How an Effective Small Group Pastor Structures Their Calendar
You've made it through the hiring process, unpacked your books, and set up your office. You've even played around with your email signature.
Now what?
What should you do with your time? How can you structure your calendar, your time, to have the greatest impact?
Dr. Steven Covey's famous illustration of doing first things first is a great way to begin this discussion. On the table is a large glass container and three smaller containers filled with big rocks, pebbles or sand. The objective? Fit them all into the large glass container.
In the illustration you're shown that if you begin by dumping the sand into the glass container, then add the pebbles, and finally try to add the big rocks...they will not all fit.
The alternative (and the point of the illustration) is that if you begin by placing the big rocks, followed by the pebbles, and then the sand, all three ingredients will fit into the glass container.
The moral of the story? Do the first things first. Start your day or your week by scheduling the big rocks (You can watch a short video right here if you've never seen it).
Why share this illustration with you today?
If you want to be an effective small group pastor, you've got to put the big rocks into your calendar first.
The big rocks do not take care of themselves. Only with intentional effort will the most important things get done. Without an intentional effort, many weeks, months, and even years, will come and go without accomplishing the things that must be done if you want to build a thriving small group ministry.
What are the big rocks? There are four big rocks, four main components, to the role of a small group pastor, at least as I envision it.
The Role of an Effective Small Group Pastor
1. A behind the scenes instigator who sets in motion an annual strategy to connect people.
There are two key elements to this role.
First, the small group pastors with thriving small group ministries almost always operate behind the scenes and are often unknown by the congregation.
Second, they’re thinking year round about opportunities to connect unconnected people and designing strategies around those opportunities.
How will you put this in your calendar?
In order to flourish as a behind-the-scenes instigator, schedule time to think, read, dream and plan, both alone and with your team (which may be formal or ad hoc). This may be a regular consistent time on your calendar (for example, I've blocked out Monday and Tuesday morning for this purpose).
In order to flourish as a behind-the-scenes instigator, schedule time to think, read, dream and plan, both alone and with your team (which may be formal or ad hoc). This may be a regular consistent time on your calendar (for example,… Click To Tweet
See also, 5 Keys to Launching New Groups Year Round.
2. A role model, doing TO and FOR (and WITH) your leaders (or coaches as your ministry grows) what you want them to do TO and FOR (and WITH) the members of their groups.
Since adults learn on a need to know basis, developing leaders is a customized and just-in-time practice. When this role is played effectively, leaders learn to do what you want them to do to and for (and with) their group members.
Since adults learn on a need to know basis, developing leaders is a customized and just-in-time practice. When this role is played effectively, leaders learn to do what you want them to do to and for (and with) their group members. Click To Tweet
How will you put this in your calendar.
The size of your ministry determines who you will best spend time with, but your investment really matters.
Whatever you want to happen in the lives of the members of your groups, must happen in the lives of their leaders first. Therefore, what you do TO and FOR (and WITH) the leaders of groups (or coaches of group leaders in the case of ministries large enough to need coaching structures), will ultimately impact the members of groups. Without your personal investment, it is hard to imagine group members experiencing what they need to experience.
See also, The Most Important Contribution of the Small Group Pastor.
3. A talent scout always identifying, recruiting and developing high capacity people, managing a reasonable span of care.
The key understanding is twofold: (1) Building a thriving small group ministry is a team effort and (2) every congregation has high capacity people who will only be fruitful and fulfilled when they play a high-impact role.
The key understanding is twofold: (1) Building a thriving small group ministry is a team effort and (2) every congregation has high capacity people who will only be fruitful and fulfilled when they play a high-impact role. Click To Tweet
How will you put this in your calendar?
To be a talent scout means being constantly on the lookout for high capacity people and making time for relationship building. Most churches have an abundance of untapped high capacity men and women (hundred fold players), who remain on the sidelines or serve in ways that cannot leverage their true capacities (i.e., they are in the wrong seat on the bus), simply because they are unknown.
See also, 5 Habits I’d Look for If I Was Hiring a Small Group Pastor.
4. A Joshua to Moses or Timothy to Paul, looking for ways to help your senior pastor be the small group champion.
Never underestimate the helper aspect of the role of small group pastor to senior pastor. Thriving small group ministries aren’t built when the senior pastor delegates the role of small group champion. Rather, small group ministries thrive when the senior pastor fully embodies the role of champion.
Never underestimate the helper aspect of the role of small group pastor to senior pastor. Thriving small group ministries aren’t built when the senior pastor delegates the role of small group champion. Rather, small group ministries… Click To Tweet
How will you put this in your calendar?
Depending on your relationship with your senior pastor, this may be an easy appointment to make (i.e., an occasional breakfast, lunch or coffee) or it may require thoughtful and careful relationship building (i.e., look for opportunities to be included in meetings or conversations, take advantage of short conversations by sharing quick life-change stories of small group successes, etc.).
Pointing your senior pastor to ways they can champion small group ministry should be a priority and calendared whenever possible.
See also, Your Senior Pastor as Small Group Champion Leads to a Church OF Groups.
These are the big rocks, as I see it. Put these things into your calendar first.
