Communicating with Hosts and Leaders
What are you doing to keep your small group leaders and hosts up to speed? Calling them all personally? Using a coaching structure to stay in contact? Adding a note to the bulletin? Updating your church’s website? Maybe all of the above? One of the best new ways to communicate with your leaders and hosts…
Read MoreRecommended Follow-Up Studies
As I’ve mentioned, when you’re launching new groups using a church-wide campaign it is very important to give your newest groups something to do next that is similar in kind. DVD-driven. Easy to use. Plug and play. They will be much more likely to continue if you help them at this critical moment. Here are…
Read MoreWhat’s Next? When (and How) to Promote the Next Curriculum
When you’re talking about sequencing the launch of a church-wide campaign, one of the most underestimated and overlooked part of the strategy has to do with sustaining what you launch. Much like the Space Shuttle, there are things you can do to help your new groups stay in the air. In fact, there are a…
Read MoreHow to Recruit Members to Groups
How will your hosts add members to their groups? After you’ve chosen the church-wide campaign you will use and recruited hosts, determining how you will recruit members is a very big decision. Along with the first two questions, this one has a lot to do with how effectively your campaign reaches into the crowd. It…
Read MoreShort Films Telling True Stories of An Active God
Just tripped across a very interesting resource…Deidox.com. These are some great stories about how ordinary people are doing extraordinary things to make a difference in their communities. If you’re trying to launch externally focused small groups or give your groups a community focus…you need to take a look at what Deidox.com is doing. Very cool. …
Read MoreHost Orientations That Work
I’ve written about this subject before here and here, but it is a critical step in a launch sequence and need to be sure you’ve got what you need to do it well. Here are a few ideas that I’ve found very helpful. When people sign up to host a group, send them a letter…
Read MoreDebug Your Thinking – a Group Life Webinar
Thursday, September 3rd, 12:00 to 12:45 pm CDT Click here to register Trying to figure out why your small group ministry isn’t really delivering the results you’re looking for? Resigned to the fact that in your church it just doesn’t work? I want to suggest that there are probably some underlying assumptions that are keeping…
Read MorePromoting the Launch Series
Preparing to launch a church-wide campaign? There are some keys to doing it well (and it’s not too late to kick your campaign up a notch!). Here are some ideas you can use right now: Take advantage of the website. Keep in mind that many of the adults in your congregation only attend once or…
Read MoreMedia That Promotes Small Group Ministry
How are you promoting small groups at your church? If your idea of a great promotion is an announcement, maybe by your pastor, you may want to take a look at a few more creative options. A few minutes on Sermon Spice or Willow Creek’s Drama catalog should give you plenty of new ideas. Here…
Read MoreTop 10 Reasons to Abandon Small Group Ministry
Ever get pressure to give up on small group ministry? Find yourself in the middle of a dark night of the soul agonizing about what just happened? Here are my top 10 reasons to just throw in the towel and end it now: 10. Information much easier to deliver in a classroom setting 9. Not…
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