

Mar
3
F Leader , I Leader , Susan Hill

How Social Events Strengthen Your LIFE Group and Attract Guests

by Susan Hill

As a LIFE Group Leader, I am amazed at how effective social activities are for building relationships within the group. A few years back, the LIFE Group that had been meeting at my home on Wednesday nights moved to Sunday mornings on campus. I didn’t anticipate any changes in the group, but I was in for a rude awakening. Longtime group members who had spoken freely in my home were now virtually silent in the classroom on campus. As new members joined our group, longtime members shared less and less. As this trend continued, I was dumbfounded.
Despite the awkward transition, we started to plan social events outside of group. One Sunday, we had a picnic in the park. Another time, we attended a play at a local college. We got together and painted canvases on a Saturday afternoon. I immediately noticed that group members were talking and sharing more in social settings than they were during class. Slowly, relationships were building. This carried over to Sunday morning group time. My longtime members started speaking up on Sunday mornings like they had in my home group. Newcomers began sharing sooner than before. Before long, group members were getting together on their own during the week.
At Christmas, we decided to have our party at a local restaurant on a Saturday afternoon. I encouraged group members to invite people who weren’t connected to a LIFE Group. Honestly, I wasn’t overly optimistic that many newcomers would attend a Christmas party. To my surprise, six new people came to the party and three of them came to our LIFE Group the following Sunday morning.
This group transition taught me that social activities strengthen relationships in LIFE Groups and are evangelistic in nature. There are countless people who might not be willing to come to church but will gladly meet a group of friends at a local restaurant. After they meet new friends, they are far more willing to visit church.
As you consider ways to serve those you lead in your LIFE Group, don’t underestimate the value of getting together for social activities. People join a LIFE Group because they want to be a part of biblical community that extends outside group time. This describes the New Testament church that Paul describes in Acts 2:42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers.”