How To Use An eNewsletter to Enhance GroupLife

How are you communicating with your small group leaders, co-leaders, hosts, facilitators, etc.?  Are you able to go straight to all of them?  Are you mailing a newsletter?  Are you limited to the ones you can personally call?  Or are you relying on a “pick up a flyer next time you’re in the lobby” strategy?…

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Using Facebook and Twitter to Enhance GroupLife

One of the most important cultural trends right now is the widespread use of social media.  And before you think it’s only for teens, a February 2009 report showed that the fastest growing segment on Facebook was women over 55.  A March 2009 report showed that the biggest growth by segment was users over 35…

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Boost Your Blog Participation Savvy with 3 Free Tools

Once you’ve built your blog you need to take advantage of three services that will really boost your awareness of who is reading what you’re writing.  Best of all…they’re all free! Clicky Clicky is a free service that allows you to easily track blog usage during the day.  It’s not hard to set up and…

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How To Get Started Using a Blog To Resource Leaders

What’s the easiest way to make information available to the leaders in your system?  I think you’ll find that a blog is an easy to start resource that’s always-available, makes it easy to share, and offers some huge advantages over almost every other method. Easy-to-Start It’s easy to get started.  Just follow the outline below…

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Question: Why Not Gather Leaders Monthly for Leadership Community?

In yesterday’s article on How To Build An Annual GroupLife Calendar I made the statement that “although the idea of a monthly leadership community has been the model for some churches, I’ve rarely found that to be a workable idea.”  This statement prompted a reader to ask, “Why isn’t a monthly gathering workable?” First, that’s…

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How To Build an Annual GroupLife Calendar

How does calendar planning happen in your world?  Maybe the question should be, “does calendar planning happen in your world?  Let me tell you, whether you are naturally a planner or you will only plan when it’s done for you or you’re forced…calendar planning is a key to small group ministry effectiveness.  Here’s why it’s…

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Question: How Do I Keep All Of Our Groups Viable?

A frequent question is, “How do I keep all of our groups viable?”  A little poking around reveals that this usually means one of a several things: I have some leaders whose groups have dwindled down to only a few people. I have some groups where the “leader” moved away, quit, or was disqualified and…

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Technology: Tools That Enhance GroupLife

What are you using to communicate with your small group leaders?  What are you using to train your leaders?  If you’re not yet using a blog or e-newsletter to communicate you’re missing a great opportunity.  What about Facebook and Twitter?  If you’re still relying on centralized, come-to-the-church meetings for training and encouragement…you’re not in step…

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Design a System That Identifies Potential Leaders

“We can’t find enough leaders!”  This is one of the most common responses when I ask small group champions around the country what they’re biggest challenges are.  If it sounds familiar…read on. The underlying reason that finding enough leaders is a challenge is a design issue.  I love Andy Stanley’s line that “your ministry is…

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Small Group Ministry in Perpetual Beta

Perpetual beta is an attitude.  It’s the attitude that what you’re doing is in development all the time.  It’s an attitude that says, “this is working good enough, this is working well for now, but we expect that we’ll figure out how to improve it.”  Think Google and you’ve got the right idea.  They’re always…

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