Five Ideas for the Summer

Summer can be a challenging time for Life Groups.

Vacations, and family activities can make it hard to stay consistent. Plus, sometimes people (including leaders) just need a break!

Well here are a few ideas to consider if you’re planning on leading a Life Group this summer.

1. Meet Monthly for a Fun Activity

You could have a potluck, meet for ice cream, or even set up a game night that includes the kids. Ditch your study and focus on investing in one another relationally. Get to know one another on a deeper level as you simply spend time together.

2. Meet Monthly with a Missional or Outreach Focus

The summer is a great time to invest in your community and neighborhood.

Plan one missional activity each month (June, July, and August) that your entire group can participate in. You could visit a nursing home to hang out and build relationships with residents, serve a meal at a homeless shelter, or plan a day of landscaping/cleanup at the church or a local non-profit.

Check out the list of local ministries Cy-Fair Christian Church partners with.

3. Try a New Study

Summer is a great time to mix up your routine. Try a study on a topic you’ve been interested in, check out a video study on Right Now Media, or focus your time on spiritual disciplines like prayer. If you need help narrowing down the choices, check out my 5 questions you should ask yourself before choosing.

You could also ditch the study altogether and use your meetings to share your personal testimonies. As you share your stories with one another, you’ll deepen your relationships in amazing ways, and your discussions will have new meaning and depth. Groups don’t often have time for this during the year, but the summer can be the perfect time.

Alternatively, have each group member sign up to lead a week and share one of their favorite verses or passages. Then discuss the importance of the passage.

4. Involve the Kids

Often in small groups with children, the adults talk in one room while the children play together in another. While there can be great benefits to this (It’s great to have adult conversations without toddlers pulling on your pant leg!), it can also be great to involve the kids sometimes.

You could designate one night a month to involving the kids, or you could involve them every week if you’re brave. Plan a lesson or topic they can easily participate in. You might even put together a quick activity they can do. A really simple way to involve them is by having dinner together to start the meeting.

However you involve them, the kids will benefit from seeing healthy adult interactions and from being loved on my so many adults other than their parents.

The key: don’t plan anything that takes too long. If you think the adults in your group have short attention spans, you can’t imagine how short the kids’ attention spans are.

5. Take a Break

It’s not always a bad idea to take a break for the summer. Sometimes scheduling simply won’t work, or taking a break will free up group members to participate in other church activities over the summer.

Another great reason: you need a break. That’s why I encourage our Life Groups to at least take a month off in January, May, and September.

If you do take a break just for the summer, remember to communicate clearly by the end of May what you plan to do and remind everyone that you’ll start back up when the Fall Session begins on October 3rd.

Do this  before you break for the summer. That way everyone is prepared and informed. Then touch base with group members as often as makes sense. Even a text message can go a long way in staying connected through the summer months.

Whatever you decide to do this summer, make sure you communicate clearly both what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Taking a break from your usual routine can actually invigorate your group, so be sure to communicate that fact. Then ensure that everyone’s on the same page.

The Time is Now: Identifying New Leaders (Part 1)

Now more than ever, we need more people to step up and accept the challenge to facilitate and lead small groups. For the sustainability and growth of CFCC, Life Group leaders must be raising up new leaders. In this new 3 part series, I’ll give you some tips to help you actively pursue these yet-to-be-called leaders.

So, what should you be looking for?

First, look for the usual suspects.

In a recent study from the book Leading Small Groups That Thrive, groups pastors identified these top five qualifications for small group leaders:

1. Personal integrity— a consistent and uncompromising adherence to biblical, moral, and ethical values.

2. Teachability— a willingness to continually learn and refine skillsets.

3. Personal spiritual maturity— the ongoing pursuit of God and Christlikeness.

4. Availability— freedom to engage because of time and mental and physical resources.

5. Transparency— thoughts, feelings, and motives that are easily perceived by others.

As you think about people in your circle, who exhibits these traits?

Who are the great group leaders in your midst?

Second, look for people who have been great group members themselves. 

In that same study, the leaders of the most effective groups look for the following kinds of group members when they think about sharing leadership. They went to recruit for greater leadership members who:

1. Regularly participated in discussions and looked for life applications in discussions.

2. Willingly and honestly spoke about their struggles.

3. Fully engaged in the group and leaned into their own growth.

4. Expressed a willingness to serve.

5. Demonstrated their commitment to care for other group members.

Who are the great group members in your midst? Perhaps it’s time to tap them on the shoulder and ask them to lead a group of their own.

Third, notice natural gatherers. 

You know a natural gatherer when you see one; they’re the people other people flock to or gravitate toward. You can see people respond positively to their invitation to connect.

They know how to gather and connect with other people. So, who around you is a natural gatherer?

Fourth, consider people who aren’t already plugged into a group.

There are some folks who would be great group leaders who are not in a group. In fact, quite a few of the group leaders we surveyed indicated they led a group without having any other previous group experience.

Who do you know who is not currently plugged into a group but exhibits the characteristics noted above?

Lastly, be careful about people who perhaps are too eager to lead.

Ever found yourself in that awkward situation when people who really want to be leaders don’t exhibit the traits above? We encourage you to do the following with these folks:

1. Have an honest conversation with them. Affirm their desire. The desire to lead is a noble one. Kindly, graciously, and honestly share with them what you see.

2. Work with them to help them grow in areas of insecurity and weakness.

3. Give them small roles in which they can demonstrate leadership, and coach them as they do.

Your willingness to engage in a loving but candid conversation just might be the nudge they need to take their own growth seriously and devote time and attention to it.

So, look around you and see who God brings to your heart and mind. And then, think about how you might tap their shoulder, and invite them into greater leadership. Our next article will give insights on how to do that well.